Participation

Malaysia's Islamic courts appointed their first two women judges today. Suraya Ramli has been appointed as a Sharia judge in the administrative capital city of Putrajaya and Rafidah Abdul Razak has been appointed in the city of Kuala Lumpur. Ramli and Razak were officials in the nation's Islamic Judicial Department prior to their appointments today.

Malaysia's Islamic courts appointed their first two women judges today. Suraya Ramli has been appointed as a Sharia judge in the administrative capital city of Putrajaya and Rafidah Abdul Razak has been appointed in the city of Kuala Lumpur. Ramli and Razak were officials in the nation's Islamic Judicial Department prior to their appointments today.

National Women organizers of the four political parties with representation in Parliament have proposed that the constitution be amended to guarantee at least 30% of Parliamentary seats, assembly members, board members as well as intake into tertiary institutions to women.

For decades, advocates for women believed that a campaign for "gender mainstreaming" at the United Nations—that is, consciously factoring women into programs worldwide, promoting laws to support women at local and national levels and ensuring that women were well represented and heard in the UN itself—was all that was needed to bring the status of women, and women's rights, in from the margins of the international system.

Vivian Howard is a single mother who cooks and cleans like just about any other woman in Liberia - but in her work life she's in charge of 22 strong, athletic men. The first and only centre female referee in Liberia with a FIFA badge, Howard is standing shoulder to shoulder with the men of Liberia.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell is such an exceptional documentary, transcending mere fact telling to provide a shocking occasion of human affirmation. In a shorthand of crisp but telling images and interviews, the 2008 film, recently released on DVD, tells us of the remarkable victory had by a Liberian peace movement. The movement was led by women in the face of a civil war marked by brutal extremes of murder, mutilation and rape.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell is such an exceptional documentary, transcending mere fact telling to provide a shocking occasion of human affirmation. In a shorthand of crisp but telling images and interviews, the 2008 film, recently released on DVD, tells us of the remarkable victory had by a Liberian peace movement. The movement was led by women in the face of a civil war marked by brutal extremes of murder, mutilation and rape.

In Algeria, women drive trains, hold positions as judges and make up the majority of students. Nowhere else in the Arab world are equal rights for women taken so seriously.

In this tradition-bound nation scarred by a brutal Islamist-led civil war that killed more than 100,000, a quiet revolution is under way: women are emerging as an economic and political force unheard of in the rest of the Arab world.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Oberlene Smith-Whyte, is making an impact as a United Nations peacekeeper, winning the respect of her colleagues and even insurgents in some of the most inhospitable countries around the globe.
United Nations Peacekeeper, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Oberlene Smith-Whyte.