women's empowerment

The leader of Germany's Social Democrats on Sunday pledged a 50-50 male-female split of the party's cabinet posts in a planned new 'grand coalition' with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, according to a newspaper interview.

Sigmar Gabriel, 54, last week sealed a deal with Merkel to form a left-right government tie-up after five weeks of political wrangling following September elections, but the accord must still be endorsed by his party's membership.

Japan's Shinzo Abe on Friday named the country's first ever female aide to the prime minister, just weeks after Caroline Kennedy arrived as the first woman US ambassador to Tokyo, AFP reports.

Makiko Yamada, a 53-year-old internal ministry veteran, will advise the conservative prime minister on policies affecting women, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga.

The first time Senator Patty Murray ran for local office, she was so embarrassed to ask people for money for her campaign that she and her husband held a garage sale. But her generous husband could not stop himself from giving away an expensive lawn mower, she said, leaving the fund-raiser at a net loss.

By the time she ran for the Senate in 1992, she had gained the confidence to hold out the hat enthusiastically.

As yet another female Tory MP announces she is to stand down, the soul-searching has begun about why women still find life in the Commons so unbearable. Laura Sandys says she is leaving politics because of "family demands". But the impression given is she is part of a growing exodus of recently elected women; "rising stars" forced out tragically early by the macho posturing in parliament.

The call was made on Tuesday by the Minister for Gender and Family Promotion, Oda Gasinzigwa at the closure of a two-day workshop on building capacity of prisons warders on international peacekeeping missions.

The workshop attracted delegates from 25 countries and representatives of international organisations. The event aimed at exploring reforms on how to train warders for peace-keeping missions.

We invite you to read the full article published November 28, 2013

If women are to achieve equality, they need a voice and a seat at the table. It's time to set measurable goals to affect change.

When I was first elected in 1987, I was part of an increased number of women in the UK parliament, but we still comprised only 5% of MPs. Even now, more than a quarter of a century later and in a country that has long prided itself on a commitment to equality, only one in five MPs is a woman. Far from leading the way, we are languishing at the global average.

What is the appropriate role of women in political life?

Are women fundamentally different than men? How does “femininity” qualify or disqualify women from political participation?