Leaving my homeland always makes me homesick. And when you are 6772 kilometers away, travelling for eight hours in an aircraft,  in a country that doesn’t speak your language. Phew…you see trouble welcoming you.

When I boarded the flight from India to Germany (Bonn, to be precise) in September 2010 a gamut of mixed emotions overcame me. I felt like I was entering alien territory. The silver lining amid the mental chaos was “hey, they too are humans…at least sign language is the same everywhere“. That consoled me a little.

I remember Fatema Begum very well. A little girl from the small town of Kishoregonj in the Dhaka district in Bangladesh. She was in my peer group. I played Bouchhi, Gollachhut and so many local games with her. And some times we played with the dolls and arranged their marriages.

Fatema got married while she was studying in class eight. At that time she was just 15. Though my friends and I did not understand what the real meaning of marriage was, we nonetheless enjoyed the colorful lighting and the huge program of Fatema’s marriage.

One or two years later Fatema’s younger sister, Nasima, also got married. She was only14 or 15.

Ute Schaeffer

“You will never be perfect – this is the precondition of a work-life-balance. Second, you have to be very well organized and have a talent for improvisation. And third, women need to take themselves seriously and invest in their education.”

This is how Ute Schaeffer, DW’s Editor-in-Chief for Regionalized Content summarizes her success formula for managing her private and her professional life.

Schaeffer, born in 1968 and a mother of three, does not care for stereotypes about women or men. She laughs when she remembers how, after being appointed DW Editor-in- Chief in November 2011, male colleagues confronted her with their expectations about her style of leadership and management as a woman.

Pakistani liberals insist their country is not just about bearded extremists and suicide bombers. The recent fashion week in Karachi, they say, is a good example of Pakistan’s progressive outlook.

Of late, fashion weeks have become a regular feature in Pakistan. The most recent one was the Fashion Pakistan Week, which showcased works of Pakistan’s most celebrated fashion designers from April 7-10. The event took place in Karachi, a city which normally gets negative publicity for its ethnic and sectarian violence.

Almost a tenth of Kerala’s population lives in the Gulf States and in Europe. While highly skilled graduates leave to seek lucrative jobs elsewhere, many poor families depend on remittances from abroad – at a high price.

One morning, Aisha P.N. decided to go on hunger strike. Her employer rushed into the dark hut made of rough plywood and cardboard, hidden from sight under his mahogany staircase. He stood over her worn mattress, threatening to beat her with a stick if she didn’t get up. His wives and children looked on, impassively. “But I just didn’t care,” Aisha says, absent-mindedly tugging at her loose red scarf.

While civil society in Pakistan demands stricter punishment for the perpetrators of acid attacks, hundreds of women continue to fall victim to the heinous crime of vitriolage.

The Pakistani Senate recently passed the Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention Bill of 2011, which stipulates a maximum prison term of life and fines perpetrators up to Rs1 million (around 11,000 US dollars or 8,000 euros).

“Invest in rural women. Eliminate discrimination against them in law and in practice. Ensure that policies respond to their needs. Give them equal access to resources. Provide rural women with a role in decision-making.” – United Nations Secretary-General,  Ban Ki-moon

Recognizing the critical role and contribution of rural women, the theme of International Women’s Day 2012 is Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty.

Key contributors to global economies, rural women play a critical role in both developed and developing nations — they enhance agricultural and rural development, improve food security and can help reduce poverty levels in their communities. In some parts of the world, women represent 70 percent of the agricultural workforce, comprising 43 percent of agricultural workers worldwide.