US: The Feminist Case Against a Woman President. Iowa Senate sex harassment charges should be investigated. Confronting military sexual assaults.

A still from EMILY’s List’s Madam President campaign video.

The Feminist Case Against a Woman President: A Response to Jessica Valenti The Nation At least, that’s the suggestion of Jessica Valenti’s latest column, “Why I’m Voting for Her,” in which she announces, by turns sheepish and defiant, that the author intends to vote for a woman for president in 2016. In that case, it seems obvious that …

Confronting military sexual assaults video.msnbc.msn.com Hagen tells the panel that women shouldn’t have to be constantly worried about sexual …

GOP Staffer Kristen Anderson Fired After Reporting Sexual Harassment PolicyMic A female staff member of the Iowa Senate Republican Caucus was fired last Friday with no reasons given just seven hours before she filed a memo to the staff director reiterating her previous claims of sexual harassment in the legislative environment.

Sexual harassment allegations in Iowa Senate should be investigated: Branstad The Gazette: Eastern Iowa Breaking News and Headlines (blog) Anderson, who could not be reached for comment Monday, told WHO-TV she and her female co-workers have been subjected to harassment from Senate staff and from senators, too. Among her allegations were claims that women were “objectified” and …

Fired Iowa Senate aide to file complaint alleging sexual harassment Shreveport Times In one instance, in a December meeting with several GOP staffers present, a male staffer made an explicit comment speculating about a female Senate clerk’s sexual preferences, Anderson said. That staffer had a lengthy history of making such remarks …

Women’s sweep of judgeship races no surprise to local political leaders Reading Eagle Republican Chairman John A. Fielding III said women tend to vote for other women, more so than men do for other men. The remaining votes might have been spread among the five men in the eight-way race, reducing their chances of getting one of the two …

 

Anglesey worst in Wales for women’s rep. Cameron’s charm offensive on women. Study: female gender stereotypes have little impact on voting behavior.

David Cameron’s charm offensive on women Evening Standard The Prime Minister is attempting to tackle his “problem” with female voters by arranging a series of meetings with high-achieving women at No 10. He is holding gatherings of influential people from different professions to find out “what women want” as …

Electoral Reform Society warns of ‘snail’s pace’ of change in boosting number of women councillors in Wales. Walesonline

Action urged on council election ‘glass ceiling’ for women after dismal … WalesOnline A report by the Electoral Reform Society (ERS) in Wales obtained by WalesOnline, analysing the results of the poll, revealed how continuing barriers to women standing meant the island’s female representation remained the worst in Wales, with only three …

Michael Portillo visits Ewell for women’s rights exhibition This is Local London Irene Cockroft is the guest curator of Dying for the Vote, an exhibition examining women’s. An exhibition examining women’s struggle for the vote has attracted national media attention from the likes of politician-turned-journalist Michael Portillo …

Will shared parental leave turn negative stereotypes around? The Guardian “Antiquated and out of step” – that’s how Nick Clegg described the current system of maternity leave in November last year. … In that case, these changes will do little to directly address underlying negative stereotypes about women’s commitment to work.

Why do powerful men like David Cameron have to cling on to their wives? Telegraph.co.uk It’s not just his stance on Europe that has got David Cameron into trouble over the past few days, it’s his attitude towards hand-holding. Leading the … Strangely enough, the question of manual control is not asked when it’s the woman who’s the more …

Three Labour candidates vie to take on Caroline Lucas in Brighton Pavilion Brighton and Hove News Three Labour candidates vie to take on Caroline Lucas in Brighton Pavilion. Three women are in the running to be the Labour Party candidate in Brighton Pavilion at the next general election. One of the three women will take on Green MP Caroline Lucas …

Female gender stereotypes have little impact on voting behavior: study Raw Story Good news for women in politics: Most Americans are unlikely to discount your expertise regarding national security simply because you’re female. Abstract gender stereotypes do not impact people’s decision to vote for female candidates “in any …

The Rising Surge of Female Insolvency FemaleFirst.co.uk New Government figures show that for the first time, more women in England and Wales are set to be declared insolvent* than men. The analysis of Insolvency Service data by national charity Debt Advice Foundation revealed that in 20000 women made up …

CEDAW Report Suggests Equality Gains for Women Have Been Curbed by Coalition Cuts DiversityLink A recent report suggests that coalition government cuts in the past five years have disproportionately affected women so much that they are in danger of actually undoing some of the progress that has been made in gender equality in Britain . The report …

independent.ie

It’s tough being a woman TD in a Dail chamber run by the boys Irish Independent When I entered the Dail in 1992 there was a high of 22 women elected. In the 20 years since, the pace of progress has been glacial. So much so that the body politic has eventually come round to the need for positive action to increase the numbers of …

The six things women can personally do for workplace gender equality Women’s Agenda Helen Conway doesn’t want to be accused of telling women how they can “fix the workplace gender equality” issue. But the head of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency does believe we all have a role to individually play in addressing the lack of women …

 

Pk: Men, officials stole women’s votes. Afg: Male students object to women’s human rights. Iran: Ayatollahs rule out female head of state.

Afghan students protest women’s rights decree WBOC TV 16 More than 200 male students protested in front of Kabul University on Wednesday against the decree on Elimination of Violence Against Women, which includes a ban on child marriage and forced marriage, makes domestic violence a crime and says rape victims cannot be prosecuted for adultery. It also outlaws “ba’ad,” a traditional practice of exchanging women or girls to settle disputes or debts.

Women’s Rights At Stake In Afghanistan – OpEd Eurasia Review The press from conservatives to halt the approval of the law concerning the rights of women, by the very parliament that came into existence as part of democratic process and a decade of international intervention that has cost thousands of lives of …

Men cast votes on behalf of women in Orakzai The Nation Sources told TheNation that contestant reached a secret settlement a couple of days before the election aimed to bar women from voting. It was according to their plan that males cast votes on behalf of their females and presiding officers deputed at …

Female Candidates Claim Discrimination in Kenyan Elections Institute for War and Peace Reporting Several female candidates who stood in recent general elections in Kenya say male rivals intimidated and discriminated against them, causing many to drop out of the race. The allegations relate to elections to Kenya’s National Assembly and to the 47 …

All women candidates from KP lost election by huge margins The News International Badam Zari was the first ever woman to have filed nomination paper for general elections from Pakistan’s tribal areas while Nusrat Begum had filed papers from an area where women even never cast votes. Musarrat Shaheen, once a popular Pashto film …

Puntland Leaders Set Quotas for Women in July Local Elections AllAfrica.com Government officials, political party members, United Nations officials, members of the Transitional Puntland Electoral Commission and representatives of a local women’s association gathered at the Puntland Development and Research Centre compound in …

ECP orders re-polling on two women’s polling stations of PK-60 The Express Tribune Khan’s opponent, independent candidate Engineer Zubair Khan, lodged a complaint with the district’s returning officer and the Election Commission of Pakistan that over 2,800 women of the district were not allowed to vote, claiming that this led to his …

Pakistani women’s political participation increased Central Asia Online The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) registered about 37.6m women to vote in this election, 2m more than in 2008. About half of them cast ballots this year, according to UPI. Women’s turnout was especially impressive because efforts to bar them …

PAKISTAN: Anti women practices and policies prevailed in the general elections …  Asian Human Rights Commission News As someone who was specifically interested in knowing the degree of inclusion of women and their issues in the election with a special focus on conflict zones of Pakistan( though these are not officially declared as the conflict zones) I began to see …

Ayatollahs rule out female head of state: women … youtube.com 1 min With Iranian presidential elections set for 14th June, Mohammad Yazdi, a clerical member of …

2015: UN Seeks Improved Participation of Women, Indigent Groups in Politics THISDAY Live The United Nation Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr. Dauda Toure, has called for an improved participation of women, youths and indigent groups in the forthcoming general election. Toure said this yesterday in Abuja, at the opening of a multi …

Raj Cong`s poll manifesto to feature welfare of farmers, women - Zee News – India Zee News Raj Cong`s poll manifesto to feature welfare of farmers, women Jaipur: The ruling Congress in Rajasthan today said the development of women, farmers and backward communities will primarily figure in the party manifesto for the Assembly polls, scheduled …

Where have all the women gone? Malay Mail Women representation in Najib’s Cabinet has been consistently poor. In each of the 2009, 2010, and now 2013 Cabinets, there have only been two women ministers, with this number dropping to one briefly when the prime minister appointed himself Women, …

Malaysian society remains male-dominated AsiaOne We can’t wait to change men, but commit to studying the analysis and recommendations as to why women’s representation is still low in a country with many smart women. “We could insist on quotas and reserved seats. This will not be unfair as we want …

Women’s issues rank low in Japan’s upcoming election youtube.com 2 min

 

US: GOP ‘old boy network’ doesn’t value women. LA’s first female mayor? Aide alleges women Senate staff are “objectified”.

Fired Iowa Senate aide alleges women “objectified…ridiculed” in workplace Radio Iowa A woman who was fired Friday after working five years for Republicans in the Iowa Senate this morning said her statehouse workplace was “toxic.” Kirsten Anderson went on a Des Moines television station Sunday morning to charge that she and her female co-workers have been subjected to harassment from senate staff and from senators, too.

“Things that would make you blush,” Anderson said. “Things that you don’t want your daughter, your mother, your sister having to put up with and that sort of attitude about women, objectifying women, it has to change.”

Published on May 20, 2013 Former spokeswoman Kristen Anderson who was fired Friday said she wants to change the culture in the Iowa Senate Republican Caucus.

Fired Iowa Senate aide alleges women “objectified…ridiculed” in workplace The Gazette: Eastern Iowa Breaking News and Headlines Kirsten Anderson went on a Des Moines television station Sunday morning to charge that she and her female co-workers have been subjected to harassment from senate staff and from senators, too. “Things that would make you blush,” Anderson said.

Exclusive Interview with Kirsten Anderson whotv.com There are allegations of improper behavior at the Iowa Statehouse.  The claims come from a former staffer, Kirsten Anderson. Anderson had served as the Iowa Senate Republican communications director, who said she got fired Friday.  Anderson claims inappropriate behavior and comments directed at her by male staffers and state senators. Anderson said she complained about the office environment Friday. She said she also asked for an updated sexual harassment policy. Anderson said she got fired later in the day after making that request. Channel 13′s Dave Price interviews Anderson and she tells her side of the story.

´Top Republican: GOP ‘old boy network’ doesn’t value women as much Washington Post (blog) Chris Jankowski, the president of the Republican State Leadership Committee, said Republican women who want to run often face obstacles in the male-dominated world of local politics. He said the party is making progress on that front, but that it remains an issue.

“It’s not hard to recruit women to run; they are running,” Jankowski said Monday. “I think sometimes our party does not value them as much.”

Jankowski cited the boys’ club that often determines who gets support in local races.

“It’s safe to say that there are institutional barriers. We’ve met with candidates who felt like they weren’t part of the old boy network,” he said. “It can be a bit of a male-dominated club at that level, and it’s important that they feel welcome and they’re given the resources.”

Kirsten Gillibrand solidifies herself as an advocate for women Rochester Democrat and Chronicle New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was joined Thursday by a bipartisan group of Senate and House lawmakers to announced legislation that would give military prosecutors more authority to file sexual assault cases. Gannet video by Brian Tumulty …

Why young women back Obama Marietta Daily Journal What then can these uncaring Republicans do to attract women voters? The task is daunting, but they can begin by making it clear that failing to keep one’s promises is not compassionate. Help that is pledged, but not delivered, is not help. It is …

L.A.’s Political Boys Club Daily Beast If L.A. voters want to know what can happen when a large organization doesn’t have women in the room when big decisions are being made, all they have to do is look at the building sitting in the shadows of City Hall—the Cathedral of Our Lady of the …

Voters could elect LA’s first female mayor USA Today Voters could elect LA’s first female mayor. Los Angeles voters go to the polls on Tuesday, and they could make history by electing the city’s first female mayor. The runoff election pits City Controller Wendy Greuel against City Councilman Eric …

 

UK: Jo Swinson uses the F word in Guardian interview. Emily was willing to risk her life for women’s votes.

Labour suspends vote for Falkirk seat until Unite dispute resolved The Guardian Labour has suspended the troubled selection for a parliamentary candidate in Falkirk pending an investigation into whether a senior figure in Unite had been involved in membership irregularities.

The selection of a new candidate was triggered after Eric Joyce, the sitting Labour MP, was involved in a fracas in a Commons bar and subsequently stood down. It has become one of the party’s most fraught selection battles with disputes over whether the selection should be from an all-women’s short list, but also over the way in which the union Unite is alleged to have recruited members in a bid to win the seat for its preferred candidate.

Jo Swinson uses the F word in Guardian interview Liberal Democrat Voice Last week, I said that Liberal Democrats should use the word feminist much more than we do. Women Liberal Democrats has done so much to advance policy on women’s equality over the years and its successor Liberal Democrat Women has a bright future ahead of it.

However, women’s hard won rights are under attack all over the world, whether it’s the disgrace of female genital mutilation practised at home or abroad, domestic violence, employment rights, rape culture or abortion rights. Projects like Everyday Sexism expose a misogyny that is engrained in the country’s  psyche. It’s time that we articulated a liberal and radical message to contribute to cultural change. I think we’ve been too shy about standing up for women’s rights over the years and that has to change.

Launch of Emily Davison play at Morpeth’s Chantry Middle School with (centre) Kate Willoughby who plays Emily seen marching with pupils.

Emily was willing to risk her life for women’s votes Morpeth Herald … Emily Davison is known around the world for what was to be her final protest for women’s rights when she stepped onto the course at the 1913 Epsom Derby and was struck by the King’s horse Anmer. She suffered massive injuries and died four days later in Epsom Hospital. But Miss Willoughby’s play focuses more on Emily the person and her relationship with her mother, family and Northumberland home than on the drama of that fateful race day.

She said: “I was always interested in Emily and I started in about 2009 doing a lot of research on her.

“I came across a letter from Emily’s mother Margaret, which was written after Emily’s Derby protest when she was in hospital. It was so full of love and hurt and she really didn’t understand what had happened. Emily’s mother supported her, but it was difficult for her to keep seeing her daughter coming back to Longhorsley so battered and bruised from force-feeding and protests and then there was this. There was also the fact that Emily had told her mother never to go to her if ever she got into a scrape.

“The heart of the play is the mother and daughter in Northumberland. People forget that, they see only the image of Emily at the Derby.

Harriet Harman Releases Figures Showing A Lack Of Women Aged 50+ On TV Marie Claire.co.uk Figures released by the deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman have shown that older women are ‘barely visible’ on TV. Harman wrote to the six main UK broadcasters to ask how many women aged 50+ were employed by them, both on screen and behind the …

The way Diane Abbott tells it, men are homophobic, women-hating, porn … Mirror.co.uk The way Diane Abbott tells it, men are homophobic, women-hating, porn-addicted, Viagra-quaffing, Jack Daniels-slurping brutes. When Labour MP Diane Abbott claims British blokes are facing a “crisis of masculinity” she is barking up the wrong trouser leg.

Ukip donor brands women ‘hostile’ for wearing trousers The Guardian Godfrey Bloom, one of the party’s most prominent MEPs, complained in 2004 that women failed to clean properly behind fridges. He said: “I want to deal with women’s issues, because I just don’t think they clean behind the fridge enough. I am going to

 

Student Loan Debt-It’s Worse for Women. 6 Women Scientists Snubbed Due to Sexism. Hong Kong unis lack female leadership.

British scientist Rosalind Franklin at work on the microscope.

6 Women Scientists Who Were Snubbed Due to Sexism National Geographic Over the centuries, female researchers have had to work as “volunteer” faculty members, seen credit for significant discoveries they’ve made assigned to male colleagues, and been written out of textbooks.

They typically had paltry resources and fought uphill battles to achieve what they did, only “to have the credit attributed to their husbands or male colleagues,” said Anne Lincoln, a sociologist at Southern Methodist University in Texas, who studies biases against women in the sciences.

Today’s women scientists believe that attitudes have changed, said Laura Hoopes at Pomona College in California, who has written extensively on women in the sciences—”until it hits them in the face.” Bias against female scientists is less overt, but it has not gone away.

Here are six female researchers who did groundbreaking work—and whose names are likely unfamiliar for one reason: because they are women.

Hong Kong universities lack female leadership South China Morning Post  …Professor Fanny Cheung Mui-ching, the first woman pro-vice chancellor of Chinese University, presented stark data at a workshop on women’s leadership, organised by the British Council in Dubai, on the fringes of the Going Global conference.

Women might account for 53 per cent of undergraduate students in Hong Kong, but the higher the academic rank, the sparser they become – 43 per cent of research postgraduates, 34 per cent of faculty members, 4 per cent of deans, and zero vice-chancellors or presidents.

College Debt Has a Female Face Huffington Post Senator Elizabeth Warren has introduced the Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act to stop the fleecing – by canceling the increase and forcing the feds to give students the same rate the big banks pay for their money. The online petition supporting her …

Student Loan Debt — It’s Worse for Women Huffington Post (blog) …Because women are paid less than men are paid after college, student loan repayments make up a larger part of women’s earnings. In 2009, among full-time workers repaying their loans one year after college graduation, just over half of women (53 percent) compared with 39 percent of men were paying more than what we estimate a typical woman or man could reasonably afford to pay toward student loan debt. These numbers have risen in recent years.

 

 

Pk: Gunmen kill woman politician. Afg: Hardliners block child marriage, rape bill. Iran: clerics to sanction women Presidential candidates.

Pakistan politician gunned down. Gunmen have killed a Pakistani politician from Imran Khan’s party in the southern port city of Karachi.

Pakistan’s Imran Khan blames rival for killing fellow politician Zohra Hussain news.com.au The killing of Zohra Hussain, 59, vice president of the women’s wing of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Sindh province, came on the eve of a partial re-run in the southern city of the May 11 election.

Security was tight for Sunday’s re-polling in one constituency following allegations of ballot-stuffing, with troops, police and paramilitary rangers backed up by armoured personnel carriers.

Hussain was targeted by three gunmen on a motorcycle outside her home in an upmarket part of Karachi late Saturday, the latest killing following an bloody election campaign marked by more than 150 violent deaths.

Pakistan: senior female politician shot dead Voice of Russia – UK Edition Pakistan returned to the polls for a partial re-vote on Sunday amid tight security after the gunning-down of the vice-president for the women’s wing of Imran Khan’s Movement for Justice (PTI) party late Saturday. Nobody has claimed the killing. Khan …

IRAN: National conservative clerics move to sanction women from presidential bids
WNN – Women News Network Iran’s ban on female presidential candidates contradicts several articles of the country’s Constitution as well as international law and should be removed, says human rights advocates Amnesty International. Thirty women have registered to stand as candidates for the forthcoming presidential election on June 14, 2013. Women were previously prevented from standing in presidential elections, but there was a chance that the Council could have overturned that situation this time.

Mohammad Yazdi, a clerical member of Iran’s Council of Guardians, a constitutional body responsible for ensuring that legislation adheres to Iran’s Constitution, as interpreted by Iran’s religious scholars and Islamic law, and for vetting presidential candidates has announced that Iranian laws “do not allow women to become presidents”.

Conservative Afghan lawmakers block law protecting women’s freedom, saying it … Washington Post KABUL, Afghanistan — Conservative religious lawmakers in Afghanistan blocked legislation on Saturday aimed at strengthening provisions for women’s freedoms, arguing that parts of it violate Islamic principles and encourage disobedience.

The fierce opposition highlights how tenuous women’s rights remain a dozen years after the ouster of the hard-line Taliban regime, whose strict interpretation of Islam once kept Afghan women virtual prisoners in their homes.

Afghanistan’s hardline religious heads block legislation for women’s rights Irish Independent Conservative religious politicians in Afghanistan yesterday blocked legislation aimed at strengthening provisions for women’s freedoms, arguing that parts of it violate Islamic principles and encourage disobedience.

Afghan women, and sometimes even little girls, are sold or traded to pay family debts. Anja Niedringhause/Associated Press/File

Women’s rights legislation is stymied in Afghanistan Boston Globe KABUL — Afghan women, and sometimes even little girls, are sold or traded to pay family debts.

So-called honor killings are a constant threat to women, especially in the country’s vast rural areas, where even talking to a man who is not a close relative can be perceived as a transgression punishable by death.

Betrothals of girls as young as age 7 are not unknown; in some parts of the country, girls are routinely married at puberty.

The only law that at least attempted to hold families accountable for such treatment is now itself in danger, as the country’s tiny women’s rights movement faces an unenviable decision: leave the law intact despite its flaws or continue to try to present changes to Parliament, where a growing conservative movement could dismantle the protections entirely.

Afghan law to protect women’s rights blocked by opponents The Guardian An Afghan MP has accused her conservative opponents of blocking a law to protect women’s rights saying parts of it violate Islamic principles. The law was enacted in 2009 by presidential decree but Fawzia Koofi wanted to cement it with a parliamentary …

Afghanistan MPs to debate law on women’s rights PakistanToday.com.pk “There is a lack of assurance that any president of Afghanistan will have any commitment to women’s issues and in particular towards this decree,” Ms Koofi told foreign media. But a number of prominent women’s rights activists believe…

Afghan parliament halts debate on women’s rights law BBC News A debate by Afghan MPs about beefing up a law to prevent violence against women has been halted amid angry scenes. Parliament’s speaker ended the debate after 15 minutes after traditionalists called for the law to be scrapped. A law banning violence

Effort to Strengthen an Afghan Law on Women May Backfire New York Times And now, preserving any protections long-term appears to be in question, as the country’s tiny women’s rights movement faces an unenviable decision: leave intact the only law that attempts to halt such abuses, or continue to present changes to …

Women can’t vote The News International It has been widely reported that women voters were barred from voting in some constituencies of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. At least two written agreements have surfaced wherein the contesting parties’ local leadership agreed to bar women from voting. Although …

Women and vote The News International In the constituency PK-95 of Lower Dir, not a single woman used her right to vote. According to some media reports, the political parties of this area had made an agreement among themselves that prohibited women from polling their vote. The women of …

Barring women from voting The Frontier Post Blindness separates people from things; deafness separates people from people. On May 11th women were not allowed to vote on many polling stations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI), Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), Pakistan Muslim …

Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim issued a decision on Saturday to create a violence-against-women department within the ministry. (AFP Photo)

Interior Ministry addresses sexual harassment Daily News Egypt …Mohamed Al-Meleigy, the office head of the deputy minister of interior for human rights, said the establishment of the department was instigated by the country’s growing sexual harassment phenomenon.

“The ministry is an indivisible part of society,” Al-Meleigy said. “We cannot react to the proliferating sexual harassment the society is currently facing.”

Al-Meleigy stated that the department’s responsibility is to receive harassment and rape victims and not delegate officers to arrest the perpetrators; the latter being the job of different departments within the ministry. He added that the department would also be responsible for raising cultural awareness regarding harassment through organising meeting and seminars…

Saudi Arabia has become more tolerant, says woman film-maker in Cannes Ahram Online …Conservative reaction to the movie, as measured on Twitter, remained hostile, but there had been a hugely positive reaction amongst young women, especially those on scholarships abroad, she said in an interview with AFP.

“Conservatives in general, men and women, I think what they want is for women to exist in privacy, they want women to be in a certain way, the way that they know, the way that makes them feel secure and all that,” she said.

But, she argued, “The country is not as it was before, all conservative, there is room now, there is room to bring in art and women’s rights and women’s issues, and people are more tolerant and more accepting. So it is changing.”

Waad Mohammed, the 10-year-old actress who plays the lead role, has had no negative repercussions from the boundary-testing film, Mansour said.

In Nepal, battle for representation The Hindu A CPN-UML lawmaker and leader of the Women’s Caucus on the last CA, Ushakala Rai, told The Hindu that women will reject the election and “launch a struggle” if the parties reduces women’s representation to below 33 per cent. “Women want proportional …

MPs asks Uhuru not to scrap Gender ministry The Star WOMEN MPs have asked President Uhuru to reconsider his decision of scraping the Ministry of Gender. Kenya Women Parliamentary Association has said changing the Gender ministry into a department will undermine issues touching on women. “There is …

BBC News

 

Iranian Cleric: Women Can’t Be President. Lesotho court upholds law barring princesses from succeeding.

Among the women, Talpur won by the largest margin — 64,438 votes. PHOTO: FILE

Surmounting all odds: Only six women make it to national and 10 to provincial … The Express Tribune If it were not for the 60 seats reserved for women, the next National Assembly would have practically been a male-dominated affair as women’s representation on general seats suffered during the 2013 elections. According to results released by the …

Princess can’t be chief – court iAfrica.com Lesotho’s top court on Thursday upheld a law that bars princesses from succeeding their fathers as traditional chiefs, a decision activists say dealt a “serious blow” to women’s rights and gender equality. Consitutional court judge Ts’eliso Monaphathi …

Iranian Cleric: Women Can’t Be President… ABC News A member of Iran’s constitutional watchdog group insists that women cannot be presidential candidates, a report said Thursday, effectively killing the largely symbolic bids by about 30 women seeking to run in the June 14 election. Even before the comments by Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, chances for a woman candidate in Iran’s presidential election were considered nearly impossible.

Only 6 of 150 women candidates win NA seats: Report The Express Tribune According to election results released by the Election Commission of Pakistan and processed by The Researchers – a nonprofit organisation — only three women candidates each from Punjab and Sindh won the elections on a general seat. No women..

16 female politicians muscle their way into NA, PAs on general seats PakistanToday.com.pk According to the data provided by The Researchers (TR), Pakistan Governance Forum (PGF) and Women and Politics in Asia Forum (WPAF), which jointly undertook observation of the May 11 elections, with a gender lens, 150 women filed nomination papers …

Highest number of women elected on general seats belong to PML-N DAWN.com A meeting of the National Commission on the Status of Women, presided over by its chairperson Ms Khawar Mumtaz, urged the Election Commission on Thursday to order re-poll in areas where women were not allowed to vote. The European Union Election …

More agreements surface barring women from voting DAWN.com The document authorises Malik Jehanzib Kalorang and Malik Faiz Muhamamd Khan of Dogram to take a decision about women voting on Upper Dir’s PK-93 provincial assembly seat. The decision would be binding on all the candidates contesting in the…

 

Canada: More women elected in BC than ever before. Gender Equality in Canadian Politics.

Clark wooed women back to the liberals Vancouver Sun Mary Chapman, a University of B.C. professor who specializes in women’s involvement in political movements, said it is too simplistic to suggest that female voters decided to support Clark because she is a woman. “I don’t think women voters are foolish …

BC elects historic number of female MLAs CTV News One-third of the MLAs British Columbians elected during Tuesday’s vote were women, marking a historic level of female representation for the province. Twenty-nine of B.C.’s 85 legislative seats will be held by women, and that number could increase if a …

BC Liberal Leader Christy Clark greet supporters at the party headquarters at the Wall Centre Hotel in Vancouver, May, 14, 2013. More than a third of the MLAs elected to the B.C. legislature Tuesday were women, the highest share in B.C.’s history and higher than any other province in Canada. Photograph by: RICHARD LAM, PNG

More women elected in BC than ever before (with graphic) Vancouver Sun More than a third of the MLAs elected to the B.C. legislature Tuesday were women, the highest share in B.C.’s history and higher than any other province in Canada. Based on preliminary results from Elections BC, 29 of the 85 MLAs in B.C. are women, a …

Gender Equality in Canadian Politics Daily Commercial News When Margaret Thatcher died in early April, there was a great deal of public discussion about her legacy. Underlying all the commentary was the fact she was Britain’s first female Prime Minister. She broke through a formerly impenetrable barrier. From …

 

UK: Cameron pledges to support women who stay at home. Birmingham man helped Pakistan women vote for 1st time

Labour Students host ‘More women, more politics’ event LSMedia University of Liverpool Labour Students will tomorrow hold a panel discussion entitled ‘More women, more politics’. The panel will include Luciana Berger MP and Louise Ellman MP, who will discuss their experiences of working in male-dominated …

birminghampost.net

The Birmingham man who helped millions of Pakistan women vote for the first time The Birmingham Post At the heart of it has been a Birmingham man who this week spoke of his pride at helping to banish corruption from Pakistan elections and enabling millions of women to vote freely in the country’s poll for the first time. Sakander Ali, who works for …

I WILL support stay-at-home mums: Cameron pledge raises hopes of marriage … Daily Mail David Cameron has pledged to support women who stay at home and raise children. David Cameron has pledged to support women who stay at home to raise children, fuelling hopes that he will act on his promise to recognise marriage in the tax system.

Focus On Women, Families Propels New York’s Sen. Gillibrand NPR Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York is introducing legislation with other lawmakers Thursday that would change how the military handles sexual assault cases. The proposal would let military prosecutors — rather than commanders — decide …