Liechtenstein changes its law to allow women to ascend the throne

Of the roughly four dozen countries where royal families reign, two have wrestled this summer with questions of gender and succession in the modern era, taking starkly different approaches.

Liechtenstein, a tiny nation of about 40,000 people wedged between Switzerland and Austria in the Alps, took one route: On Aug 15, it announced that women would now be able to become the monarch and wield the broad political power of the throne.