Participation

Dekha Ibrahim Abdi, a courageous woman from the arid north of Kenya, devotes her life to building peace. She compares this work to an egg. "An egg is delicate and fragile. But if given the right conditions, it gives life." Likewise, the potential for peace is fragile, and it needs careful nurturing if that potential is to be fulfilled.

Jacob Zuma was inaugurated as the new president of South Africa on 9 May, with his party, the African National Congress, having achieved a resounding victory in the recent elections. In what has been described as the most competitive election yet to take place in a post-apartheid South Africa, the ANC and Mr. Zuma clearly retain the support and trust of the vast majority of voters, men and women.

Bad news for women: of the eight women running for mayor in Mozambique's municipal elections held on Nov. 19, only three won. Overall, 114 candidates ran for mayor in 43 municipalities.

The three winners - Rita Muianga, in Xai-Xai, Gaza province, Maria Helena Langa, in Mandlakazi, also in Gaza, and Marta Romeu, in Marrupa, Niassa province - belong to the ruling party Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo).

It is no longer unusual to see Moroccan women working in various professions in defiance of a set of traditions and societal customs that dictate that some jobs are not suited to them. The sight of women serving in a coffee shop or guarding a parking lot, which was previously rare or even prohibited, is now common.

The ink was barely dry on the power-sharing agreement signed by Zimbabwe's main political parties on Sep. 15 when women activists demanded a fair share of power.

The road from the Rwanda-Congo border to Bukavu—a war-torn city on the southeastern edge of Lake Kivu—was almost impassable. Intermittent, torrential rain showers turned the rutted, cratered road into a bog of red mud. On the shoulders, an endless procession of Congolese men and women carried babies slung to their backs and loads of vegetables, eggs, and bananas on their heads.

Jean-Michel Tijerina, CEO and Founder of the Cambodia Project, insisted I must meet her.

After an hour over coffee, I fully comprehended why.

I was talking to the Cory Aquino or the Aung San Suu Kyi - of Cambodia.

And given her courageous outspokenness, I am now very concerned for her safety.

Malaysia's Islamic Shariah courts have appointed their first female judges - a move praised by women's rights activists Thursday as a boost for a judicial system often accused of favoring men.

Iran might not send its girls' soccer team to the Youth Olympics in Singapore next month because of a dispute over the players' Islamic attire, Iranian media reported Thursday. The deputy head of Iran's physical education department, Marzieh Akbarabadi, was quoted by newspapers, including Khabar Varzeshi, or Sport News, as saying the newly designed dress was "inappropriate."

The Fund for Gender Equality today announced grants totalling more than US$27.5 million to recipients in 13 countries, with grant amounts of up to US$3 million each. The Fund for Gender Equality, supported by donations from the Governments of Spain and Norway, is managed by the UN Development Fund for Women, UNIFEM (part of UN Women).