Migrant domestic workers in the Middle East and Gulf countries are ranked, with Filipinos at the top commanding the highest salaries, followed by Indonesian and Sri Lankan women, and African women at the bottom. The region has a deeply rooted culture of discrimination against people of African descent.

She was among the most well-known Muslim feminists and her courageous writings sought to undermine the ideological and political systems that silence and oppress women. Her influential pieces were well crafted and accessible to thousands of minds across the Muslim world and beyond.

Political Islam in Sudan remains very strong and manifests itself in floggings of Sudanese women that are justified by the constitution in the Indecent and Immoral Acts. Yet, Sudanese women remain defiant and resist these unjust and misogynistic laws

Muhildeen Shikh Mohamed is one of the few Somali men who stood up to defend his wife, Lul Ali Isman when she was gang raped by government security men. His story is among many of the hidden acts of sexual violence in Somalia in which more men need to stand up against this abuse against women

While the nomination to key ministerial posts shows commitment of the government to involve women, it must not mask the massive day-to-day persecution of women in Somalia. A drastic ideological change is needed.

The recent sentencing to death by stoning of a young woman accused of adultery stands against all the values, traditions and heritage of the Sudanese and signifies the reactionary political agenda of a tyrannical regime.