General Women, Peace and Security

When the former Chilean President, Michelle Bachelet, convened the first meeting of the new UN women's rights agency, UN Women, in late January, she declared that ending violence against women would be a major priority. Marian Aggrey assesses progress and setbacks in the UN 10-year effort to empower women in peacemaking and outlaw rape as a weapon of war.

The United Nations (UN) Women, the newest UN entity, said on Tuesday that it will be working together with governments, women and other associations and stakeholders by focusing on four priority areas to ensure women's equality and their empowerment in the community they live.

"We know that the African Union summit is still very masculine but we are trying to bring in the voices of women," said Gertrude Mongella, former president of the Pan-African parliament, explaining the rationale behind the shadow summit organised by the Gender is my Agenda Campaign (Gimac) in Addis Ababa on 24-26 January.

If there were any doubts concerning the impact of her Presidency in the African political arena, the President's interventions at all levels of the political equation, could provide a clearer perspective of the influence the 1st elected female President of Africa continues to wield throughout Africa and beyond.

The Kurdish house in Baghdad held on Saturday an educational seminar about Iraqi women and ways to involve them in executive decisions of the Iraqi state and activists in the field of empowerment of women, under the slogan (who is responsible for the absence of women in the Iraqi government).

We know what the birth of a revolution looks like: A student stands before a tank. A fruit seller sets himself on fire. A line of monks link arms in a human chain. Crowds surge, soldiers fire, gusts of rage pull down the monuments of tyrants, and maybe, sometimes, justice rises from the flames.

Media in Southern Africa still has a long way to go towards gender sensitive reporting in newsrooms, a study by Gender Links has revealed.

Federal contractor Green Bay Dressed Beef LLC will pay $1.65 million in back wages, interest and benefits to 970 women who were subjected to systemic discrimination by the company. The settlement follows an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, which found that the women were rejected for general laborer positions at the company's Green Bay plant in 2006 and 2007.

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak announced today that he will not run for reelection in September, a victory for the Egyptians that have been protesting his regime for the past week.

Dominating the nearly nonstop coverage has been the moving photographs published throughout the world of passionate protesters demanding their voices are heard.

The face of women's issues in Lebanon is changing. Young intellectuals in thick Ray-Ban glasses and oversized sweaters, elegant ladies clutching designer purses, Sri-Lankan housekeepers, government representatives as well as foreign exchange students, all came out in force last week to the Metropolis Cinema Sofil, waiting in anticipation for documentaries outlining women's rights in Lebanon to be unveiled.