Asia

Vice-President Najah al-Attar on Tuesday stressed the need for Arab women to shoulder their role in country and nation through involving in their national work, particularly their social role in raising generations that are capable of defending the country.

The notes came during her meeting with heads of delegations participating in the Arab Women Forum.

It has been said that the conditions of women and children reflect the state of affairs of that country. Thus, when President Benigno Aquino III declared in his inaugural address last June 30 that his administration would take a righteous path, that path should lead to the betterment of the conditions of women and children.

Despite widespread criticism, the number of discriminatory bylaws continues to increase across the country, a leading women's rights group said on Tuesday.

The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) said that 35 such bylaws had gone into force this year, bringing the total to 189.

In Afghanistan's parliament, 68 of the 249 seats are reserved for women. During the elections of September 2010, 69 women were elected to parliament – one more than the minimum.

In a dimly lit room at the back of an Afghan house, 21-year-old Zahara is crouched on a plank of wood weaving a large carpet on a loom that she was able to buy using a microfinance loan of $1,100.

Zahara started weaving carpets when she was 10 and did not go to school, but the loan from non-profit development group BRAC allowed her to start her own business about 18 months ago and she has since taken out two more loans of $330 each.

Crisis and trouble in the world dominate the headlines, but a woman's world remains silent and unnoticed.

Through every set back women still dare to smile from the mountains of Bougainville to the shores of Solomon, Fiji and Tonga.

As the number of reported sexual crimes in Timor Leste increases, survivors - mostly women and girls - must wait up to one year as their cases wind through a struggling court system.

Why should Canada bother helping Afghan women and girls when Canadian combat troops withdraw next year? What right does the West have to force its aggressive, feminist values on the Afghan people?

"I had so many dreams for my life, but when I saw him, they just disappeared." Saraya spoke softly, her hunched-over body and nervously twisting hands testimony to all she says she has had to endure.

"I told my father I didn't want to marry him: 'why are you doing this to me?'" She continued: "My father said 'you are of an age to be married and this is my decision, not yours.'"

The modern Indonesian women's movement began in the early 1900s, hand-in-hand with the growing nationalism in the country marked by the establishment of nationalist organizations initiated by a small number of educated Indonesians.

Important events occurred in line with this nationalism, such as the Youth Congress on Oct. 28, 1928, which resulted in the famous youth pledge, Sumpah Pemuda.