Women leaders across the 47 Kenyan counties have resolved to mobilize their counterparts in the grassroots to lobby for greater inclusion in processes that promote sustainable development in the country.
Across the Middle East, countries are witnessing parliamentary changes under newly-installed governments which have been credited as a result of the Arab Spring.
Source: All Ghana News
Ghana is to join the global community to celebrate the International Women’s Day with an art exhibition and special concert at Alliance Francaise on March 8.
Kelly Askin has just returned from South Kivu in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo where she witnessed the ongoing work of a mobile gender justice court that has been operating in the province with the support of the Open Society Foundations. Here's what she found:
"It is only when women start to organize in large numbers that we become a political force, and begin to move towards the possibility of a truly democratic society in which every human being can be brave, responsible, thinking and diligent in the struggle to live at once freely and unselfishly."
The head of the United Nations entity mandated to promote gender equality today highlighted the role of quotas to accelerate women’s political participation, adding that more hands-on measures are needed to achieve significant progress on this issue.
Opportunities from the Arab Spring to boost the low number of women in parliaments are being missed, while globally the average number of female politicians inched up half a point last year to 19.5 percent, an organization of parliaments said on Friday.
Source: Rwanda Focus
While the entire world will celebrate Women's Day next Thursday, in Rwanda it will mark the start of a month-long campaign to promote women's emancipation.
Source: The Herald
The 56th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) started on February 27, 2012 in New York with participants grappling with the economic status of rural women. The theme for the CSW 2012 session is "Empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges".
Source: Tunisia Live
Hizb Ettahrir, a legally unrecognized Islamist party, is organizing an international conference for women under the name, "Caliphate, a bright example for the rights and political role of women." The conference is to be held on March the 10th, in Carthago Hotel, in the northern suburbs of Tunis. Only women can attend the event.
Source: Tanzania Daily News
Tanzania has recorded immense success in the "We Can" campaign that was launched in the country in 2008 and has spread to several regions.
Source: MONUSCO
As part of the International Women's Day commemoration on 8 March, the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Ministry for Gender, Family and Children, in partnership with the United Nations System, is planning to organize the fourth Women Entrepreneurship Fair around the theme: "Let Us Invest in Rural Women and Young Girls for a Brighter Future".
Source: East African Business Week
A new World Bank report has unveiled mistreatment of business women involved in cross-border trade by the border officials.
The report on the theme "De-fragmenting Africa: Removing Barriers to Trade in Africa" is a result of investigations on the constraints and conditions that cross-border traders undergo in conducting business.
Source: StarAfrica
The East African Community Secretariat in collaboration with German Agency for International Co-operation (GIZ), East African Sub-Regional Support Initiative (EASSI) and Arusha Municipality have jointly organized a series of activities to mark Gender Week from 5-9 March, 2012 in Arusha, Tanzania.
Source: The Zimbabwe Mail
Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe yesterday broke down in tears after she was overwhelmed by hundreds of MDC-T women who converged at Harare International Airport to welcome her from South Africa where she was undergoing cancer treatment.
Source: The New Times
The Rwanda National Police (RNP) and the Justice and the Catholic Church have entered a partnership to strengthen the campaign against Gender Based Violence (GBV).
Source: WNN
In conjunction with Women's History Month this March, WomenCorporateDirectors (WCD) – the largest global membership organization of women board members – is taking significant steps to increase the numbers of women on boards worldwide. WCD initiatives in Asia, Africa, and the Americas over the coming weeks will expand upon the group's existing 42 global chapters of more than 1,400 members serving on 1,550 boards.
Source: ASNS
Hundreds of women community and religious leaders, environmentalist and advocates from 28 countries present new solutions for sustainable development.
Source: UNEP
Religious and community leaders meet to discuss solutions for sustainable development
Source: SANF
A new gender law in Mauritius that requires one-third of candidates in local elections to be women represents another small step towards parity in decision-making.