Participation

Fresh data on the status of women in Lebanon will be made public at conference.

The second phase of an innovative project to propel the efforts of local nonprofits working to improve the standing of women in the Middle East and North Africa region will be launched in Beirut, Lebanon today.

In the early 19th Century, Bolivian women fought alongside men for the country's independence from colonial Spain. They stormed into battle on horseback, seized cities and were on the frontline.

But their presence on the battlefield did not translate into presence in the political life of their nation. For many, their education, job opportunities and political rights were limited - until now.

A nation of just over 2 million people in the Balkan Peninsula in Southeastern Europe, Macedonia has experienced much turbulence since declaring independence from (the former) Yugoslavia in 1991 and a civil war in 2001. Now, nearly a decade later, the country seeks membership in the European Union, faces the growing influence of religious groups, and struggles with the economic crisis that has wreaked havoc worldwide.

"Sacan Sus Rosarios De Nuestras Ovarios!" The women, some of them bare-breasted, linked arms and chanted at the men in suits who were dashing towards the barricaded doors of the colonial edifice that houses the local congress in the central Mexican city of Queretero.

When Kusum Lata, 40, decided to run for election in her village, she felt frightened. "I was extremely nervous as everything was new to me," says the mother of four. But the support of her family and friends inspired her.

She has not looked back since becoming a ‘sarpanch' (head of village-level government) of Gairsain village in Chamoli district in the picturesque mountain state of Uttarakhand.

Provincial authorities, community elders and women in Dai Kundi province met recently to discuss how to promote women participation in the civil service.

As a political activist and president of the women's wing of the Awami National Party (ANP), Zahira Khattak has been working relentlessly for the empowerment of women in the war-torn North West Frontier Province (NWFP) in Pakistan. She believes that by empowering them, they can contribute more to the peace efforts in the region.

With the Jammu and Kashmir High Court more or less set to have more judges to deal with pending cases, history is likely to be made as the new appointments may include a woman candidate, sources said.
The union law ministry is likely to announce the appointment of judges against vacancies in the High Court very soon.

Young Nepalese women from the Newar ethnic community participate in a parade held to mark the declaration of the Newar Autonomous Region in Kathmandu on Dec. 26.

“I am not a woman prime minister,” Indira Gandhi liked to say during her many years as India's leader. “I am a prime minister.” But the question, here in Asia, is whether there really is such a thing as a woman prime minister.