women's rights

Colonel Jamila Bayaz, a 50-year-old mother of five, this week became the first women to be appointed police chief  in Afghanistan. Bayaz will lead the 1st District of Kabul.

After decades of trying to amass power, several women have vaulted to the top of influential congressional committees, putting them in charge of some of the most consequential legislation being considered on Capitol Hill.

The $1.1 trillion spending plan Congress approved this week was the handiwork of Senate Appropriations Com­mittee Chairman Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) and her House counterpart, Harold Rogers (R-Ky.).

The 113th Congress has been applauded for its diversity, but women – and specifically women of color, who only make up 4.5% of the 535 members – are still the vast minority.

Although women of color have made recent strides in politics, the fact remains: only two have ever served in the Senate. It was as recent as 2013 that Democrat Mazie Hirono became the first Asian-American woman elected from Hawaii. Hirono comes after Carol Moseley Braun, who was the first and only African-American woman elected to the Senate. She served from 1993 to 1999. 

Across the world, female political representation continues to be an issue.

Most recently, it’s become a significant issue in Jamaica, where the 51 Percent Coalition has been pushing for more women in Parliament (and in boardrooms) in the country.

So we decided to take a look at the Parliaments in the Caribbean that have the most female members.

Closing remarks by UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka at the Conference on Promoting Syrian Women’s Engagement in the Syrian Political Process, held in Geneva, Switzerland, 13 January, 2014.

We invite you to read the full speech published January 14, 2014 by our partner, UN Women

The presidential deputy for women and family affairs says Iranian women are mostly excluded from top positions in the government. ILNA reports that Shahindokht Molaverdi said in a report that except for a few women in Parliament, the unfortunate truth is there are no women in top posts.

We invite you to read the full article published January 14, 2014

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.