women's rights

On the third floor of Apex Town Hall, inside council chambers, visitors got to see a rare sight.

Two women, Nicole Dozier and Denise Wilkie, were sworn into office. They are the first women to serve on the Apex Town Council in 12 years.

As female elected officials, they are a rarity not only in Wake County but on a state and national level.

We invite you to read the full article published December 8, 2013

The MPs making obscene gestures at Sarah Champion and other women in the Commons are the backbench nonentities.

Kenyan member of parliament Alice Wahome spoke about the violent abuse, harassment and humiliation she has experienced as a female politician at the launch of a report about women's participation in the March 2013 elections.

Female candidates in Kenya face many barriers, including violent attacks, cultural and social stereotypes, lack of money and lack of political connections.

Wahome is one of 16 women who were elected as a constituency MP in 2013, compared to 274 men.

In March 2013, Sophia Abdi Noor was the only woman to stand for parliament in northern Kenya, a marginalised region where Islam has a lot of sway.

She spoke about the obstacles she has faced as a female politician at the launch of a report about women’s participation in the March 2013 elections. Female candidates in Kenya face many barriers, including violence, cultural and social stereotypes, lack of money and lack of political connections.

The election of the first Baluchi woman last week as the mayor of Kalat, a city in the south of Iran, was an unprecedented event in one of the most underprivileged and conservative provinces in Iran. It is a significant step which local experts believe that can inspire Baluchi women to work for more rights and break boundaries that have been created by both the state and society.

New laws designed to increase the number of elected women in Kenyan politics had no effect on the 2013 elections because those concerned failed to implement them, the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) said.

“We have good laws that we are not using,” said Mariam Kamunyu, the lead author of ‘Key Gains and Challenges: A Gender Audit of Kenya’s 2013 Election Process’, a report on how women fared in the polls,

While China’s air defense zone issues was topmost on everyone’s mind during United States Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Japan this week, he also had other agenda on his plate. Together with U.S. ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy and U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues Cathy Russell, he met with those who are helping advance women’s roles in the corporate world and commended Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on his policies to help make that a cornerstone of the Japanese economy.

Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand explained Wednesday how politics would be different with more women in office.

“If the Congress today — there are only 20 women out of the 100 in the U.S. Senate. … Obviously that’s not representative of America,” Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said at POLITICO's Women Rule Summit. “If it was 51 percent in the Congress, we wouldn’t be wasting time talking about access to contraception, we’d be talking about the economy.”

The Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society, which describes itself as the “world’s leading platform featuring women’s views and voices on major social and economic issues,” is hosting its inaugural conference in Rangoon on Friday and Saturday (6- 7 December). The meeting will be the third Forum event this year, with others previously held in France and Brazil.