women's role in society

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. 

Though disallowed from the 2014 presidential race, Fawzia Koofi is optimistic about her political career in Afghanistan. Yet it is not clear what will happen to the state of women's rights before the next one.

Afghanistan remains one of the most dangerous places anywhere in the world to be a woman, or to be a politician, and Fawzia Koofi, a deputy speaker of its national assembly, is both.

At least once a week, she receives a death threat from the Taliban or a warning from the security services about plots to assassinate her.

Socialist Michelle Bachelet was swept back into office Sunday as Chile’s next president, on a platform of narrowing the gap between rich and poor.

"Chile, now, finally, the time has come to carry out the changes," Ms Bachelet told cheering supporters in Santiago shortly after her landslide win, joined by her children and mother Angela Jeria.

We invite you to read the full article published December 16, 2013

Have a look at some of the world's female leaders!

published December 16, 2013

AWID participated at the Fifth session of the Open Working Group (OWG5) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)[1] that took place from 25 to 27 November 2013 in New York, the latest UN meeting to discuss shaping a new sustainable development agenda in relation to issues of macroeconomic policies, among others.

AWID joined a group of women’s rights organizations in influencing this process, here is a short analysis of what happened and what is still needed to advance women’s rights and gender equality in a sustainable development framework.

A little more than two months have gone by since the most recent midterm elections were held in Argentina. Amidst widespread concern over a drop in  foreign reserves, it seems that Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s government has started to make significant changes to preserve the economic and political model in place while trying to respond to international financial markets’ expectations. Such changes may mean that the polls were heard and that the government could realize the time has come for implementing a different strategy.

Sometime in 1974, a woman in her mid thirties made history as Kenya’s first female assistant minister. She had just quit her position as an associate professor at the University of Nairobi to plunge into politics and clinched the Funyula Constituency seat. So impressed by her performance was then President Jomo Kenyatta, that he appointed Prof Julia Ojiambo, assistant minister for Education.

“In Chile, the skirt’s in charge,” blared the headline of Santiago tabloid La Cuarta the day after Michelle Bachelet and Evelyn Matthei advanced to a second round in the country’s presidential race. Voters today will pick between the two life-long politicians in the first presidential election in Latin America where all the candidates are female.But having such high-profile women in Chilean politics masks a country that is falling behind its peers on women’s issues.