Women in Politics

Sexist Laws Still Thrive Worldwide

By Thalif Deen
A rash of sex discriminatory laws – including the legalisation of polygamy, marital rape, abduction and the justification of violence against women – remains in statute books around the world.

“HeForShe” Campaign Moves to the Next Stage

By Josh Butler
It launched in a blaze of social media glory with a viral speech that rocketed around the world, and five months on from the launch of U.N. Women’s groundbreaking HeForShe campaign, the real work is well underway.

Debating U.S. Foreign Policy: Where are the Women?

By Jasmin Ramsey
Women are running some of the United States’ most prominent foreign policy focused think tanks, leading U.S. diplomatic initiatives, and reporting from the front lines of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones.

Pacific Islands Call for New Thinking to Implement Post-2015 Development Goals

By Catherine Wilson
As the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of poverty-alleviation targets set by the United Nations, come to a close this year, countries around the world are taking stock of their successes and failures in tackling key developmental issues.

Battle Heats Up Over Legalisation of Sex Work in India

By Neeta Lal
Thirty-six-year-old Chameli Devi, a sex worker operating out of New Delhi's G.B. Road - Asia's largest red-light district, housing an estimated 12,000 of India’s three million sex workers – is an unhappy woman these days.

India’s ‘Manual Scavengers’ Rise Up Against Caste Discrimination

By Shai Venkatraman
Watching Bittal Devi deftly weave threads of different colours into a vibrant patchwork quilt, it’s hard to imagine that this 46-year-old’s hands have spent the better part of their life cleaning toilets.

OPINION: Stand in Solidarity with Courageous Women’s Human Rights Defenders

By Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein
Almost two decades ago, in Beijing, 189 countries made a commitment to achieve equality for women, in practice and in law, so that all women could at last fully enjoy their rights and freedoms as equal human beings.

U.N. Chief, Under Fire, Moves Closer to Gender Parity

By Thalif Deen
When Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named an international panel to review peacekeeping operations last October, the announcement was greeted with bitter criticism because it lacked even a semblance of gender balance: only three out of 14 members were women.

As Wars Multiply, U.N. Takes a Hard Look at Peace Operations

By Lyndal Rowlands
Finding ways to better integrate the two arms of U.N. Peace Operations - Special Political Missions and Peacekeeping Operations - will be one of the priorities for a new review panel headed by Nobel Peace Laureate and former president of Timor-Leste José Ramos-Horta.

Pushing the Voice of Syrian Women For a New Future

By Shelly Kittleson
For most Syrian women, the war has been a disaster. For some, it has also been liberating.

Q&A: Emerging Powers Have a Key Role in Peace and Security

By Roger Hamilton-Martin
Ambassador Nassir Abdulaziz al-Nasser currently heads the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. Between 2011-2012 he was president of the General Assembly, setting the agenda for debate in the assembly during the Arab Spring.

Women Challenged by Rising Extremism and Militarism

By Thalif Deen
Ongoing military conflicts in the strife-torn Middle East - specifically in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Palestine - have resulted in widespread civilian casualties, impacting heavily on the most vulnerable in besieged communities: women and children.

Another Women’s Treaty? Implement Existing One, Say NGOs

By Thalif Deen
Can violence against women be prevented or eliminated with a new international treaty signed and ratified by the 193 member states of the United Nations?

Q&A: “The Battle Continues”

By Joan Erakit
The Programme of Action adopted at the landmark 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) included chapters that defined concrete actions covering some 44 dimensions of population and development, including the need to provide for women and girls during times of conflict, the urgency of investments in young people’s capabilities, and the importance of women’s political participation and representation.

Where Women Don’t Work

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
Saleema Bibi graduated from medical school 15 years ago – but to this day, the 40-year-old resident of Peshawar, capital of Pakistan’s northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, has never been able to practice as a professional.

OPINION: At Last, New Faces at the European Union

By Joaquín Roy
At last, after the obligatory summer break, the European Union (EU) has some new faces to fill the top vacancies on the team that began to emerge from the May 25 parliamentary elections.

OPINION: A New European Foreign Policy in an Age of Anxiety

By Shada Islam
The appointment of Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini as the new European Union foreign policy chief offers the opportunity for an overhaul of EU foreign and security policy.

Bangladeshi Girls Seek Equal Opportunity

By Naimul Haq
Until five years ago, Shima Aktar, a student in Gajaghanta village in the Rangpur district of Bangladesh, about 370 km northwest of the capital Dhaka, was leading a normal life. But when her father decided that it was time for her to conform to purdah, a religious practice of female seclusion, things changed.

Gender Equality Gains Traction with Pacific Island Leaders

By Catherine Wilson
A pledge by political leaders two years ago to accelerate efforts toward closing the gender gap in the Pacific Islands has been boosted with the announcement that three women will take the helm of the regional intergovernmental organisation, the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, headquartered in Suva, Fiji.

Burundian Women Want a Greater Say in Running of Country

By Bernard Bankukira
As Burundi heads towards the 2015 general elections, and despite a quota of 30 percent women’s representation in parliament, women in this southeast African nation feel that they are yet to have a significant say in the management of their country.

Lack of Toilets Keeps Women Out of Politics

By Stella Paul
Nine months after she was elected head of her village council, 36-year-old Krupa Shanti has overseen some significant changes in this rural outpost of Mallampeta, 570 km away from Hyderabad, capital of the southeastern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
« Previous Page — Next Page »
*#*