Dede Sophie

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has reminded foreign media that held perceptions against PNG about its lack of female representation in Parliament cannot be accepted as slow progress. Mr Marape responded to a question from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that despite the election of  Rufina Peter as Central Province Governor, it was still very low. He said it took Australia 40 years to elect the first female into the Australian Parliament and its federation. Australia had its federation in 1901 and the first female elected to Parliament was in 1943 when Dame Enid Lyons was elected to the House of Representatives and Dorothy Tangney was elected to the Senate. For PNG, Mr Marape said it took three years for women to be in Parliament and that is a statement that women were recognized as leaders in the matrilineal communities and in modern democracy his government will support females to enter Parliament through the normal election process. He said there will be no res...

CONGRATS TO LUCKY WINNER – CYNTHIA Readers, please join me welcoming Eva Etzioni-Halevy , author of The Triumph of Deborah who will be guest blogging here today! Eva is a professor emeritus of political sociology at Bar- Ilan University in Israel. The search of her roots led her to the discovery of the rich world of the Bible, and to the intention of bringing it to life for contemporary readers through the writing of Biblical novels. How the Fascinating Women of the Bible Can Empower us Today A while ago, I participated in a symposium on women of the Bible at which a lady in the audience asked: Why should we be interested in biblical women? They were concerned mainly with marriage and bearing sons, while we, today, have so many more ambitions for our lives. But this is very challenging question, is based on a misconception. While the women of the Bible lived thousands of years ago, in essence we are still similar to them in our hopes and anxieties. Hence listening to their voice...