Elections
Although two women — Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia — served as prime ministers of Bangladesh for 31 out of 33 years since 1991, the representation of women in national politics is still negligible.
The low rate of participation of Bangla women in politics is clear when looking at the number of women candidates contesting the upcoming 12th general election. According to the Election Commission, 92 contestants out of 1,891 vying for 300 seats are women. That's 4.86%.
In the last general election held in 2018, women accounted for 3.67% of the candidates.
Click here to read the full article published by the Voice of America on 05 January 2024.
Image source: Voice of America
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Online bullying of women and girls in Indonesia skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and this disturbing trend has continued and even intensified ahead of the February 14, 2024 elections.
Cyberbullying makes women more reluctant to participate online which exacerbates the gender digital divide. According to research conducted by the Alliance for Affordable Internet, women are more often the targets of cyberbullying than men.
The 2024 Indonesian election campaigns are intensifying cyberbullying. The wide reach of social media means that it is used as a campaign medium by parliamentary and presidential candidates. Each candidate has a special team handling campaigns online, whom digital rights activists and scholars call “cyber-troops”.
The activity of these online mercenaries are quite alarming, because they also organize cyber-wars among candidate supporters, as well as disseminate misleading information. And they particularly bully women.
Read here the full article published by Global Voices on 30 December 2023.
Image source: Global Voices
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ISLAMABAD: As political parties get ready for the upcoming general elections in February, they ought to think about feeling the pulse of a populace that is eager for change, according to Dawn.
According to an opinion piece in a Pakistan-based media publication, the change of placing a wager on women and young people rather than conventional warhorses might help them win the tough battle of politics.
Most of the people are disillusioned with political leaders, apathetic towards politics, and, having experienced a socioeconomic collapse, gloomy about their own futures, the piece went.
Click here to read the full article published by The Sentinel on 20 December 2023.
Image source: The Sentinel
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Other than serving the purpose of throwing up new leaders, the recent local council elections in Ekiti State presented a study on how state governors could hold back from interfering in people’s choices of leaders at the grassroots, mainstreaming gender inclusion and deepening democratic culture, among other lessons, AYODELE AFOLABI writes.
Local council elections were recently held in 177 wards across 2,196 polling units of Ekiti State. When the curtains were drawn on the elections held earlier this month, two things had happened.
One, on the watch of the governor of the state, Abiodun Oyebanji, council elections had been held promptly to replace officials whose tenure were expiring in the same month; a development which is a clear departure from the anomaly perpetrated by some other governors, who would rather appoint cronies as care-taker chairpersons with a motive to, often, plunder the till.
Click here to read the full article published by The Guardian Nigeria on 20 December 2023.
Image source: The Guardian Nigeria
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In the city of Goma, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local resident Alexandrine Kisikutila is urging everyone around her to vote in next week's general elections. More specifically, for female candidates.
"As a Congolese citizen I'm ready to go to the polls and vote for a woman," she told DW.
"Not because I'm a woman too, but because I believe that women can achieve great things, as several renowned women around the world have proved. I think we can continue to have an impact on the world by supporting each other."
Women have typically been underrepresented in Congolese politics. But now, support for female candidates is growing — particularly in the conflict-ridden east of the country.
Click here to read the full article published by DW News on 15 December 2023.
Image by DW News
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When parliamentary and presidential elections were announced in Libya for December 2021, prominent political activist Hanan al-Faidy, 46, immediately registered her candidacy for parliament in Benghazi.
With only six weeks between the announcement and the elections themselves, she hoped to be a part of what she dreamed would be a seismic change for war-torn Libyan society which could bring an end to the fighting and divisions.
But, almost as quickly, she was forced to withdraw on November 20 – just a few weeks before the December 24 election date – following a highly toxic online campaign against her.
Click here to read the full article published by Al Jazeera English on 11 December 2023.
Image by AI Jazeera English
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