“I never thought I would have fewer rights in my own country at the age of sixty than I did when I was twenty.” So said an Egyptian mother to her son – and it made him reflect. 

Ahmed Kadry, a PhD student at Imperial College London, writes: 

For all the arguing about constitutional clauses protecting women’s rights and all the media exposure on the countless incidents of sexual harassment we read and hear about daily, we are perhaps further away than ever from both understanding and preventing the continuation of Egypt being a “male dominated” society.

Thirty Saudi women have taken seats in Saudi Arabia's Shura Council, for the first time in the conservative kingdom's history, as they were sworn in before King Abdullah at his palace in the capital, Riyadh.

Researchers are taking a new path to disclose and keep track of rape in the Syrian conflict.

The Women Under Siege project is live-tracking how sexualised violence is being used in Syria. Part of the tracking is reports on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

The project’s crowdmap keeps an up-to-date tally in visual form: Incidents of sexual violence are represented by dots on a map – the larger the dot, the more reports of rape.

How about taking a few dance steps at work on Thursday? By doing so, you can join the international efforts to end violence against women.

This year, the global V-Day celebrates its 15th anniversary. On February 14th, millions of people around the globe will show their support for the anti-violence fight by taking up the challenge issued by the organization One Billion Rising: Dance, strike, or  rise to show that you want the violence to stop.

The work to end violence against women is also the theme of the UN’s 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). 

It takes place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 4 to 15 March 2013 under the headline, Elimination and prevention of  all forms of violence against women and girls. 

KVINFO (the Danish Centre for Information on Research and Information on Gender, Equality and Diversity) participates in the Danish delegation to the Commission’s session together with Parliamentarians and women’s NGO.

DVK Group, an international commodity trading and financial boutique, has announced plans to launch a Shariah-compliant fund targeted at women in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

The multi-asset DVK GCC Shariah Women’s Fund has a capital target of up to $500m.

Deepak Kuntawala, the company’s founder and chairman, believes that a fund focused on women in the Middle East will find good opportunities for both organisers and investors.

“During all my trips and interaction with the GCC, we recognised there was a huge potential with respect to women,” he said. 

“There are some very inspiring leading women spearheading outstanding businesses.”