Campaigns

Johannesburg, 31 May: As election results from the 2024 South African elections pour in, Gender Links (GL) predicts a drop in women’s representation in the national assembly of between three and five percentage points.

Constitutional, political, and legal arrangements have increased representation of women in various levels of governance in Nepal. Despite these improvements, there is still a significant gender disparity, with men overwhelmingly dominating leadership positions, especially at the local level. Almost 98 percent of the heads, presidents and ward presidents of the local level are men.

On June 2, 2024, presidential elections will be held in Mexico, and, for the first time in Mexico’s history, there are tangible conditions to have its first female president. Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo and Berta Xochitl Galvez Ruiz are vying for the top spot in the polls, leaving third candidate Jorge Álvarez Maynez at a comfortable distance.

Iceland has an excellent record on gender equality, topping the World Economic Forum’s ranking of most gender equal country for 14 consecutive years. It was also the first country to elect a female president, Vigdis Finnbogadóttir, who won the 1980 presidential election as well as the next three. The Parliament, the Althingi, almost became the first European country to elect a female-majority parliament in 2021, but after a recount narrowly missed the target, with women winning 30 out of 63 seats.

Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (FIDA Kenya) is engaging with the female leaders and citizens, to enlighten and make them understand their role in the democratic process and also for the women leaders to have the courage to interact with the public and take up political leadership.

The ongoing town hall meetings bring together FIDA, women leaders and grassroots women to interact and discuss the role of the citizens when it comes to promoting women in political participation.