International Women’s Day in Egypt tomorrow

This video says about itself:

The anti-government protesters who have been occupying Cairo’s Tahrir Square for more than two weeks now want to turn Egypt into a modern, progressive nation, including equal rights for men and women. One of their heroes is the renowned secular feminist Nawal el Saadawi.

From daily The Independent in Britain:

Egypt’s women plan mass march against military rulers

By Alastair Beach in Cairo

Egyptian activists have called for a “Million Women March” tomorrow after accusing the military government of forgetting about the role of women in the uprising and maintaining a “backward” political system dominated by men.

Organisers of the march say that political changes being introduced by Egypt’s Higher Military Council, which assumed power after the toppling of Hosni Mubarak last month, will entrench patriarchal systems of power which have dominated the region for years. “They are forgetting about women’s role in the revolution,” said Dina Abou El-Soud, a 35-year-old hostel owner who is helping organise the march. “I think it is because of the culture and how it used to be here.”

The demonstration, which like many of the Middle East’s pro-democracy protests is being organised on Facebook, comes after an army-appointed commission announced proposed changes to Egypt’s constitution.

The amendments, which Egyptians will be asked to approve in a referendum on 19 March, include imposing two-term limits on presidential incumbents and ditching the stifling restrictions on who can be nominated to lead the country.

The nationwide poll on the proposals will come before presidential and parliamentary elections which are scheduled to take place within the next six months.

Protests continued elsewhere. In Bahrain, thousands of Shia opposition supporters blocked the entrance to the Prime Minister’s office but failed to disrupt a government meeting yesterday as the campaign for reform in the strategic Gulf nation entered its third week. Bahrain‘s Shia majority has long complained of discrimination and political persecution in the nation, which is ruled by a Sunni dynasty.

International Women’s Day: 100 years of struggle for women’s liberation: here.

Egypt Tahrir square report: here. And here. And here.

Women at risk from second wave of financial crisis: here.

Women in EU continue to earn less than men: here.

Ireland: US peace activist and Paul Robeson award-winner Vinie Burrows will join a march and rally outside Belfast City Hall tomorrow to mark International Women’s Day: here.

Britain: Fairness? The gender impact of the cuts: here.

Celebrate Women in Entomology History: here.

Britain: Imperialist bunglers Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague were smarting today from their botched James Bond-style operation in Libya, writes Roger Bagley in Parliament: here.