President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday reiterated the government's commitment to prioritizing women's empowerment and gender issues in development programs, and called on Indonesian women to develop their potentials.

Women in south-east Asia, especially in the Muslim countries of Malaysia and Indonesia, are facing the challenges of both modernisation and growing conservatism. Though many women are highly educated and hold public office, including cabinet posts, in both countries, they continue to face attempts to limit their personal lives.

Lebanese women have made great strides in the private sector and are highly visible in the mainstream media as presenters and journalists. But in a country in which women make up about 53 percent of the population – more than 2 million women – their basic rights and representation has been limited in politics.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf spoke of women's ability to build peace and a better Africa if they worked together, at a breakfast for women leaders in business and government in Johannesburg.

Long lasting peace and unity cannot be achieved unless women are involved fully in the political and democratization process in that country. This was the clarion call by Somali women leaders who gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, this week.

June Sarpong believes women need motivating to get involved in political discussion and activism. The television presenter has launched a new website called politicsandthecity.com to help get more women interested in politics.

Over the next three days women from across the Caribbean will be meeting in Belize to exchange ideas and discuss what can be done to have women not only become more active in politics but to train and prepare women for elections. According to the United Nations Fund for Women in the Caribbean, women’s participation and representation at all levels continues to be low, twenty years after the convention on the elimination of discrimination against women.

To mark last week's 80th anniversary of women getting the vote, Ms. Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, posed outside the Houses of Parliament with the Electoral Reform Society dressed in 1920s outfits.

Senior education official Angie Motshekga is the new president of the African National Congress’ Women’s League (ANCWL). Motshekga, who hails from Soweto, was elected president yesterday at the league’s national conference having received 1826 votes.

French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt has been freed after being held hostage by rebels for six years. She was originally kidnapped in February 2002 during her presidential campaign in territory controlled by the rebels

A non-governmental organisation, Gender and Development Action (GADA), has confirmed that the number of women's participation during the 2007 elections in the South West was higher than during the previous elections.

Members of the Kuwaiti Parliament 's Sharia Issues Commission have backed a request by the country's two female ministers to appear in Parliament without the Islamic veil, Kuwaiti daily Al-Seyassah reports. Commission members on Sunday agreed that Islamic law (Sharia) only requires women candidates and MPs to wear the veil, not female ministers, according to Al-Seyassah.

As the July 5 2008, Local Government elections draw near, women's participation and representation has carried the headlines on the media and household discussions throughout the country.

The director for gender issues at the United Nations Development Program says pre-and post-election violence in Africa is making it harder to increase women participation in politics. Uganda-born Winnie Byanyima told VOA there is a challenge in Africa to manage elections better and have smooth political transitions.

After the 2001 elections, there were 6 women directly elected to the 300-member Parliament. The number of seats reserved for women had been increased to 45 from 30 seats that had been reserved in the previous Parliament. Party affiliation depends on membership drives and on the organizational and electoral needs of each party. The actual number of women members in different political parties, however, cannot be determined, since gender-specific records are not maintained. Nevertheless, a slow trend towards women's greater participation has emerged over the decade.