Women's political participation

Sen. Kelly Ayotte says a new Republican women’s political action committee is “Democrats’ worst nightmare.”

Surrounded in a room full of 400 people, primarily young women, Ayotte gave the keynote address at the launch party of RightNOW Women PAC on Tuesday night.

India and the United States will jointly move a resolution to address violence, particularly against women and girls, at the Executive Board meeting of the World Health Organisation in Geneva later this month.

The resolution on “The role of health sector in addressing violence, particularly against women and girls” will be supported by Belgium, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway and Zambia.

Women voters outnumber men in 22 of the 39 Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu.

In the previous Lok Sabha elections in May 2009, women outnumbered men in 15 constituencies.

Maximum in southern districts

As in the past, the southern districts account for a maximum number of such constituencies – Madurai, Sivaganga, Virudhunagar, Dindigul, Theni, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi and Tuticorin.

As a young girl in Bangladesh, you could say I grew up parallel to the legendary rivalry between the country’s main political foes, Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia: two very powerful women with some serious political capital. Hasina is one of the only surviving members of her family, the majority of whom were brutally assassinated by army officials in the aftermath of Bangladesh’s bloody Independence. Khaleda Zia, on the other hand, is the widow of career military officer, Ziaur Rahman, founder of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) that Khaleda Zia now heads.

Despite efforts to increase the number of women in politics, they still face an uphill battle to join the male-dominated political world, a political expert has said.

Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) political analyst Siti Zuhro said women in general were still victims of discrimination.

We invite you to read the full article published January 13, 2014

Noorzia Atmar never wanted to leave Afghanistan. Not even after the beatings, knife attacks and bitter divorce; not even when her ex-husband turned up at her new workplace with a gun and sent thugs to the shelter where she had sought refuge. Only when the threats targeting her spread to include other women living in the shelter did she feel she had no choice but to flee.

Egyptian women have been the worst sufferers in the revolution and the rise of Islamist factions has seen curtailment of the rights of women, said a leading women's activist from the North African nation whose organisation has been quietly operating in the country's southern region to empower women through training in traditional crafts to enable them stand on their own feet.

Women in Puntland have expressed their dissatisfaction with their representation in the new Puntland Parliament. Halimo Mohamed Farah, the chairwoman of Puntland Women Alliance said that they were dismayed to learn that only two women were among the 66 newly assembled legislators.

She placed the blame on traditional elders, who she said do not recognize the role and leadership qualities of the Somali women. She vowed that they will continue to double their efforts to attain their rightful positions in the political arena.