Democracy

Women, Security and Israeli Politics – Going Backwards

The number of women in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, reached a record high last year, but even then they accounted for only 30% of all Knesset Members (34 out of the 120 Knesset members). However, it is already projected that following the elections the number of women Members of Knesset will be even lower.

By Anat Saragusti

Democracy

Active political participation for all citizens of a state is the core value of democracy. Gender democracy needs to become a component within the process of democratization in conflict areas as well as in gender-hierarchical organisational structures or cultures. The Heinrich Böll Foundation is using very different approaches to achieve political participation of women.
 

Africa

In Defence of Individual Liberties: Bodily Liberties in a Civil Democratic State

All citizens, male and female, have equal rights and duties and are equal before the law without any discrimination. The state guarantees freedoms and individual and collective rights to all citizens, and provides all citizens the conditions for a dignified life.  (Article 21 of the Tunisian Constitution adopted on  January 27, 2014)[i]

 

[i] Translation of this and other texts from the Tunisian constitution and Penal Code by Ms. Wafa Ben Haj Omar.

By Wafa Ben Haj Omar, Professor Wahid Ferchichi

Intergenerational Dialogue on Feminist Activism

We hosted a conversation with three women, Julia Ojiambo, Daisy Amdany and Njoki Ngumi, representing different generations of activists. The coffee table dialogue seeks to find out the extent to which global plans and strategies have informed activists at different moments and how feminist action develops across generations.

Why Don’t Women Vote For Other Women? Reconsidering Automatic Privilege and Tokenism in Political Processes

As Zanzibar gearsup for a rerun of Presidential, Legislative and Local Councils Elections annulled in October 2015, the Regional Commissioner (RC) of Mwanza, Magessa Mulongo on March 8th while commemorating International Women’s Day made some remarks worthy of a response. Mr. Mulongo used a familiar trope to try to explain women’s low numbers in representative structures-elected or nominated: he chastised women for being each other’s worst enemy.

By Salma Maoulidi

Middle East

Europe & North America

Asia

"One Cube" Three, yet one!

"One Cube" Three, yet one! - is a documentary film by Pramod Dev. Depicting three women who work in export-oriented sectors of India's economy.

By Shalini Yog Shah

“India is still confronted with the old issues, as well as the new ones”

Ranjana Kumari, Director of the Centre for Social Research in New Delhi, is a veteran Indian feminist who has been following the International Women’s Conferences since Nairobi in 1985. She just returned from the March 2015 meeting in New York. We talked with her about women’s rights and gender equity in India.

By Ranjana Kumari, Shalini Yog Shah

“Women are more interested in modern politics”

Humaira Saqib is the chairwoman and editor-in-chief of Women News Agency and Nigah-e Zan magazine. She is also a member of the leadership board of the “Women Political Participation Committee” and a member of “Afghanistan 1400.” In the interview she talks about the political future of women in Afghanistan.

more on Democracy

Women’s Rights in Rojava

Paper

This study focuses on the areas permanently under Kurdish control with regime presence. These areas have experienced a quite different trajectory because they have been least affected by military fighting. While the human losses and damage suffered at the hands of ISIS should not be belittled, this area has hardly experienced aerial bombardments or fighting on the ground. Kurdish actors, for a long time tightly controlled by the Syrian regime, have been able to develop governance structures in parallel to the ones set up by the regime. While none of the Kurdish parties has openly called for independence understood as separation from Syria, Kurdish actors have come up with governance structures that explore the possibilities of autonomy within a federal state. They have come up with a constitution and an institutional design, and as far as it is in the range of their possibilities, they have been working on implementing it.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Women, Power, and Change in Southeast Asia

pdf
Report

A vital part of this report in Southeast Asia involves showing the ways that ordinary people, activists, human rights defenders, and social movements are organizing to protect their communities from destruction and injustice. Some of the most vocal and active participants are women from the most affected communities in the region.

Cross-Border Observations on Rape in India and South Africa

In early 2013, the cases of two young women, brutally gang-raped and murdered in different parts of the world received uncharacteristic national and international attention. One was Jyoti Singh, a 23-year-old from India; and the other was 17-year-old Anene Booysen in South Africa.

By Claudia Lopes

"The government ignores the upcoming generation of females"

Manizha Ramiz heads the women’s committee at the Khatt-e Naw organization. She also teaches at the Accounting and Management Institute and works for Education TV. She was born in Kabul and went to the Ariana High School. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in management and is currently doing a Master's degree in psychology at Kabul University.

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