Cheers and Jeers

Tunisia to Consider Rights; Libya Sets Small Quota

By WeNews staff

Saturday, January 7, 2012

(WOMENSENEWS)--

Cheers

Tunisia's new constitution is likely to contain provisions on women's rights and individual liberties, and the country will need a constitutional council to uphold it, new President Moncef Marzouki said in a Jan. 1 interview, reported Reuters. Speaking to the French news website Mediapart, Marzouki stressed that the respect of human, and more specifically women's, rights had been an important condition of the power-sharing deal with the moderate Islamist Ennahda party, the winner of Tunisia's first democratic election.

More News to Cheer This Week:

Women's employment now appears to be rising, according to data in the January employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. An analysis of the report by the Institute for Women's Policy Research saw equal job growth for men and women (206,000 for each) during the past three months. However, from December 2010 to December 2011, of the 1.6 million jobs added to payrolls, only 521,000 or 32 percent were filled by women; 1,119,000 jobs or 68 percent were filled by men.

An Alabama man was arrested Jan. 5 on federal charges that he set fire to a Florida Panhandle abortion clinic New Year's morning, authorities said, reported the Associated Press. Bobby Joe Rogers of Tuscaloosa was charged with violating federal explosives laws and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

A law allowing only women to work in lingerie shops in Saudi Arabia is coming into force, reported the BBC Jan. 4. Campaigners hope this will end decades of awkwardness where women have always been served by male shop assistants.