THE QUESTION
Are women making real breakthroughs where you live or is it still one-step forward, two steps back for half the world's population?
Posted by Samina Ahmed on December 15, 2006 11:14 AM
FROM THE PANEL
Bashir Goth is a veteran journalist, freelance writer, the first Somali blogger and editor of a leading news website. He is also a regular contributor to major Middle Eastern and African newspapers and online journals.
Somalia/UAE - Muslim scholars must stop being apologetic and start sifting the right from the wrong in Islam so women can reach their rightful place in society.
William M. Gumede is Associate Editor at Africa Confidential. He is Research Fellow at the School of Public and Development Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He recently released the bestselling book Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the Soul of the ANC.
Johannesburg, South Africa - Former Deputy President Jacob Zuma told the court in his rape trail that he could tell by the way a woman sat that she wanted sex.
Masha Lipman is the editor of the Pro et Contra journal, published by Carnegie Moscow Center. Lipman is also an expert in the Civil Society Program at the Carnegie Moscow Center. She served as deputy editor of the Russian weekly newsmagazines, Ezhenedel’ny zhurnal from 2001 to 2003, and of Itogi magazine from 1995 to 2001. She has worked as a translator, researcher, and contributor forMoscow bureau of The Washington Post and has had a monthly op-ed column in The Washington Post since 2001.
Moscow, Russia - When gender equality is enforced by a Communist state, the results are very different than when women's rights are secured through public activism.
Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff is a Senior Director at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a transatlantic public policy and grant-making foundation. He overseas the fund's policy programs. He was previously the Washington bureau chief of the German newsweekly, Die Zeit.
Germany/USA - The German welfare state keeps mothers away from the workplace.
Dr. Ali Ettefagh serves as a director of Highmore Global Corporation, an investment company in emerging markets of Eastern Europe, CIS, and the Middle East. He is the co-author of several books on trade conflict, resolution of international trade disputes, conflicts in letters of credit, trade-related banking transactions, sovereign debt, arbitration and dispute resolutions and publications specific to the oil and gas, communication, aviation and finance sectors. Dr. Ettefagh is a member of the executive committee and the board of directors of The Development Foundation, an advisor to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, and an advisor to a number of European companies. Dr. Ettefagh speaks Persian (Farsi), English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and Turkish.
Tehran, Iran - Don't carve the world into blocks to explain women's progress. It's not religion or culture that determines women's status; it's education.
Miriam Leitao is a reporter and columnist for O Globo and Radio CBN in Brazil. She is also a commentator on Globo TV Network and runs her own blog, www.miriamleitao.com, hosted at Globo online at www.oglobo.com.br. She was awarded Columbia University’s Maria Moors Cabot Prize in 2005.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Six years ago, a prominent Brazilian journalist murdered his ex-girlfriend. He was found guilty but is not in jail. Despite abuse, women advance.
Nikos Konstandaras is managing editor and a columnist of Kathimerini, the leading Greek morning daily. He is also the founding editor of Kathimerini’s English Edition, which is published as a supplement to The International Herald Tribune in Greece, Cyprus and Albania. He worked as a correspondent for The Associated Press from 1989 to 1997 before joining the Greek press and has reported from many countries in the region.
Athens, Greece - The 21st Century should be the era of women's liberation. Change is inevitable. If not, remember the Amazon warriors?
Shim Jae Hoon is a Seoul-based journalist and commentator writing for a variety of international publications including
YaleGlobal Online, The Straits Times of Singapore, The Taipei Times and Korea Herald. He was a correspondent for Far Eastern Economic Review in Seoul, Taipei and Jakarta.
Seoul, South Korea - Women flood leadership positions where I live. Why? Because of industrialization, and education.
Lahore, Pakistan - Blaring headlines announcing yet another 'honor' killing or rape victim detained while the perpetrator goes free show just how much Pakistani women are up against.
Daoud Kuttab is a Palestinian journalist. He was born in Jerusalem in 1955. Presently he is a visiting professor at Princeton University in the United States. Mr. Kuttab is the former director of the Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University in Ramallah, Palestine and the founder of AmmanNet, the Arab world's first internet radio station. His personal web page is www.daoudkuttab.com
Ramallah,Palestine/Amman,Jordan - Non-governmental women's organizations have been mostly limited to the elite; their progressive positions are little more than lip service.
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