Participation

Tzvia Greenfield. Israel's first Haredi female to be elected to the Knesset, she is a fierce critic of her own community's attitudes to the peace process and modernity; describing the Haredi community as being "incapable of compromise." Yet she still lives in it, a resident of the Jerusalem suburb of Har Nof.

Founded three years ago, the Latin American Consortium of Women's Funds consists of seven women's funds in the Latin American region. The Consortium has become one of the most innovative feminist strategies for collectively mobilizing resources. AWID interviews Emillienne de Leon of Semillas, one of the women's funds that belong to the Consortium.

The project "Strengthening Governance with a Gender Perspective and the Political Participation of Women at the Local Level in Latin America", has contributed to greater debate around the issue of women's political participation at the local level in the political, academic and media fields. This was one of the conclusions at the conference with representatives from 13 Latin American countries in Santo Domingo on 13 February.

With one year to go in office, women's groups and civil society organisations report positively on Chilean President Michelle Bachelet's government policies to promote gender equity. But there is still much to be done, they say.

"In all fairness, we must say there is a positive feeling about the work on women's rights done by the Bachelet administration," Lorena Fries, the president of the Humanas Corporation, told IPS.

No indigenous woman has ever held a seat in the Mexican Congress. But two of them, one belonging to the conservative ruling party and the other representing the leftwing opposition, are trying to change that in the July legislative elections.

In the wake of the UN Security Council calling for restoration of democracy and fair elections in Fiji, the World YWCA continues to stand in support and solidarity of the women of Fiji. With no judiciary, constitution or elections in sight, the World YWCA has asked four Fijian women leaders to reflect on the situation in their country and share their hopes and fears for the women of Fiji.

Two women in Southeast Asia are setting the stage for regional change by bravely standing up to ruling governments. Both have received negative court rulings in recent days.

In Venezuela "women have passionately embraced community activism, taking on a more committed and active role, and this is reflected in the increasing female participation in neighbourhood assemblies," Alba Rojas, spokeswoman for a community council in Tacagua, a township that spreads along the Caracas-La Guaira highway, told IPS.

It's another day marked by gunfire in the Morro da Providencia "favela", one of the most dangerous slums in this Brazilian city, and the only area where people can move around in relative safety is in the lower part of the neighbourhood, towards the foot of the hill.

Tuesday night, a candidate from the opposition PakatanRakyat (People's Alliance or PR) defeated a candidate from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition in a semi-rural constituency on mainland Penang. That brought the by-election tally to 7-1 in favour of the PR since the last general election in March 2008.