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Venezuela is one of the world's largest oil exporters, but thanks to economic mismanagement it was already finding it difficult to pay its way even before the oil price started falling.

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter and Opec's most influential member, could support global oil prices by cutting back its own production, but there is little sign it wants to do this.

There could be two reasons - to try to instil some discipline among fellow Opec oil producers, and perhaps to put the US's burgeoning shale oil and gas industry under pressure.

Saudi Arabia needs oil prices to be around $85 in the longer term, it has deep pockets with a reserve fund of some $700bn - so can withstand lower prices for some time.

were to force some higher cost producers

In the 1980s the country did cut production significantly in a bid to boost prices, but it had little effect and it also badly affected the Saudi economy.

Saudi Arabia, Gulf producers such as the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have also amassed considerable foreign currency reserves, which means that they could run deficits for several years if necessary.

Islamic State, capturing oil wells. It is estimated it is making about $3m a day through black market sales - and undercutting market prices by selling at a significant discount - around $30-60 a barrel.

"The growth of oil production in North America, particularly in the US, has been staggering," says Columbia University's Jason Bordoff.

It has been this growth in US energy production, where gas and oil is extracted from shale formations using hydraulic fracturing or fracking, that has been one of the main drivers of lower oil prices.

"Shale has essentially severed the linkage between geopolitical turmoil in the Middle East, and oil price and equities," says Seth Kleinman, head of energy strategy at Citi.

With Europe's flagging economies characterised by low inflation and weak growth, any benefits of lower prices would be welcomed by beleaguered governments. A 10% fall in oil prices should lead to a 0.1% increase in economic output, say some. In general consumers benefit through lower energy prices, but eventually low oil prices do erode the conditions that brought them about.

In addition, the benefits of female education for women's empowerment and gender equality are broadly recognized:

While 53 percent of the women said that the decision should depend on the children's capabilities, 39 percent said that the son should go to the university, compared with only 8 percent who said that the daughter should go. The survey also found that mothers of children who had never attended school were more likely to cite the cost of education as a reason for not educating their daughters than for not educating their sons.

As women's educational attainment in MENA countries has increased, more women have moved into the job market. But women's participation in the labor force is still low: Only 20 percent of women ages 15 and older in MENA countries are in the labor force — the lowest level of any world region.

But those rates are lower than rates found outside the region. In France, for example, women make up 45 percent of the labor force; in Indonesia, which is home to the world's largest Muslim population, women make up 38 percent of the labor force.16

Women in MENA countries are twice as likely to be illiterate as men are and make up two-thirds of the region's illiterate adults. The gender gaps in education vary greatly across countries in the region but are generally wider in countries where overall literacy and school enrollment are lower. In Yemen, for example, the illiteracy rate among young women (54 percent) is triple that of young men (17 percent). But countries that make political and financial commitments to reducing illiteracy, as Jordan and Tunisia have, generally see significant improvements in reducing illiteracy and narrowing the gender gap (see Figure 6).

who are assigned to subjects according not to their own choice, but to their school grades. Medicine, engineering and political science require high results. Low-scorers are concentrated in arts, business and education courses.

The very wealthy send their sons and daughters abroad. Many never come back, contributing to a brain drain in the Arab world.

women should wear "appropriate" clothing when they go out.

There have been multiple mass sexual assaults on women during protests the past three years.

security forces dragged a female protester to the ground, pulled up her top to reveal her blue bra and stomped on her chest.

female protesters at the time were forced to undergo humiliating "virginity tests" when detained by the military.

Violence is a "very intimidating weapon" against women participating in public life

"If there is no democratic climate, how would you benefit from these beautiful laws?" said Abdel-Hameed. "It will be the same as under Mubarak: you have a beautiful law but it's not implemented."

The document explicitly enshrines equality between the sexes and women's rights to education, work and high political office.

"It's not just more progressive than the 2012 constitution, it's more progressive than the 1971 constitution . from the gender perspective,

Women have only been allowed to be judges since 2007

guarantees their right to hold high positions in the judiciary

2010 court decision barred women judges from the State Council, a powerful judicial body that regulates disputes between individuals and the state and reviews legislation.

January she wrote to the State Council demanding it take on women judges in light of the constitution.

The Council replied b

violated appropriateness and manners"

sought criminal action against the National Council for Women.

"the mentality of the decision-makers

is the main obstacle to the carrying out the promises of the constitution.

low representation of women in government.

lowest in the Arab world

two percent of the seats in the last parliament,

We're tired of the government and officials .

creation of a Commission on Discrimination with real judicial power

more women judges; a

he presence of women in parliament and local council

and the nullification of the draconian protest law,

gender issues should be mainstreamed across all government bodies.

activate a unit specialized in fighting violence against women and "the health sector should take into account reproductive rights.

h clinics should provide contraception and treatment for STDs

women's issues are never a priority for anyone

parts of the constitution may make enforcing the women's rights provisions harder.

Past issues Information for contributors Editorial members How to order About the Bulletin Disclaimer Prevalence of female genital cutting among Egyptian girls

They went through some changes to take into account the type of fighting the Syrian army carries out against the terrorists

Assad gave no details of the weapons being supplied by Russia, the world's second-biggest arms exporter, since the start of the conflic

In fact, Moscow has always highlighted that there have been and are no embargoes on military cooperation. There are no legal limitations no us

Russia is a longstanding ally of Assad and is hosting meetings in Moscow on April 6-9 involving some of the more moderate Syrian opposition representatives and Damascus envoys.

Expectations of a breakthrough are low after a first round of consultations made little progress. Many Syrian opposition figures shunned the January consultations, saying they would appear only at meetings that led to Assad's removal from power

appears to go into labour outside Kafr al-Dawar Public Hospital. Two nurses later run outside, duck under the sheet and emerge with a bab

video was a ploy by the woman’s family to discredit the facility.

provincial health minister had suspended the hospital director pending an investigation.

questioned the state’s commitment to the health of its population of 85 million.

“When hospitals let women give birth in the street, it raises questions of government negligence, no matter how much the government flaunts its commitment to women’s rights,

Egyptian healthcare system were high out-of-pocket expenses required from patients and low government spending,

“Look at the human rights here, where a woman has to give birth in the street when there’s a hospital right there

urged the couple to go to Alexandria, around 30 km (20 miles) away, for treatment instead.

insisted that the hospital provide an ambulance, security officers removed the pregnant woman from the building and she went into labour while waiting for a taxi.

shows her lying on the pavement just metres away from the hospital beside a stretche

everal women who appear to be comforting her, as well as her husband and various bystanders

government has promised to improve services.

hospital denies that it asked the woman to leave.

We do not allow any patients to be turned away

“Those who were with the patient chose to have the baby outside in order to videotape it and defame the hospital.”