Women's Leadership
Amid 1970s environmental threats of nuclear proliferation and pollution, the origin of the term “ecofeminism” is attributed to Françoise d’Eaubonne, a French feminist and ecologist who is said to have first used it in her 1974 work “Le Feminisme ou la Mort” (Feminism or Death), which was reprinted in October 2020 by Le Passager Clandestin. D’Eaubonne argued that the oppression of women and the exploitation of nature stemmed from a system deeply rooted in patriarchal values.
D’Eaubonne’s theory is fully expounded in her 1978 work “Écologie et féminisme. Révolution ou mutation?” (Ecology and feminism: Revolution or mutation?), where she explains that for centuries, men have controlled the fertility of both women and the earth, but global capitalism has pushed this domination to a new extreme: life itself is now at risk. As men in power fail to address the ecological and political crisis, she contends that women must reclaim control over their fertility and build an ecological, egalitarian, and self-governing society.
Ecofeminism, as a practice, was advanced beyond Europe in the 1970s as well. In 1973, in India, women led the Chipko movement, organized to protect trees and forests from deforestation. In 1977, Kenyan activist Wangarĩ Maathai, who in 2004 became the first East and Central African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, founded the Green Belt Movement, a grassroots organization that, working on the intersection of ecological restoration and social justice, empowers rural women to restore ecosystems and forests through nature-based enterprises.
Exile Hub is one of Global Voices’ partners in Southeast Asia, emerging in response to the 2021 coup in Myanmar, focusing on empowering journalists and human rights defenders. This edited article is republished under a content partnership agreement.
What you see in the frame is a woman holding a camera in a war zone.
What you don’t see is everything beyond it: the sound of military aircraft overhead, the fear of a second strike, and people running for safety.
While others fled, Myat Moe Thu, a recipient of Exile Hub’s Critical Voices Fellowship 2026, moved toward the scene.
A journalist reporting from the border areas between Shan and Kayah (Karenni) States, she documents the realities of war as they unfold. On the day this image was taken, a military jet had just dropped two 500-pound bombs on a civilian village. As residents fled, fearing another attack, she walked into the aftermath to gather the story.
There was no protective gear. No guarantee of safety. Only a decision to bear witness.
Nigeria’s democracy has survived. The harder question is whether it is deepening. Since 1999, the country has sustained civil rule longer than at any other period in its post-independence history. Elections have been held. Governments have come and gone. Political parties have risen and fallen. At important moments, power has changed hands peacefully. These are not small achievements.
But democratic survival is not the same thing as democratic success.
For many Nigerians, democracy still feels distant from daily life. Citizens are courted during campaigns and forgotten after elections. Representatives emerge in the people’s name but often govern without a meaningful connection to the people’s voice. Voter turnout has been troubling. Public trust is weak. Political inclusion remains uneven. Too many Nigerians see democracy as a ritual of voting, not a lived experience of belonging, influence and accountability. This is why the relationship between participation and representation deserves urgent attention.
Bangladesh’s democratic trajectory reveals a persistent paradox. Despite the prominence of women in national leadership, strong female voter turnout, and significant economic participation, particularly in the ready-made garment sector, their substantive engagement in formal politics remains limited. This essay examines how structural constraints within major political parties, notably the Awami League (AL) and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), as well as broader societal norms, have shaped and sustained this disparity under both AL- and BNP-led governments. It argues for a more inclusive and intersectional model of political representation to bridge the gap between women’s symbolic visibility and their actual influence within Bangladesh’s political institutions.
SEOUL, June 03 (AJP) - The Ruling Democratic Party candidate and former justice minister Choo Mi-ae is certain to win the Gyeonggi Province gubernatorial race, making her the first woman to head a metropolitan or provincial government in South Korean history.
According to the National Election Commission on Wednesday, Choo is projected to defeat People Power Party candidate Yang Hyang-ja in the June 3 local elections. The six-term lawmaker maintained a wide lead over Yang throughout the campaign, cementing her victory early on.
Her win breaks a long-standing glass ceiling in South Korean politics. Since the country introduced nationwide local elections in 1995, women have consistently run for top regional posts but have never won.
The closest attempts occurred in 2022 and 2010. In the 2022 Gyeonggi governor race, conservative candidate Kim Eun-hye lost to Democratic Party candidate Kim Dong-yeon by a margin of 0.15 percentage points after a tight race that stretched into the morning after election day. In 2010, Democratic Party candidate Han Myeong-sook lost the Seoul mayoral election to Oh Se-hoon by 0.2 percentage points.
Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, Deputy Executive Director for Normative Support, UN System Coordination, and Programme Results, visited Bangladesh from 16–21 May this year. During her visit, she travelled to Dhaka and Cox’s Bazar and engaged with key UN Women partners, including government counterparts, civil society organisations, and development partners, to discuss both opportunities and challenges in advancing gender equality in Bangladesh.
In an interview with Prothom Alo, Gumbonzvanda speaks on gender equality issues and ways to strengthen collaboration to accelerate the implementation of international and national commitments on gender equality. She was joined by Christine Arab, Regional Director, UN Women Regional Office for Asia and Pacific. The interview was taken by Ayesha Kabir.
Abstract
Much of the literature on women’s-rights activism in the Muslim world presents such activism as employing discourses either of egalitarianism (secular) or of complementarianism (religious). This article analyzes the recent framing of demands for women’s right to political office by elite Islamic women in Iran and Turkey in terms outside this dichotomy. Drawing on data gathered from personal interviews as well as on careful study of public statements and publications by elite women, or those backed by state institutions, this article demonstrates the inadequacy of understanding women’s activism in Muslim contexts as employing either an egalitarian or a complementarian approach by highlighting a more nuanced conceptualization of women’s-rights framing and organizing in accordance with shifting contexts and political ideologies. Specifically, it shows how Islamic women’s-rights activists who are closely affiliated with their governments at times strategically adopt a “gender justice” framing, as opposed to “gender equality,” to appeal to more conservative sectors of their society. This strategy can have important policy implications and lead to shifts in political discourse about women and politics. However, elite women’s backing from and affiliation with conservative ruling elites can lead some groups, particularly secular feminists, to perceive their use of gender justice discourse differently and to be dismissive of their efforts
Women of Iran, similar to those across many parts of the region, benefit from a long history of feminist activism. Refusing to remain silent to discriminatory laws, practices, and behaviors, women have been struggling for equality, freedom, and justice through grassroots mobilization against conservative religious rule.
The latest spark of feminist resistance on a mass level occurred in September 2022 over the killing of Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Jina Amini from injuries she sustained while in police custody for allegedly violating Iran’s conservative hijab laws. Under the banner of, “woman, life, freedom,” women led vast street protests for months in demand for basic rights and liberties, risking their lives and freedoms in the face of a violent state crackdown. Building on decades of women’s rights organizing, women across Iran rose to express their frustrations from systemic gender discrimination codified in Iran’s laws, as well as their intentional marginalization from politics.
In this latest wave of protests, large sections of the population, regardless of gender, region, ethnicity, age, and religious identity, also joined in—recognizing that women’s demands for equality and freedom form the foundations of broader demands for democracy, human rights, and justice.
Large-scale protests that erupted in 2022 across Iran, centering on women’s rights, captured the world’s attention.
Iranians peacefully protested in the streets of places ranging from Tehran to small towns across the country, chanting, “Woman, life, freedom.” The protests reflected many Iranians’ growing frustration with the political regime in power since 1979 – and its ongoing violation of citizens’ basic rights, especially those of women and other historically marginalized groups.
While the latest wave of street protests dwindled by the first few months of 2023, nonviolent protests for freedom, democracy and equality have a long history in Iran and continue today.
The Nobel Peace Prize committee granted its 2023 prize to Narges Mohammadi, a prominent and currently imprisoned women’s rights advocate in Iran. This recognized popular resistance to Iran’s authoritarian regime.
As a scholar of women’s rights in Muslim cultures, I have documented women’s political activism in Iran and other Middle Eastern countries. My research shows that even when women are not demonstrating en masse in the streets, they consistently fight against gender discrimination, often at their own peril.
OPEN DEBATE ON « WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY »
STATEMENT BY MR. JAY DHARMADHIKARI
DEPUTY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF FRANCE TO THE UNITED NATIONS
TO THE SECURITY COUNCIL
(TRANSLATED FROM FRENCH)
New York, 6 of October 2025
Mr. President,
I would first like to thank the Secretary-General and the Executive Director of UN Women, Ms. Sima Bahous, for their statements and their commitment to the Women, Peace and Security agenda.
Twenty-five years after the adoption of Resolution 1325, this agenda has led to significant progress.
The protection of women in armed conflict and their participation in peacekeeping are now at the heart of peace operation mandates, like MONUSCO and UNMISS, as well as peace agreements—I am thinking, for example, of the peace agreements in Colombia and South Sudan.
Although they remain underrepresented, women continue to grow in number in national diplomatic services, military contingents, police contingents, and the United Nations more broadly.
However, the brutal deterioration of the situation of women in armed conflict and the increasing attacks on their rights are today putting this agenda at risks.
In Gaza, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Myanmar, and many other conflicts, the exposure of women and girls, their proportion among the victims, and the number of cases of sexual violence verified by the United Nations are unprecedented.
In Ukraine, the armed forces of a permanent member of this Council—Russia—are committing rape and other form of sexual violence against civilians and prisoners of war. In Afghanistan, the segregation of women by the Taliban is so severe that it could amount to a crime against humanity.
In response, we must protect the achievements of the past two decades and place the Women, Peace and Security agenda back at the heart of a reformed United Nations and effective multilateralism.
I would like to emphasize four key areas for action which are within reach for the members of this Council.
Firstly, continue to strengthen women’s participation in all aspects of peacekeeping.
In line with CEDAW Committee General Recommendation No. 40, we must enhance women’s representation in decision-making systems, moving towards the goal of parity—including in United Nations governance.
We must encourage initiatives that aim at promoting women’s participation in peace processes and peace operations. I am thinking in particular of training for women in uniform.
Secondly, we must effectively implement the Council’s Women, Peace and Security resolutions on the ground.
France will continue to negotiate to ensure that these resolutions remain at the heart of peace operation mandates.
France also calls for strengthening the presence of women’s protection advisers and military advisers on gender issues in these operations.
Thirdly, we need to fight impunity and ensure that victims obtain reparation.
We must provide greater support to national authorities in this regard, particularly judicial authorities. We commend the work of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Ms. Pramila Patten, as well as her efforts to create an international network of prosecutors to combat impunity for perpetrators of sexual violence in conflict.
We call for the strengthening of the Council’s use of targeted sanctions against those responsible for these crimes.
France reiterates its full support for the International Criminal Court and for international mechanisms that investigate sexual crimes.
Fourth, support the United Nations and civil society organizations, which play a key role on the ground.
France welcomes the commitment of UN Women and UNFPA to implementing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda. We also support feminist organizations through a dedicated national fund, one of the world’s largest both in terms of geographical scope and financial scale.
Mr. President,
As France is about to adopt its fourth national action plan on women, peace, and security for 2026-2030, which will take into account emerging issues such as digital technology and climate change, I would like to pay tribute to the negotiators, mediators, women in uniform, female humanitarian workers, representatives of civil society, and so many other women who work daily to promote peace. Their courage compels us to act.
As a sign of this commitment, the Women, Peace and Security agenda will be among of priorities of the 4th Ministerial Conference on Feminist Diplomacy, to be held in Paris on October 22 and 23.
Thank you.
Newswise — Washington, D.C. - October 6, 2025 − As the non-partisan Women & Politics Institute at American University marks its 25th anniversary, a new nationwide survey underscores both the progress women have made in politics and the barriers that remain. The poll, She Leads: Progress and Persistent Barriers for Women in Politics, finds that while voters strongly support electing more women and trust them on key issues, lingering biases and double standards continue to shape the path to the presidency.
The poll of 801 registered voters, conducted September 3–6, 2025, by Breakthrough Campaigns in conjunction with WPI’s Gender on the Ballot project, highlights a paradox in public opinion: progress in attitudes toward women leaders coupled with persistent resistance to a woman in the Oval Office.
“These findings capture both the momentum and the headwinds for women in politics,” said Betsy Fischer Martin, Executive Director of the Women & Politics Institute. “As we mark WPI’s 25th anniversary, the results remind us why our mission matters. Voters clearly value the perspective women bring and want to see more women in office. But when it comes to the presidency, stereotypes and double standards still cast a long shadow. That tension will define the next chapter in women’s political leadership.”
In times of great political turmoil, it can be instructive and reassuring to read about people who have been in similar situations, and have persevered in fighting for something better. While writing my new book about the contributions Black women have made in the global struggle for human rights, I was humbled to see, over and over, how many of these women did not come from rich families, or hold positions of great power, or even have all that much education. But they did the hard and dangerous work required, day in and day out, because they believed in equal rights for everyone, around the world.
Closer to home, I’m recommending here five books that everyone should read about Black women in the United States who have persevered against great and terrible odds, to try to make the world better for the next generation. Their stories are just the inspiration we need today.
Full article here.