Advocacy & Lobbying
Some stakeholders in the North-east have identified mentorship and quota systems as critical factors that will increase women’s participation in politics.
The stakeholders made this known in a survey conducted by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa on Monday.
However, quota system is a regulatory framework in which a certain number of electoral seats are reserved for women to increase their representation and participation in politics.
The stakeholders said that women had contributed immensely to Nigeria’s democracy in terms of legislation, advocacy, economic reforms and grassroots mobilisation for votes.
They insisted that despite their contributions, women remained under represented in both appointed and elective positions at the local, state and federal government levels.
Golfa Francis, a gender advocate in Adamawa, said deliberate policies of reserving seats and structured political training for women politicians by more experienced women, would increase women’s participation in politics.
“Our society must understand that women are not weak vessels; they are capable, strong, and skilled in managing responsibilities.
“When women are part of decision-making, the outcomes are more sustainable and balanced. Hence, the initiative should receive the support of all Nigerians,” she said.
Mrs Jamila Babuba, Chairperson, International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Adamawa Chapter, sought for accelerated passage of the Reserved Seats for Women Bill before the National Assembly, saying it would enhance gender parity.
Full article here.
The book on Malian women in politics, entitled Comment briser le plafond de verre?: Une recherche engagée sur la participation politique des femmes maliennes, has just been published by researchers of the LACET research lab. The book is the result of the Citizen Perspectives on Societal Challegenges in Mali-project led by Uppsala University's Forum for Africa Studies.
This comparative political ethnography is based on field research carried out by 13 researchers in 20 research sites. By listening to the stories of female politicians themselves, the study analyzes the opportunities and constraints related to women's "breakthrough" in politics. The interviews with female politicians are interwoven with ethnographic case studies, including the process of developing the Law No. 2015-052 of December 18, 2015, for the promotion of gender in access to nominative and elective offices.
DHAKA, Sept 23, 2025 (BSS)- Narir Rajnoitik Odhikar Forum (NROF) today demanded that political parties must nominate 33 percent women candidates mandatorily outside the reserved seats in the 13th Jatiya Sangsad elections.
The forum made this demand during a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin at the Agargaon Nirbachan Bhaban in the capital.
Four other election commissioners and the EC's senior secretary were present at the time.
After the meeting, Women's Affairs Reform Commission member Maheen Sultan told reporters, "We have raised our demands and expectations to ensure equal status of women voters, women candidates and women citizens.”
The Election Commission (EC) has also announced to take several steps, she said.
Full article here.
Despite the progress made during decades of work by women’s rights organizations and democratic institutions, gender equality is still a long way off. There is a growing understanding that gender equality will only be achieved when men and women work together towards full gender equality and equal respect for the rights of all individuals and groups.
This paper presents nine policy and good practice recommendations to support diverse audiences in their work to include men in building a more gender-equal, peaceful, prosperous and democratic world.
Ulaanbaatar, September 18, 2025 /MONTSAME/. The Asian Women Parliamentarian Caucus (AWPC) Meeting 2025 was commenced on September 15, 2025, under the theme of “Achieving Gender Equality through Economic Empowerment: Policies for a Sustainable Future.
On the second day of the AWPC Meeting on September 16, 2025, the conference continued with the “Women in the Workforce: Closing the Pay Gap” session, followed by a discussion on the discrepancy in the “Equal Work, Equal Pay” policy in certain countries. Specifically, low wages, sometimes even non-payments, in fields where women work most, are one of the reasons that lead to poverty. Depending on the geographical location, economic, and cultural conditions of Mongolia, men often work in fields that pay high wages, which can stifle financial freedom and prevent women from securing leadership positions. Member of Parliament Jargalan Batbayar noted that relatively well-paying jobs in Mongolia, such as those in the construction and mining sectors, are predominantly held by men, which contributes to the disparity, and that this issue requires careful attention.
Authors: Jennifer Klein, Rachel Vogelstein, and Lauren Hoffman
This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of the 1995 United Nations (UN) Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, a watershed moment in the fight for women’s rights, where 189 nations adopted an ambitious Platform for Action to achieve the full and equal participation of women and girls. While the past three decades have produced important gains, this work remains unfinished, and new challenges threaten to reverse progress for women and girls. This report, produced by the Women’s Initiative at Columbia's Institute of Global Politics and GWL Voices, provides an actionable roadmap to advance the full and equal participation of women and girls in the twenty-first century—including in the areas of democracy and human rights, technology, economic participation, and conflict and climate. The report also proposes key levers designed to accelerate the pace of change, including innovative financing, institutional leadership and reform, coalition building, and improved data and research. It concludes with a call to accelerate action towards fulfilling the Beijing Platform and realizing the promise of women’s human rights once and for all.
Implementation Of The Beijing Declaration And Platform For Action (1995) And The Outcomes Of The Twenty Third Special Session Of The General Assembly (2000) In The Context Of The Of The Thirtieth Anniversary Of The Fourth World Conference On Women And The Adoption Of The Beijing Declaration And Platform For Action 2020
Read here the full country report published by UN Women Africa on 30 September 2024.
The 2nd Global Progress Report on SDG16 Indicators represents a unique and pivotal UN inter-agency effort toward supporting the realization of the 2030 Agenda. This report reveals critical trends that, if not reversed, could jeopardize the achievement of all goals set by the international community, leaving an increasing number of people behind.
Released in 2023, the first joint Global Progress Report on SDG 16 served as a wake-up call for action on strengthened efforts towards justice, peace, and strong institutions. The report portrayed a sobering picture, revealing that progress toward the 2030 Agenda was alarmingly off track, with advancements on goal 16 worryingly slow. In some instances, even moving in the wrong direction. The report, however, acknowledged some significant strides towards supporting countries in addressing data gaps through partnership, technical assistance and production of evidence.
This report, the second dedicated to Goal 16, compiles contributions from all indicators in a single document providing the best regional and global data that the UN system can offer across all targets. The data, statistics and accompanying analysis spotlight trends that have and will continue to shape our world, policy options and underscore the urgent need for action to reverse negative trends and to foster a more just and sustainable future.
Click here to access the full report published by UNDP on 17 July 2024.
Men in politics as agents of gender equitable change examines why men in politics decide to support gender equality, how they explain and frame their allyship, and how their actions are perceived by women politicians, activists and students. Drawing on evidence from three countries: Colombia, Liberia and Malaysia, this research contributes in-depth, qualitative and cross-country analysis of how gender norms are influencing decisions of men politicians to support gender equality in the Global South.
As key stakeholders in changing norms around political masculinities and representation in politics, the project responded to feminist calls for a better understanding of how more men can be motivated to take an active role in addressing gender inequalities. Despite their diverse histories, social, political and economic contexts, all three countries had senior government officials expressing support for feminist foreign policy and a greater public discourse on gender equality or feminist politics among men politicians.
Based on key informant interviews and focus group discussions with politicians, activists and university students, the study explores how personal motivations, political institutions, social norms, and global gender equality regimes help to shape men’s engagement – or lack of it – with gender equality, while being mindful of the risk of the appropriation of feminist principles to maintain patriarchal inequalities and intersecting systems of oppression.
This cross-country analysis, together with the three country reports, tease out the implications for politicians, international donors, civil society and researchers on how best to engage with men in positions of power to promote the sustainable transformation of unequal gender norms.
Read here the full report published by the ALIGN Gender Norms Platform on 28 May 2024.
Despite overall progress in terms of more women participating in political decision-making worldwide, gender equality in political participation remains elusive. Deeply entrenched discrimination continues to hinder women’s full participation in political and electoral processes. In its efforts to advance women’s rights and gender equality, UN Women recognizes women’s political participation as a key area of focus.
UN Women’s initiatives to advance women’s political participation include:
¨promoting supportive legislative and institutional reforms;
¨building the capacity of women political aspirants and leaders;
¨monitoring, preventing and mitigating violence against women in politics; and
¨encouraging social norms change to recognize women’s political leadership.
UN Women is also actively engaged in promoting women’s political participation through coordination and advocacy efforts across the UN system.
In 2023, UN Women’s Independent Evaluation Service conducted an evaluation of UN Women’s support to women’s political participation. The primary focus of the evaluation was the impact of UN Women’s efforts to support women’s political participation at the national (and subnational) level. The evaluation also identified lessons learned; examined the contribution of regional and global-level support/guidance; and tracked both positive and negative unintended consequences, including cases of backlash against women’s political participation.
The evaluation included a retrospective view of results achieved during the UN Women Strategic Plan 2018–2021 period, as well as a forward-looking view to support implementation of the UN Women Strategic Plan 2022–2025. The geographic scope covered UN Women’s programming across all six regions through a representative sample of 12 country offices.
Read here the full report published by UN Women on 18 May 2024.
KARACHI: The Uks Research Centre (URC) has urged the media outlets in the country to recognise the transformative potential of women in politics and foster a more inclusive media environment for democratic, inclusive, and representative discourse.
The Pakistani media has been urged to increase the coverage of women's issue to address gender imbalance prevailing in the country -- a phenomenon witnessed during the news coverage of pre-and post-election period.
The URC organised a dialogue, titled 'Gender Representation in Media During Pakistan's 2024 Elections'. The event, hosted by URC Executive Director Tasneem Ahmar, was attended by politicians, representatives of journalists, and researchers.
In her brief remarks, Ahmar said that her organisation monitored gender representation in the Pakistani media, and conducted research on emerging trends and created awareness about inclusion and negative stereotyping through training and advocacy.
On the occasion, Shahrezad Samiuddin presented a data-based analysis of the media coverage of the pre- and post-election scenarios. She highlighted that during the election coverage, more than 90% of journalists, who reported to both print and electronic media, were males.
A better representation of was seen on TV screens where 33% announcers were women. Similarly, Samiuddin pointed out that the coverage of women-specific news did not exceed 10-13% in both forms of media. The share of women-related news increased in the current affairs shows to 38%.
Read here the full article published by The Express Tribune on 18 May 2024.
Image by The Express Tribune
Africa Renewal: What best practices you would you like to share with other countries regarding your government’s work to empower women?
Dr. Mahoi: Everybody knows what we have been through in Sierra Leone—war, Ebola, landslides, flooding, and more. In all these, women suffered the most but we have picked ourselves up. Our focus now is ensuring that women's empowerment is at the centre of development.
We have ratified numerous international agreements such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, also known as the Maputo Protocol, and the Beijing Declaration, and so on. So, we are on course in domesticating these treaties and implementing our mandates and obligations as a country.
On the domestic front, we have enacted many gender-related laws such as the Devolution of Estates Act, 2007; the Domestic Violence Act of 2007; and the Customary Marriage and Divorce Act of 2009. For me, these are outdated laws, even though they were steps in the right direction at the time.
In the last few years, we reviewed some of those laws and are trying to address existing gaps. For example, in 2019, we reviewed the Sexual Offenses Act of 2012, to impose stiffer punishments on perpetrators of sexual violence. President Julius Maada Bio demonstrated his passion for the well-being of women by declaring in 2019 a State of Emergency over rape and sexual violence.
We established a Sexual Offences Model Court to try cases of sexual violence against minors and impose stiff punishment. Those cases are now fast-tracked. We enacted the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act(GEWE), in 2022, to reaffirm our commitment to the empowerment of women and girls. We also have the Customary Land Rights Act, which guarantees women the right to own, hold, use, and inherit land.
All these efforts are translating into tangible results.
Click here to read the full article published by the United Nations Africa Renewal News on 30 April 2024.
Image by UN News
.