Participation

After several months of controversy and delays in the certification of election results, 249 members have now taken their seats in Afghanistan's Wolesi Jirga or lower house of parliament. Among them are Farida Hamidi and Frishta Amini, two women who make up the entire delegation from Nimroz province in the far southwest corner of the country.

Female members of the Islamic opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP) in North Sudan claimed they were assaulted on Wednesday by the country's security authorities as they gathered to deliver a petition against the detention of fellow party members.

The 2011 International Women's Day will be celebrated worldwide on March 8. Yet as the day approaches, Ugandan women find themselves confronting the same age-old question: Is there cause to celebrate the day at all?

Proscovia Nakalembe has been so gripped by the election fever sweeping Uganda since the turn of the year that she's momentarily taken aback when asked about her plans for the Women's Day that's fast-approaching.

The unstable security situation in Iraq already made women particularly vulnerable. As violence spread across the country, women's mobility and access to the public sphere was dramatically reduced. Still, Iraqi women are doing their best to hold their own. Will opportunities created by and for women be allowed to continue?

Another woman has joined the presidential race in Kazakhstan, becoming the third female candidate to stand against the country's long-serving leader Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Meyramkul Kozhagulova, 50, registered for the April 3 polls on Friday. Her other female rivals are Maya Karamayeva, 54, and Guldana Tokbayeva, 57, the Central Election Commission said.

With a view to achieving sustainable peace and establishing a just society by ensuring participation of women at all stages of peace building, the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction (MoPR) on Thursday launched the National Action Plan (NAP) on UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 and 1820.

The secretary general of the ruling MPLA party, Julião Mateus Paulo "Dino Matross, asserted on Saturday here that the party guarantees the effective emancipation and promotion of women, and also assures equality of rights and opportunities in education, employment, as well as participation in the political, economic, social and cultural sectors.

Young women from rural areas in the country plan to use community radio broadcast as a means to address the issues which affect their daily lives.

Police in Harare on Tuesday tried to block a peaceful demonstration by pressure group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), who were attempting to hand over a list of demands to parliament.

A few weeks ago there was a revolution in Tunisia. Some sources say the revolution was not televised, but rather twitterised. On 14 January, Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali dissolved his government, called for legislative elections in six months and promised not to run in 2014. But this late decision did not quiet public anger on social media platforms, in particular Facebook and Twitter.