Women's Leadership
Online abuse of female politicians is becoming more extreme and is having an impact in discouraging prospective female candidates.
IRELAND does not have enough women in political life.
Ahead of next year’s local and European elections, there will be a renewed focus on attracting more females into public life.
A report by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission in 2023 criticised the poor progress in raising the number of women TDs.
It said the State must address the structural barriers preventing women running from office.
And a University of Galway study found aggression against women on social media has become pervasive.
Here, Fianna Fail TD Niamh Smyth explains the forces that are still holding women back.
Click here to read the full article published by The Irish Sun on 29 December 2023.
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The real testimony to women’s political rights will come when they hold significant positions of power across the political spectrum
It is being seen as a significant step forward for women in politics that they are emerging as a crucial voting bloc in elections, and the recent assembly elections proved this in spades. More women are voting and have a greater deciding factor on which political party succeeds. They are playing roles in booth management, canvassing and using community initiatives to spread awareness about the need to vote wisely and whom to reward for which scheme.
Click here to read the full article published by the Hindustan Times on 16 December 2023.
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A new report from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has shed light on some of the key barriers preventing greater women's representation in Ghana's political sphere.
The report, titled "Under-representation of women in leadership in Ghana," and published in September this year, analyzes factors contributing to the persistently low numbers of women elected to political office at both national and local levels in the country.
According to the UNDP, "intimidation, lack of recognition and illiteracy were among the major obstacles" facing women seeking political office, citing a previous study examining representation in Nadowli District.
Click here to read the full article published by Modern Ghana on 14 December 2023.
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CHENNAI: Indian parliament has finally passed the historic women's reservation bill or to call it by its proper name Naari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam.
After a waiting period of 27 years, the Indian parliamentarians decided to take a concrete step towards the political empowerment of Indian women. This step is not a full stop to a much-discussed topic of political reservation for women but marks the beginning of a new era.
It's a significant move to ensure the Political and Gender equality promised by the Constitution of India.
Click here to read the full article published by DT Next on 8 December 2023.
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PETALING JAYA: The statistics department reported better gender equality overall in 2022, but noted a clear challenge faced in women’s political empowerment, which remains alarmingly low.
Chief Statistician Uzir Mahidin said the women’s political empowerment subindex scored the lowest at 10.2%, emphasising the urgent need for increased female participation in political spheres.
“Despite the significance of Malaysian women’s participation in the economy and education, there is an inspiring opportunity for further progress in leadership positions in the country’s political system, as only 17.9% of women held ministerial positions in 2022,” he said in a statement.
The Malaysia Gender Gap Index in 2022 achieved a 0.2% increase from the previous year, reaching 69.4%.
Click here to read the full article published by Free Malaysia Today on 13 December 2023.
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In a live event discussing the impact of women’s power, or Nari Shakti, in politics, female representatives from various political parties, including Sunita Duggal, Amee Yajnik, Priyanka Chaturvedi, and Sushmita Dev, express their perspectives on the changing political landscape. The conversation revolves around women’s leadership and their inherently transformative roles in politics.
Gender Equality and the Role of Men
The discussion also delves into gender inequality’s impact on both men and women, underscoring the need for men’s participation in fostering feminism and gender equality. Initiatives like the Men’s Resource Center, the White Ribbons Campaign, and the HeForShe solidarity campaign are highlighted as key conduits for engaging men in ensuring gender parity.
Click here to read the full article published by BNN Breaking on 13 December 2023.
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This report reflects the main arguments presented during the high-level seminar, organized by UN Women in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, on “Strengthening women’s participation in peace processes: What roles and responsibilities for states?” in Rome, Italy, on 3 and 4 December 2019. The main arguments include the persistent barriers to women’s meaningful participation in peace and mediation processes and the opportunities that exist to remove them.
Specifically, seminar participants discussed challenges related to limited political will, the link between women’s underrepresentation in politics and their marginalization in peace processes, the complex balance between women’s representation and promoting gender equality, and the barriers to sustainable civil society involvement.
Second, the report highlights perspectives and lessons learned that representatives of the United Nations, Member States, regional organizations, and civil society shared on how to enhance women’s meaningful participation in peace processes. Two strategies were emphasized: the design of inclusive peace processes and the role of regional networks of women mediators in bridging peace processes across tracks. The case studies of Colombia, Syria, and Cyprus are also included, offering insights on some successful strategies to increase women’s participation.
Finally, the report describes the key policy recommendations that emanated from the seminar, with a view to addressing ongoing barriers to women’s participation and using innovative and comprehensive strategies to achieve more gender-responsive peace processes.
Source: UN Women
The global report on Gender Equality in Public Administration (GEPA) report provides an overview of key trends and analysis on women’s participation and leadership in public administration, based on evidence from UNDP and the University of Pittsburgh’s ground-breaking GEPA database. The first comprehensive in-depth research into the issue covering 170 countries, finds that though there has been progress on women’s representation overall in public administration, persistent gaps remain. Women continue to hit a glass ceiling and glass walls that stop them from advancing to positions at the highest levels of power and influence, including in the COVID-19 response. The report provides practical recommendations to help shatter these glass ceilings and glass walls and to reimagine and redesign more gender inclusive and diverse public administrations.
Source: UNDP
Abstract
Throughout history, most positions of political power have been held by men, and despite numerous laws and regulations aimed at increasing gender equality in society and politics, the majority of democratic assemblies remain predominantly composed of men. What makes this gender composition persistent over time? Using data from Swedish population registers from 1982 to 2014 and demographic statistics from 1749 to 1859, I study how historical social norms shape the present-day gender balance in local politics. The results show that where family formation was more traditional in the past, there are fewer women in local politics today. The analysis also shows that family formation is a likely mechanism for the transmission of social norms across generations. The findings contribute to our understanding of the historical persistence of social structures and the reasons why gender balance in politics is not easily achieved.
Click here to access the article.
Abstract
What explains the gender gap in political engagement and economic policy preferences? Many scholars point to material resources, while others credit cultural determinants. We identify and test an important link between these factors: cultural lineage norms that structure entitlements to resources. Studying the relationship between culture and resources is challenging in societies where both disadvantage women. We analyze a unique setting: northeast India, where matrilineal tribes live alongside patrilineal communities. Patriarchal cultures and political institutions are shared, but lineage norms are distinct: patrilineal groups distribute inherited wealth through men, while matrilineal tribes do so via women. We conduct survey and behavioral experiments with representative samples of both communities, alongside extensive qualitative research, and find that the gender gap reverses across patrilineal and matrilineal groups. Our results indicate that lineage norms—which determine who gets to make decisions about wealth and how—are key determinants of the political economy gender gap.
Click here to read the paper.
Abstract
Does the representation of women in cabinet and party leadership positions affect whether governments are more or less likely to fulfill the policy promises they make during election campaigns? This research note studies the effects of women's descriptive representation in cabinet and party leadership on policymaking by analyzing the pledge fulfillment of parties in 10 European countries, the United States, and Canada. The empirical analysis suggests that governing parties are more likely to fulfill their election promises when levels of women's representation are higher. The results have implications for our understanding of the descriptive and substantive representation of women, as well as for party competition and policymaking more broadly.
Click here to read the full article published by the Wiley Online Library on 18 February 2021.
This report contains an examination of global trends, persistent barriers and opportunities with regard to women’s full and effective participation and decision-making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. Progress made in women’s representation at different levels, mainly through legislated gender quotas, and the impact of women’s participation in decision-making and civil society, are acknowledged in the report.
Systemic challenges, especially the increasing levels of violence perpetrated against women in public life and certain enduring harmful norms, require urgent attention, as do specific challenges encountered by marginalized women who face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination. States can facilitate a more inclusive and enabling environment in which all women could participate in public life through more ambitious targets, increased political will, sustainable financing and gender-responsive institutional arrangements.
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has compounded challenges to decision-making, and, while women have rarely been included in decision-making on COVID-19 response efforts in equal numbers to men, in several countries where they have been in leadership positions, the response to the pandemic has been particularly effective. The report concludes with recommendations for consideration by the Commission on the Status of Women.
Click here to access the report.