Ramallah (Ma’an News Agency): On July 29 2015, Palestine saw the appointment of its first woman mazouna, a Muslim official authorized to carry out marriage ceremonies. While being the only one of her kind in the Palestinian Territories, Tahrir Hamad is also one of the few woman mazounas on a global scale, since only Egypt and Abu Dhabi, and now...

Washington (AFP): On 29 August, organizers of the 2015 Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical journalism announced that this year’s award goes to Syrian-based journalist Zaina Erhaim. Just 30 years old, Ms Erhaim already has an impressive track record in improving the Syrian media scene: she has trained about 100 citizen reporters - a...

Lagos (AP): Irish rockstar and U2 frontman Bono on August 28 joined African singers as part of a campaign to empower women around the world through the medium of music. Along with the leading African male musicians D’banj, Diamond and Banky W, Bono announced that they will work on a remix of the song Strong Girl, a rallying cry for women’s...

Gurgaon (BBC) - On August 28th, the Indian state Haryana inaugurated its first all-women police force, heralding a significant improvement for women’s access to justice in a state where crimes and discrimination against women has remained consistently high. Despite Gurgaon’s (the state’s capital) recent transformation into one of India’s...

On March 1 2015, CEO Middle East announced its fifth annual list of the most important female influencers across the Arab world, with HE Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi topping the ranking for the fifth year running.  The first woman in the United Arab Emirates to hold a ministerial position, she has served in the UAE Federal Government since 2004, and...