Advocacy & Lobbying
This webinar focused on barriers, challenges and strategies pertaining to the issue of gender parity for women in politics. Our guest speaker for the discussion was Dr. Mona Lena Krook.
Applying an intersectional lens the webinar discussion drew on research from Dr. Mona Lena Krook’s book, Elect Women for a Change: The Path to Gender Parity in Politics, Dr. Krook presented a core thesis: the global political community must move beyond aspirational "critical mass" targets (typically 30%) toward a non-negotiable 50/50 parity framework. This shift represents a transition from viewing women’s participation as an elective "add-on" to recognizing it as a fundamental requirement for democratic legitimacy.
Women in Montenegro are no less interested and competent in politics, but they are limited by deep-rooted gender norms, stereotypes about social roles, unequal distribution of power within political structures, as well as a hostile environment that includes discrediting, hate speech, and gender-based attacks in public spaces.
This was announced at the roundtable "Empowering Women for the Political Future of Montenegro", organized by the Center for Monitoring and Research (CeMI).
CeMI Program Director Teodora Gilić She said that an improved legal framework, including a 40 percent quota for the less represented gender, does not automatically mean substantial equality for women in politics, reports PR Center.
"Numbers are important, but they do not in themselves guarantee real influence, equal participation in decision-making, or a change in political culture," said Gilić.
She pointed out that women in Montenegro are not less interested in politics or less competent, but that they are limited by deep-rooted gender norms, stereotypes about social roles, unequal distribution of power within political structures, as well as a hostile environment that includes discrediting, hate speech and gender-based attacks in public space.
As Ghana prepares for local elections in 2027, new research presented in Accra today warns that violence against women in politics remains a significant barrier to democratic participation at the local level.
At a joint roundtable hosted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Ghana and the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI), researchers, policymakers, development partners and members of the diplomatic community convened to examine structural barriers to women’s political participation and identify strategies for safer, more inclusive local governance.
Presenting on NAI’s research, Senior Researcher Diana Højlund Madsen shared findings from the newly published book Making Politics Safer – Mitigating violence against women in politics in Africa: insights from Ghana, Kenya and Zimbabwe, released in NAI’s Current African Issues series The book draws on 134 interviews with politically active women and highlights how women in local politics face systematic forms of physical, sexual, psychological, economic and semiotic violence designed to deter their participation and preserve male-dominated political systems.
“In Ghana, only 4.1 per cent of district assembly members are women. If we want inclusive local governance, we must look not only at how to bring women into politics, but at the conditions under which they participate,” said Diana Højlund Madsen. “Violence and intimidation are not isolated incidents. They are structured obstacles that shape who is able to stand for office and remain in politics.”
Gender equality and women empowerment remain a globally important priority policy issues. “Women in Politics” is an indispensable part of progress towards nurturing greater gender equality. In this seminar, we focus on key success factors underlying Nordic model of higher female representation in politics and how could this potentially be achieved in Japan. European and Japanese stakeholders will discuss common challenges, share experiences and best practices, and identify potential avenues of cooperation.
Please join us for the online viewing of this seminar.[Deadline - Tuesday, 3 March 2026]:
On a visit to the DRC, the UNFPA Regional Director for East and Southern Africa (ESARO), Ms. Lydia ZIGOMO, and the Humanitarian Director, Shoko ARAKAKI, met with women's organizations and Women Leaders (WLOs) in Kinshasa and Goma.
This high-level exchange aimed to reaffirm the United Nations' support for the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Agenda in the Democratic Republic of Congo, focusing on the challenges and priorities of women on the ground.
The two Directors hailed the frontline leadership and agility of women operating in high-risk areas, emphasizing their indispensable role in protection against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and advocating for women's participation in peace processes in the DRC.
As a wave of protests stemming from the death of a 22-year-old Iranian woman enters its second month, demonstrations have spread worldwide.
Claudia Yaghoobi, an Iranian Armenian American and the director of the Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies, answered questions from The Well about what led to the historic protests, how the fallout compares to previous conflicts and more. Yaghoobi is also the Roshan Institute Associate Professor in Persian Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences’ department of Asian and Middle Eastern studies.
What sparked the protests and who is protesting?
In September 2022, protests broke out spontaneously across the country after images appeared on social media of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini, an Iranian Kurdish woman, unconscious on a hospital bed. She was declared dead on Sept. 16, three days after being arrested on a Tehran street by the morality police.
The Kurdish phrase “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi” (“Woman, Life, Freedom”), derived from years of Kurdish resistance and activism, became the slogan of this moment. Amini’s parents made a conscious decision to hold her funeral publicly even though they had been told not to. This incited protests in Saghez during the funeral when women began taking off their veils and cutting their hair. Thereafter, in almost all cities of Iran protests arose and women began cutting their hair and burning their hijabs in solidarity. The protests, or what’s been called feminist social revolution, continue to this day, as we are in the sixth week.
The protests are different in a few aspects from other protests or revolutions. For instance, they are leaderless, and people from various socio-economic gender, sexual, ethno-religious backgrounds are united. This is no longer the revolution of the educated urban middle class or upper middle class. This is a movement where all sectors of the society — Kurdish and Baluch people, men and women, the trans and queer communities, urban and rural — have come together. Mahsa Jina Amini was an ordinary woman from Saghez visiting Tehran with her family. She was not a dissident or anti-veiling activist. So, this could be anyone. And that’s why she’s united everyone.
This webinar focused on barriers, challenges and strategies pertaining to the issue of gender parity for women in politics. Our guest speaker for the discussion was Dr. Mona Lena Krook.
Applying an intersectional lens the webinar discussion drew on research from Dr. Mona Lena Krook’s book, Elect Women for a Change: The Path to Gender Parity in Politics, Dr. Krook presented a core thesis: the global political community must move beyond aspirational "critical mass" targets (typically 30%) toward a non-negotiable 50/50 parity framework. This shift represents a transition from viewing women’s participation as an elective "add-on" to recognizing it as a fundamental requirement for democratic legitimacy.
Over the past decade Somaliland has seen a worrying convergence of political exclusion for women and active pushback against progressive sexual-offences laws and gender-equity measures. The result is not only weaker legal protection for survivors, but social environments that enable sexual violence and silence victims. This article examines recent examples and reports, connects them to the rollback of protections and low female political representation, and outlines the human-rights and social costs for Somaliland’s women and girls.
This article is released by the Women’s Human Rights, Education & Environment Association (WHEEA), with KOMBOA through the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) Network. It aims to expose the growing impact of backlash against the women’s rights movement in Somaliland, particularly following the rejection of progressive sexual-offences legislation. By documenting recent cases of sexual violence, political exclusion, and institutional failures, the article highlights how resistance to women’s rights has deepened impunity and vulnerability for women and girls. In addition to analysis, the article provides concrete policy recommendations for lawmakers, religious leaders, civil society, and international partners to strengthen protection, accountability, and women’s political participation in Somaliland.
This brief provides an overview of how the UN system has advanced global efforts to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls (VAWG) over the past five years. Drawing from the contributions of 36 UN entities and mechanisms for the Inventory of United Nations activities to end violence against women and girls, the brief highlights collective progress achieved through coordinated action, joint programming and partnerships with governments, civil society and women’s rights organizations. The brief documents the UN system’s role in advancing global norms and standards, with notable developments in violence in the work environment, technology-facilitated violence, conflict-related sexual violence and harmful practices. It showcases how coordination mechanisms and flagship joint initiatives—such as the spotlight initiative, the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women and other inter-agency programmes—have mobilized resources, strengthened laws and policies, expanded access to survivor-centered services, scaled up prevention efforts and improved data and evidence. At the same time, the brief underscores persistent gaps, including uneven implementation of laws, limited financing, fragmented prevention efforts, data challenges and growing backlash against gender equality. It emphasizes the central role of women’s rights organizations and feminist movements in driving sustainable change. Looking ahead to 2030, the brief calls for the UN system to deepen coordination, strengthen accountability, invest in evidence-based interventions at scale and reinforce locally led, whole-of-society approaches to end VAWG.
Mitigating violence against women in politics in Africa – insights from Ghana, Kenya and Zimbabwe
A new book maps how electoral violence affects women in local politics in Ghana, Kenya and Zimbabwe, showing how they are systematically targeted in ways that limit their participation and help maintain male-dominated political systems.
Drawing on 134 interviews with politically active women, this new book – Making politics safer –documents a wide range of violence and abuse, including physical and sexual attacks, psychological pressure, economic manipulation and symbolic humiliation. It also highlights intimidation, online harassment, disinformation and violence within political parties as common tools used to sideline women.
Younger and unmarried women, those from marginalised ethnic groups, and those in opposition parties are found to face the highest risks. Even in countries where gender quotas exist, such as Kenya and Zimbabwe, a higher number of women in elected positions has not resulted in safer conditions.
Publication date: 16 October 2025
Twenty-five years after the United Nations adopted Resolution 1325, the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda is both a landmark in diplomacy and a study in unfulfilled promise. Its most profound achievement has been to force open a conversation about the gendered power structures that fuel conflict. But that opening is narrowing. Escalating wars, a backlash against gender justice and a collapse in funding now threaten to strip the agenda of its transformative edge. The WPS agenda remains an essential tool for women peacebuilders. Whether it survives as a force for justice depends on whether the global community backs its principles with the resources and political will to make them real. Without that, the resolution’s 25th anniversary will mark the start of its decline, not its maturity.
This report was written by researchers from the Organization for Justice and Accountability in the Horn of Africa (OJAH) and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR).
The report benefited from reviews by members of PHR staff, the PHR Advisory Council, and the PHR Board of Directors, as well as members of the OJAH Board of Directors.
The research team would like to recognize the strength and resilience of the survivors whose experiences and stories are reflected in this data, as well as the dedication of the health professionals who provided services and documented these violations—often at grave risk to their personal safety.
About Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) uses medicine and science to document and draw attention to human rights violations. PHR was founded on the belief that physicians and other health professionals possess unique skills that lend significant credibility to the investigation and documentation of human rights abuses.
In response to the scourge of sexual violence, PHR launched its Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones in 2011. The program works to confront impunity for sexual violence in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Iraq, Kenya, Myanmar, and Ukraine.
PHR has conducted research to understand the scale and scope of conflict-related sexual violence in various conflicts and contexts, including in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Myanmar, and Sierra Leone.
About the Organization for Justice and Accountability in the Horn of Africa (OJAH)
The Organization for Justice and Accountability in the Horn of Africa (OJAH) is an independent and impartial organization dedicated to strengthening justice and accountability mechanisms in the Horn of Africa through evidence collection and preservation.
The organization’s mission is to deter war crimes, crimes against humanity, conflict-related sexual violence, and other severe human rights abuses across the Greater Horn of Africa. It pursues this mission by conducting documentation and investigations, advancing the environment for justice and accountability, preserving and analyzing materials, and supporting international justice and accountability actors and efforts.
Full report here.