Asia

Ever since the raging conflict has driven her from her home in Saada to the city of Amran, Fatma has been praying day and night for the fighting to end so that she could be reunited with her two married daughters who stayed behind, one of them a mother of 10.

President Hamid Karzai recently outlined proposals that could see the Taliban share power in Kabul. What should not be forgotten is the Taliban regime from 1996 to 2001. That period in Afghanistan was characterised by brutality, a medieval style of ‘justice' and gross violations of rights — particularly women's, rights.

"My life is rubbish, but what can I do? I have to work and make some money," said the woman in her 30s, sitting with other Somali women in Aden's Basateen slum district.

Like many others, Saada fled to Yemen to escape the chaos, clan warfare and famine that has plagued Somalia since warlords toppled President Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 -- only to face another struggle for survival in impoverished Yemen.

February 13, 2010 – (Seattle Times) Storai Sadat is a financier whose clients are often found far from the commercial centers of this capital city. She loans money to female entrepreneurs, whose workplace may be a hillside backyard where pigeons are raised for pet markets or a living room where blue cloth is sewed into burqas.

Violation of rights in Iran, a window from my experience to a broader picture, By Shadi Sadr:

The socio-economic impact of the ongoing conflict and the comprehensive closure regime on the Palestinian population of the West Bank and Gaza have been well documented. A report published by the World Bank analyzes an important, but as yet largely unexplored, dimension of this issue -- the long term impact of the system of movement and access restrictions on relations between women and men.

On the way out of a popular Jerusalem steakhouse last Wednesday, I was introduced to an American-Israeli named Aliza.

A member of the Israel Defense Forces public relations unit, Aliza quickly explained that she was busy hosting a dinner for some foreign journalists. "Whom of course, internally, I despise," she added apologetically, not knowing who I was.

Fresh data on the status of women in Lebanon will be made public at conference.

The second phase of an innovative project to propel the efforts of local nonprofits working to improve the standing of women in the Middle East and North Africa region will be launched in Beirut, Lebanon today.

There has been some return to normality in Pakistan's troubled Swat District since the army's military campaign in the area, but fear of Taliban militants persists and is affecting people's - especially women's - lives.