The European Union (EU) delegation in Tanzania revealed its "Action Plan on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in Tanzania for the period 2010-2012," which will be presented in Dar es Salaam. It is the first of its kind, representing a collective effort by EU member states to "strengthen and coordinate action on gender issues at country-level." The EU collectively by large is Tanzania's biggest donor.

The new action plan is to promote the establishment of gender-sensitive domestic accountability mechanisms as an integral part of good governance. This is set to hold the government accountable to its citizens and empower women and men to voice their interests and needs, especially at local level. The new EU Gender Action Plan aims at capacity building of key stakeholders, strengthening accountability, monitoring and evaluation systems using gender-sensitive performance indicators and supporting concrete actions to redress situations where women and girls are particularly disadvantaged.

While Aung San Suu Kyi remains the most widely-known woman suppressed for her political views in Burma, the jails in that military-ruled country continue to be filled by lesser-known women dissidents being held on a range of questionable charges.

Mid-February saw the latest group of female political activists thrown into jail with a two-year prison term, including hard labour, for a "crime" they committed four months ago – donating religious literature to a Buddhist monastery, an act that the junta deemed as "disturbing the peace."

The Cabinet has cleared the Women’s Resrvation Bill which provides for 33 per cent reservation to women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

The bill was easily one of the most contentious pieces of legislation to be considered by Parliament. It has been hanging fire for close to 14 years due to lack of political consensus on the issue.

Angolan women, particularly those in Government, want to reach equality in the number of decision makers in the coming years, the minister of Familiy and Woman Promotion, Genoveva Lino, said Wednesday in Luanda.

Addressing a press conference, Genoveva Lino acknowledged that the number of female decision makers has been increasing, reaching now 30 percent, which she admits to be an improvement, but not enough, since women have always played important roles in the country's development.