BELARUS: Women lead demands for change

In Belarus, women were at the forefront of protests to demand that democracy be respected, as dictatorial President Alexander Lukashenko fraudulently claimed victory in the August election. Belarusian women came out in droves to support opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a woman with no previous political experience who entered the presidential race when her husband was arrested and blocked from registering his candidacy. Tikhanovskaya became the president’s toughest challenger in years, leading large rallies in the run-up to the election.