By: Joseph Wangui After venturing into male-dominated political arena in the country, women seeking elective positions in Nyeri are getting it rough due to increased physical violence and intimidation as the August General Election draws to a close. The women have complained of intimidation by their male competitors through hiring of goons and gender discrimination. Some have also suffered physical violence and destruction of their campaign materials while admitting that they are financially constrained. Ms. Ann Kanyi, who is running for Tetu parliamentary seat, is lucky to be alive following an attack by four masked men armed with metal bars and a gun at Mbaaini village. She narrated that her car was blocked from the opposite direction recently by a grey Toyota Fielder whose registration number was concealed. She said the attackers jumped out of their vehicle and smashed windows of her car before dragging her out and assaulting her.…

The Kerala government recently ordered a probe into the allegation that young women had entered the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala. The age-old practice at the temple bans entry of women aged between 10 and 50 years. Kerala Temple Affairs Minister Kadakampally Surendran said certain photographs, which purportedly showed young women at the Sabarimala hill shrine, are being circulated on the social media. “I have asked the vigilance wing of the temple affairs department to probe the incident,” Surendran said. The minister said he received complaints that a businessman from Kollam district was making gains by ensuring VIP facility for darshan at Sabarimala temple. “A complaint said the young women had gone to the temple along with that businessman. If anyone tries to make gains by facilitating VIP darshan, it is an offence. I have asked the vigilance officer to look into the veracity of the photographs,’’ he said. The…

By: Kelly Weill Five Maryland legislators could have ended a policy that forces women to share child custody with their rapists. Instead the five legislators, all men, buried the bill. Maryland is one of seven states without a law allowing women to terminate parental rights for their rapists, if their child was conceived as a result of sexual assault, according to reproductive rights organization NARAL. The state’s current policy forces survivors to negotiate child custody and adoption issues with their attacker. In a bid to update the draconian policy, Maryland Delegate Kathleen Dumais introduced legislation that would allow a woman to cut her rapist’s parental rights. But while the bill passed both Maryland’s House and Senate, the bill’s text varied between the two legislative bodies. On Monday, the last day of legislative session, a five-person negotiating group was set to decide on the bill’s final text, the Baltimore Sun reported.…

Abdulrahman Al-Rashed, Head of Shoura Council’s committee on economy and energy, said he is in favor of women driving “as long as there is a clear system to enable them to drive.” He said in an interview with Okaz newspaper that Shoura Council members should not be silent on this issue. Al-Rashed said the extent of criticism they receive indicates high expectations from the council. He also stated that the council does not serve a certain category of people but rather, plays a monitoring role, participates in legislations, studies government departments’ reports and issues recommendations aimed at improving the performance of those entities. He pointed that all members deal with the issues discussed and vote on them, but do not form blocs. Women’s participation in the council is developing every day, he said. “Their presence in the council is positive. They propose discussions on important issues related to society.” Rejecting…

Known as “Las Flakas” (Skinny Girls), young Mexican women are taking up lives of crime alongside their male counterparts, becoming extremely effective agents for the cartels’ cause. “They are ideal killers; young, beautiful and reckless,” said Andrew Chesnut, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. “By keeping a low profile they avoid suspicion where men doing the same job would quickly find themselves in trouble,” he told Fox News. Joselyn Niño was a notorious assassin for the Gulf Cartel. She was very active on social media, where she would boast of her bloody achievements. She was murdered and butchered by another young woman, La Gladys of the Zetas, who remains at large terrorizing the communities of northern Mexico. Today, all of Mexico’s major criminal cartels have female “Flaka” death squads. While the woman’s traditional role within drug trafficking organizations was to launder drug money and raise the children, many young women…