women in politics

ISLAMABAD: To add to the hype surrounding local bodies elections, non-government organisation and human rights groups have urged the election commission to prepare and release gender disaggregated data. 

Addressed to the Prime Minister, Senate chairman and chief ministers, the letter demands categorised data to strengthen democratic culture.

Nouakchott, Mauritania - An African Union (AU) observer mission to the Mauritanian municipal and legislative polls, led by former Algerian Prime Minister, Ahmed Ouyahia, has recommended that the Mauritanian government should create an environment which will allow more women participate in the country's political process.

Speaking Tuesday to the media, Ouyahia, who monitored the elections in November and December, said the measure would put the country on the international map as one which encourages gender parity.

Although a good turnout of female voters has been recorded in the recent Assembly elections, the Election Commission of India wants to identify areas where the women turnout has been low and reasons for it. 

The ECI has issued instructions to states to focus on low women participation areas under the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) plan for the forth coming Lok Sabha elections. 

An MP has claimed some Conservatives make lurid hand gestures towards Labour women during debates in the Commons.

Sarah Champion said there was an "insidious" sexist culture in which "some Tories are very good at gesticulating about female assets".

Ms Champion became a Labour MP a year ago after winning a by-election in Rotherham.

She formerly worked as an arts administrator and chief executive of a children's hospice.

Samiyeh Balochzehi, 26, who was elected mayor by the Kalat city council, is an engineer and has a master’s degree in natural resources management from the Islamic Azad University Science and Research Branch in Tehran. A local who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity said that Balochzehi is a widow, that her sister is on the city council and that she comes from a wealthy and influential family.

Dec. 5 was the 79th anniversary of the day Turkish women were granted the right to vote and to be elected. 

The confusion in the domestic and external agenda caused this gain to be celebrated less than it deserved. 

Twelve women councilors in the Kailahun District, east of Sierra Leone, have climaxed the 2013 commemoration of '16 Days of Activism' with the official adoption of the 'Gender Model Family' as an antidote to poverty reduction, improved social relations and reduction in gender-based violence. The 16 Days of Activism is a global event aimed at reducing gender-based violence and the flagrant abuse of the rights of women.

Interim President Adly Manosur called upon Egyptian women to participate in the referendum on the draft constitution set to take place on 14 and 15 January 2014.

In a conference organized by the National Council for women, Mansour’s speech which was delivered by his advisor on women’s affairs, Sakina Fouad, stressed the importance of women’s role in “stopping the bloodshed”.

When citizens in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) took to the streets in early 2011 in demonstrations that toppled autocratic regimes, one after another, a new democratic rule with more rights and representation for all, including women, were chief among the demands. The people of the region seized onto the importance of political empowerment and many saw an opportunity within the newly evolving political order to positively impact universal human rights, especially the rights of women and ethnic minorities.