Women’s rights in Iran

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Iran’s authorities recently confiscated Shirin Ebadi’s Nobel Peace prize medal. Activists say the move exemplifies Tehran’s hostility toward women. Mahnaz Afkhami was the Minister for Women’s Affairs in Iran before the 1979 revolution. She wrote the foreword to a new book called Iranian Women’s One Million Signatures Campaign for Equality. Anchor Marco Werman talks with Afkhami about the women’s movement in Iran. Download MP3

• “Change for Equality” homepage
• “I was Iran’s last woman minister”

Rape as a weapon of war

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The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to tackle a particularly disturbing tactic of war this week: the use of rape as a weapon. Perhaps the worst recent cases have been in places like eastern Congo, where armed groups have used rape to terrorize communities. Jeb Sharp talks with Anne-Marie Goetz of UNIFEM, the UN’s development agency for women. Download MP3 (Photo: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images)

• Jeb Sharp on Clinton’s demand for an end of the sexual abuse (Aug)
• Jeb Sharp’s award-winning series on rape in Congo (2008)
• UNIFEM homepage

Ahmadinejad to appoint female ministers

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President Ahmadinejad is having a hard time governing in the wake of the disputed presidential election. There have been objections to his choices for cabinet ministers. Now he’s announced he wants to appoint two women ministers. If they’re approved, it would mark the first time since the Islamic revolution that women have been chosen to be part of Iran’s government. The World’s Laura Lynch reports.

Hope for abused Iraqi women

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Anchor Katy Clark speaks with reporter Anna Badkhen about her article “Baghdad Underground,” which chronicles a secret network of shelters for abused women in Iraq.

The life and death of Sitara Achakzai

We hear about the remarkable life of Sitara Achakzai. She was born and raised in Kandahar, Afghanistan, the city known as the birthplace of the Taliban. Sitara served as a local legislator in Kandahar, where she was a vocal proponent of women’s rights. In April 2009, she was shot and killed outsider her home. Photographer Paula Lerner produced this audio slideshow about Sitara Achakzai. >>> Click here to view the audio slideshow

Egyptian women fight harassment (5:45)

Egyptian women are often subject to sexual harassment and campaigners for women’s rights are calling for new laws to deal with the issue. Some Egyptian women are now taking their security into their own hands. The BBC’s Christian Fraser reports from Egypt.