Talking about sexual harassment remains a taboo in Pakistani society, where women usually choose to stay silent for fear of repercussions. But now, there is one woman with the courage to speak out. It took her three years to report and ten years to write about the sexual harassment she had faced at work.

Dr. Fouzia Saeed, author of “Taboo,” a story about the culture of prostitution in Pakistan, has recently launched her second book, “Working with the Sharks: Countering Sexual Harassment in Our Lives” in Pakistan. The book was officially launched in Islamabad on December 22 to coincide with the National Day for Working Women. It is an account of the author’s personal experience of sexual harassment by a senior male colleague when she was working at a senior administrative position at the UN Gender Program in Pakistan and how she and her eleven female colleagues took up the case against him.

Women in Afghanistan are slowly becoming financially independent

Just until a few years ago, Zulfia did not have any option other than giving up her studies and staying at home in Kabul. Now, with the help of NAZO, a German organization she teaches young women to become independent.

21-year-old Zulfia says, “I couldn’t keep going on with my education due to financial problems, so I had to stay home. At first I was not so courageous. I had nothing to say. My social contacts were few. I was a shy girl. But I was interested in working outside my home.”

Atifa Mansori, the head of Afghanistan’s business union in Herat says: “Due to the traditional discrimination against women and the country’s current social, political, cultural and economic condition, women have less job opportunities. Few are allowed to work outside their homes.”

Asian leaders are meeting in New Delhi to discuss why, despite the economic boom and rapid progress, women on their continent still remain victims of violence and the traditional patriarchal mindset.

“Preventing and Responding to Violence against Women and Girls: From Legislation to Effective Enforcement,” is a forum, taking place September 15 to 17, where Asian parliamentarians are meeting to discuss challenges faced by women in Asia. The event was organized by the Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Parliament of India.

In the conference, members of parliament from China, Cambodia, Japan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Iran

One year after the Bangladesh Supreme Court issued an order criticizing the government for failing to protect it citizens, there has not been a great deal of change, criticize women’s rights groups.

Hundreds of thousands of women were raped during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. As the country celebrates 40 years of independence, these victims of war, known as Birangonas, continue to suffer.

In Bengali, the word Birangona means “brave woman.” The Bangladeshi government gave this title to women who were raped by the Pakistani army in the nine months of the Liberation War of 1971. But the title has come to mean “dishonored” or “violated woman” and is synonymous with rape, abortion, suicide and war. According to Bangladeshi freedom fighters, the Pakistani army raped over 200,000 women during the war. Many of them migrated

Life is tough enough for women in Afghanistan, but things get more complicated when a young woman decides to take up journalism in a country riddled with conflict.

Tamana Jamily is one such young reporter-in-the-making. A student of media studies in Mazar-e-Sharif, Jamily works part-time at a radio station in her city. Supported by a scholarship from the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, she is now in Bonn to hone her radio skills in the Deutsche Welle. Jamily speaks to DW’s Martina Bertram about the dangerous life of a journalist in her war-ravaged country.

Benish Ali Bhat, a young journalist from India-administered Kashmir, is passionate about making documentary films and writing about her homeland, one of the world’s most sensitive conflict zones.Bhat is being sponsored by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation for an internship at the Deutsche Welle in Bonn. She speaks to DW’s Martina Bertram about her future goals.