Elections

Dar es Salaam. As Tanzania gears up for the upcoming local government elections in November 2024 and the general election next year, there is a noticeable shift in the political landscape.

More young women are stepping forward to contest for various leadership positions. This change signals a significant move towards achieving the 50/50 gender equality agenda in political leadership, a target that has long eluded the nation.

Historically, Tanzanian women have faced numerous obstacles in entering the political arena. Cultural norms, economic constraints, and the lack of education have all contributed to their underrepresentation in leadership roles.

In the past, many young women viewed elections as irrelevant, or worse, as a battleground where they would have to navigate the deceitful waters of sexual bribery just to secure a party ticket.

Those barriers kept many capable women on the sidelines, depriving the country of their potential contributions to governance.

However, the tide is turning. The leadership of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, Tanzania's first female president, has been a beacon of inspiration for many young women.

Read here the full article published by The Citizen on 30 August 2024.

Image credits: The Citizen

The 2024 parliamentary elections in Jordan are poised to be a transformative event in the country's political landscape. With new electoral laws designed to enhance representation and increase the participation of women and youth, Jordan is taking significant steps towards a more inclusive and party-based governance model. As the elections draw near, expectations for substantial reforms and changes are high. In the following text, we explore the key features of these elections, the anticipated impact on Jordan’s political structure, and the perspectives of experts and voters on what these changes could mean for the future of the country.

Jordan is actively preparing for parliamentary elections, which are set to take place on September 10, 2024. These elections will be held under a new electoral law introduced in 2022, aimed at improving representation and engaging women and youth in the political process.

According to the new law, the number of members in the House of Representatives is increased from 130 to 138. Measures have been introduced to enhance the inclusion of women and young candidates. Now, each political party’s candidate list must include at least one woman for every three candidates and one person under 35 among the top five positions. The minimum age for parliamentary candidates has also been lowered from 30 to 25, aiming to increase youth participation in the country's governance.

Read here the full article published by News AZ on 5 September 2024.

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In Congress this term, 25% of senators and 28% of representatives are women, near record highs for both houses, but far below equal representation with men. As Kamala Harris runs for president, will being a woman cost her votes?

To learn more about the role of gender in American politics, we spoke with Brian Schaffner, a political science professor and Newhouse Professor of Civic Studies. He is also a principal investigator of the Cooperative Election Study, the largest academic survey focused on U.S. elections, and is writing a book about how political polarization is defined by social divisions.

How have attitudes toward electing women changed in America in the last 30 years?

People now are much more open to electing women to all levels of office, including to president, although obviously we haven’t seen a woman president yet. The number of women in Congress, for example, has hit historic highs, even though it’s well under parity with men. There are also a lot of women governors throughout the country. 

Political science research shows that when women run for office, they are at least as successful as men are. The big problem is not that voters won’t vote for a woman for political office now; it’s that women don’t run as often as men do.

Why don’t women run for office as much as men?

This is not necessarily my area of expertise, but there’s a lot of research that focuses on this. It shows a range of factors, from how women and men are raised differently to the types of things people have to do to run for office, like raising money—having to put yourself out there. 

Also, until recently, women weren’t recruited as much as men to run for office. The parties would go out and try to recruit men, because they were the people who were in their networks.

Read here the full article published by the Tufts University on 4 September 2024.

Image credits: Tufts University

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen is determined to achieve gender parity in her executive Commission amid resistance from member states. She is advocating for a balanced representation of men and women among EU commissioners. Despite legal limitations, von der Leyen's efforts highlight the ongoing struggle for gender equality within the political framework of the EU.

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen announced on Wednesday her unwavering commitment to achieving gender parity within her executive Commission. Despite resistance from several of the 27 member states, she is determined to see a balanced representation of men and women running the day-to-day affairs of the EU.

The German politician is currently setting up her team for a second five-year mandate and has been pressuring national capitals to provide her with candidates that would allow for gender balance. In her first term, she managed to achieve near gender parity among EU commissioners.

Read here the full article published by DevDiscourse on 4 September 2024.

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CHICAGO — Only hours before Vice President Kamala Harris officially accepted the Democratic nomination for president at the United Center in Chicago, six of the seven Black female chairs of their state Democratic parties — the highest-ever number of Black women state party chairs — gathered exactly a mile east of the convention hall at the interactive WNDR Museum.

Progress toward gender parity in politics slowed in 2024 — a quiet shift after a streak of record-breaking years for women’s political candidacies. While Kamala Harris makes history this year as the first woman of color atop a presidential ticket, some political organizers are hoping her candidacy will pull more women back into power.

After 2018 was dubbed a second “year of the woman,” — the first being in 1992 — marking a record number of women running for the highest offices in the country, women continued to reach new highs in the subsequent elections: 583 women ran for the House in 2020 and 2022, and 70 women ran for the Senate in 2022, according to data from Rutgers’ Center for American Women and Politics.

In 2024, those numbers dropped back down to 466 for the House and 52 for the Senate, a conspicuous decline after years of steady growth.

“Progress for women in politics appears to be slowing, if not stalling,” RepresentWomen warned in its 2024 Gender Parity Index last month, noting that women are still significantly underrepresented at all levels of U.S. government.

Read here the full article published by Politico on 23 August 2024.

Image by Politico