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This bulletin is devoted to exploring what the quota has meant as a motorway to women's accession to political power. It draws on research findings from Pathways, as well as presentations given at a special seminar held in the Brazilian National Congress. The bulletin raises the questions of who are the women who are best positioned to benefit from the quota as a fast track option, what are they enabled to do once in office via the quota seats, and what kind of gender agendas does the critical mass of women who have come to power via the quota espouse and advocate? …

The research investigated the definition of empowerment in Palestinian women's organisations and contextualised it in Palestinian practices of mobilisation and resistance. …

This study aimed to illuminate the pathways of women's political empowerment, the relationship between political participation and change and interrogate the effectiveness of the decentralisation commission in empowering women in Sierra Leone. …

This research looked at resurgent Islam and its influence on the formation of female identities and sexualities in Bangladesh. The aim was to see whether the new forms of Islam in fact open up new spaces thereby ‘permitting’ women greater sexual rights than has been popularly perceived, and what might be learnt by the secular women’s movement from women’s organising in these new spaces. …

Through this study researchers investigated the ‘criss-cross’ processes through which women in Pakistan become empowered, focusing on how the larger institutional set-up (whether military or non-military) helps women achieve their goals. They explored how some of the major initiatives from civil society have contributed to women’s voices at the local government level, and also looked at individual case studies of women when they either surmount or fail to surmount societal pressures in their individual lives. …

Representations of men as perpetrator and patriarch have profoundly shaped the terms of gender and development’s engagement with masculinities discourse and practice. Many of those working in the field have remained hesitant, tentative, often hostile to the notion that men might be potential allies in the struggle for gender justice. This work explores what role there should be for men in women's empowerment. …

30% - the Real World film directed by Anna Cady - is proving popular at film festivals and conferences. Following its success in being shortlisted for the Sundance Film Festival, in November it will be shown at both the Amnesty International Human Rights Film Festival in Paris and the Underwire Film Festival in London where it has been shortlisted for the best sound designer award. …

A new review of the Real World film '30%: Women and Politics in Sierra Leone' by Animated Documentary describes its animated sequences as: …

KPFA Radio Station’s Women’s Magazine (Berkeley, California) interviewed Cecilia Sardenberg on her thoughts as a feminist on President Dilma Rousseff’s election in 2010 and her hopes for the future. Cecilia who is a member of President Rousseff’s PT (Worker’s Party) herself has high hopes for what President Rousseff can achieve despite her lacking the dynamic charisma of the outgoing President Lula. When Rousseff was the Minister for Energy she brought in a gender equity programme which is now in existence across the major energy companies in Brazil. Although she hadn’t previously been associated with the feminist movement, Cecilia believes that she is going to be doing more of this in going forward. …

This month's update focuses on the Pathways theme ofBuilding Constituencies for Equality and Justice. …

Politically Motivated Sexual Assault and the Law in Violent Transitions: A Case Study from Egypt is a new evidence report from Mariz Tadros about the use of sexual violence against women and men in order to deter the opposition from engaging in protests and demonstrations in a context of a country in transition, Egypt. …

Real World documentary 30%: Women and Politics in Sierra Leone has featured on the leading cultural and literary review magazine The Atlantic and includes an interview with 30%'s director Anna Cady on the role of women in ending the conflict in Sierra Leone, the current state of women in Sierra Leonean politics, and Anna's hopes for the film.  …

This new IDS/Pathways/GIZ Working Paper by Mariz Tadros examines the nature of the political struggle over the status, role and identity of women in Egypt in between the two revolutions (January 2011 and June 2013). …

What if Women Ruled the World? was the provocative question posed to an expert panel of women from Brighton and beyond at a lively Brighton Fringe Festival Event in May. The session was kicked off by the Real World film 30%: Women and Politics in Sierra Leone. The panel included IDS Director Melissa Leach, Head of the School of Global Studies at the University of Sussex Andrea Cornwall, Caroline Lucas MP, Chief Executive of Brighton and Hove Council Penny Thompson and activists from Outreach Bristol Muna Hassan and Ifrah Hassan. …

Women in Politics, edited by Mariz Tadros, is a new book in the Pathways/Zed Feminisms and Development series.  …