EGYPT: Only one woman won a seat in Egypt’s mid-term Upper Parliament elections this month, and the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights is not happy about it. The Center blames the results on the small number of women candidates and lack of party support, and suggests that candidates shy away from reliance on political parties and demand a quota for women in all elected bodies.
IRELAND: On Tuesday, Dr. Lydia Foy, a trans woman, finally received a birth certificate that reflects her gender. Having undergone reassignment surgery in 1992, Dr. Foy applied for a new birth certificate in 1997 and was denied. The High Court ruled in 2007 that denying her an accurate certificate violated the European Convention on Human Rights, but she only received the correct certificate after the Irish government dropped its Supreme Court appeal.
BRITAIN: The U.K.’s “inspectorates of probation and constabulary” have deemed waiting lists for sex-offender treatment in England and Wales to be unacceptably long, due to overextended and under-trained staff. Their reports found that rehabilitation programs for serious offenders were effective, but thanks to budget cuts, less serious offenders often fell through the cracks.
THE MALDIVES: President Nasheed hopes to curb misogyny by advocating affirmative action policies benefiting women and implementing a new health insurance for single mothers. However, MP Eva Abdulla worries that rising Muslim extremism could stall his efforts.
NORTH KOREA: Six teenage dropouts beat fellow gang member “Kim” to death and disposed of her remains in the Han River–her offense was gossiping. The death raises issues of child negligence in North Korea–no family member attempted to locate the teens during the four days when Kim was held hostage in one member’s empty home.
Photo of a famous Egyptian woman in government, the pharaoh Hatshepshut, from Flickr user mharrsch under Creative Commons 3.0
