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Myanmar: Burma's Rebels: Women Demand a Say

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Tue, 2012-02-07 21:04

Summary: 

In late January, a group representing the Karen, one of the biggest ethnic groups in Burma, issued a statement calling for women to be given a bigger role in the peace talks between Karen rebels and the government.

Similar agreements have been struck recently between the government and other ethnic rebel armies, including the Shan State Army-South, the United Wa State Army, and at least seven other armed groups.

Unfortunately, the participation of ethnic women in these conflict resolution processes is disturbingly low. It is a tragedy that the people who have suffered the most from these conflicts are those who seem to have the least say in the process of their "resolution."

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Read the complete story at Foreign Policy, published 6 February 2012.


India: Muslim Women Urge People to Cast Vote

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Sun, 2012-02-05 23:13

Summary: 

Photo Credit: Onislam.net

Muslim women in India's Uttar Pradesh district are leading a new campaign to educate their community about the importance of participation in the democratic process, urging them to vote in their district’s 23 February elections. 

"We have been going from door-to-door and making aware Muslim women and girls about the importance of their vote," said Noor Bano, a woman, who headed the campaign in Rura village in Ramabai Nagar district.

She affirmed that the voters in the villages have widely supported the cause with several Muslim women joining the group in Bhognipur town too.

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Read the complete story at On Islam and the The Times of India, published 4 February 2012.


Making It magazine issue on the economic empowerment of women

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Fourth quarter of 2011 issue of UNIDO's Making It magazine is devoted to the issue of women's economic empowerment. Articles by Michelle Bachelet, Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, Zoe Elena Horn, Jan O'Sullivan, and many more.

‘Women hold up half the sky’ is a Chinese proverb affirming women’s equal contribution to the human experience but it is an aspirational, rather than a factual, claim. In developed and developing countries alike, gender gaps persist in education, health, work, wages and political participation. For this issue of Making It, the theme is gender equality and the economic empowerment of women.

As Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General, pointed out, “There is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women”.

Women work two-thirds of the world’s working hours but women earn only 10% of the world’s income, and women own less than 1% of the world’s property. Women lag far behind men in access to land, credit, and decent jobs, even though a growing body of research shows that enhancing women’s economic options boosts national economies.

Pakistan: Assembly Elections: Women Lawmakers Demand 10% Quota for General Seats

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Wed, 2011-12-07 07:09

Summary: 

Women parliamentarians from across the country demanded a mandatory quota of 10 per cent of general seats in the National Assembly, Senate and provincial assemblies on Saturday.

Women parliamentarians from all four provincial assemblies demanded that political parties develop consensus among themselves to amend the Political Parties Act so as to provide a mandatory quota of 10 per cent of general seats to women in order to bring them into the mainstream of the electoral process before the next elections, in addition to the already available reserved seats for women.
 

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Read the whole story at The Express Tribune, published November 27, 2011.  


India: Women Gain Legislative Seats in Kashmir

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Mon, 2011-10-31 13:52

Summary: 

Local government representatives welcome increased participation from women here, but they say they prefer literate to illiterate candidates. But women who won seats in the election and women voters say that equal gender representation is more important than literacy. Women say top issues for them include availability of water, transportation and medical services. Nongovernmental organizations, NGOs, are organizing trainings to strengthen the reinstitution of the panchayat system and the inclusion of women in it.

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Read the whole story at TrustLaw, published October 31.


Afghanistan: Fawzia Koofi, Afghanistan's First Female President?

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Fri, 2011-10-28 08:42

Summary: 

 

At a committee meeting inside the heavily fortified parliamentary compound, Koofi’s political skills were on display.

The justice minister arrived for questioning about the condition of women’s prisons, taking his place at the far end of a long conference table. As chairwoman, Koofi dominated the hearing, almost lecturing the minister. She controlled the questioning by handing other committee members written questions she wanted them to ask.

After half-an-hour the minister began banging the table with his hand, defending his attempts to overhaul prisons despite the country’s security challenges.

It is a bit of political theatre, one provoked by Koofi’s interrogation.

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Read the whole story at PRI's The World, published October 21


Coalition Building & Women’s Empowerment

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Mon, 2011-07-25 00:11
2011-07-25 10:00
Etc/GMT
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City & Province/State: 
Cairo
Country: 
Egypt
Venue: 

The event will be at the UN Women premise in Cairo.
 

Description: 

The meeting will be with Ms. Ms. Zaida Aguedas

Ms. Zaida Arguedas has served as Deputy Executive Director of the League of Women Voters of the United States and as Director of its Global Democracy Programs since March 2000.  Under Ms. Arguedas’ leadership, the League’s global programs have expanded around the world in five areas of competency:  advocacy, grassroots democracy, good governance, elections, and women’s leadership.

 

In October 2001, Ms. Arguedas ran, and after defeating three opponents, was appointed to the Board of Elections of Montgomery County (Maryland) for a 4 year term by Maryland’s Governor Parris Glendening.  Ms. Arguedas has been part of three teams of international observers to the elections in Paraguay, Brazil and Costa Rica.  In the United States, Ms. Arguedas has been active as poll worker during three presidential elections.

 

During the past ten years Ms. Arguedas has managed many international programs:   for Muslim women from the Coast and Northeastern Provinces of Kenya; for civic leaders from Russia, Ukraine; Azerbaijan and Tajikistan, and for women in political leadership in Brazil.  Ms. Arguedas has also conducted several workshops:  “Women Making a Difference,” in Lusaka, Zambia; “Women in Governance;” in Kiyv, Ukraine, “Fundraising from Non-Traditional Sources” in Yerevan, Armenia, “Mujer y Poder,” in Bogota, Colombia, “Coaching NGOs on Coalition Building for Effective Advocacy,” in the Syunik Area of Armenia, and “Democracy and Good Governance” in Madagascar.

 

In May 2011, Ms. Arguedas traveled to meet with the newly created Tunisian League of Women Voters to outline a voter education program to be carried out over the next 18 months; and was a panelist at the international VII International Conference held in La Habana, Cuba, titled Women in the XXI Century.


IMO STATE GENDER AGENDA-SETTING INAUGURAL MEETING

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Submitted by johanele on Sun, 2011-07-03 02:25
2011-07-29 15:00
US/Eastern
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City & Province/State: 
Owerri, Imo State
Country: 
Nigeria
Venue: 


Owerri

Description: 

It is an engagement and agenda-setting meeting between the three female members and other gender-sensitive male members of the Imo State House of Assembly (IMHA) and representatives of the women of Imo State to chart a course for the effective mainstreaming of gender into all the programmes and activities of the IMHA.

The meeting is aimed at taking advantage of the new atmosphere of legitimacy and freedom thrown up in Imo State in the wake of the recent gubernatorial elections, to bring the issue of women and children in the state into greater visibility at the legislative and policy levels. It is important to note that women played major roles in the political struggle that brought Imo state to where it is at the moment. It is therefore important that this momentum and renewed consciousness is sustained to enable women to remain a major part of the emerging effort to entrench the democratic gains and expand the frontiers of democracy in Imo State and the entire South East Nigeria.

It is therefore the thinking of the coordinating organization, Development Dynamics, Nigeria (DD) that the engagement and agenda setting meeting is strategic and will be a good step in the effort to make women active players in the emerging process in the state. This initial meeting is intended to be followed by quarterly review meetings, as may be agreed to by all stakeholders at the initial meeting. The review meetings will receive updates, monitor progress and plan future activities.

We are depending solely on the support of partners for the hosting of the meeting.

The three female members of the IMHA have declared their full commitment to the realization of the Imo State Gender Agenda Process.

DD is therefore requesting to partner with you in the organization of this all important meeting. For further information you can contact Development Dynamics at; Phone: +2348035927419, Email: devdynamics@yahoo.com


Zambia: Hope for Women Politicians

Submitted by Mey on Sat, 2011-06-04 18:13

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Mirriam Kauseni is on a quest to become her town’s first ever female parliamentarian. She has yet to be elected to run for the post by her party, the Patriotic Front (PF), but Kauseni has already been conducting door-to-door campaigns, telling people to vote for her in the country’s national elections.

The resident of Mansa in the northern province of Luapula, attends all her party’s fundraising ventures in the constituency, attends all community gatherings such as funerals; church functions; and weddings. Here she always takes a moment to tell people the importance of voting for her in this year’s ballot, the date of which is yet to be announced.

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For more information please visit:- ips news


Argentina: Power Still Overwhelmingly in Men's Hands

Submitted by Mey on Sat, 2011-06-04 18:05

Summary: 

In Argentina the overwhelming majority of decision-making posts in the most diverse areas are occupied by men, with the exception of the presidency, held by Christina Fernandez. This conclusion was reached by a quantitative study, "Sexo y poder. ¿Quién manda en Argentina?" (Sex and Power: Who Runs Argentina?), presented in Buenos Aires in May by the Latin American Justice and Gender Group (ELA). The academic group developed a Women's Participation Index (WPI) and applied it to thousands of public and decision-making positions in over 4,000 state and private institutions and organisations.

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For more information, please visit: IPS news