Women's Leadership
The Women's Political Rights Forum has submitted six-point demands to the Election Commission (EC), calling for electoral reforms ahead of the 13th national elections.
The delegation met Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin at the Election Commission Building in Agargaon this afternoon (23 September).
The forum demanded mandatory nomination of women candidates, leadership roles for women within party structures, allocation of campaign funds equal to the expenditure limit, policies to prevent harassment both online and offline, direct elections to reserved parliamentary seats, and the introduction of 'no' votes in all constituencies. A written proposal outlining these demands was formally submitted to the EC during the meeting.
The meeting was led by Maheen Sultan, member of the Women's Affairs Reform Commission, and attended by Sadaf Saz, executive council member of Naripokkho; Seema Dutta, president of Bangladesh Nari Mukti Kendra; and Shyamoli Shil, president of Nari Samhati. Four election commissioners — Abdur Rahmanel Machud, Tahmida Ahmed, Md Anwarul Islam Sarkar, and Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah — along with EC Secretary Akhtar Ahmed, were also present.
New Zealand has brought in a Swedish economist to run its central bank as it seeks to end a period of turmoil at the top of the institution and steer the country away from the brink of a “double-dip” recession. Anna Breman, who has been first deputy governor of the Sveriges Riksbank in Sweden since 2019, will become the first female governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand when she takes up the role in December. Her appointment follows a period of recent upheaval at the central bank, where her predecessor Adrian Orr abruptly stood down this year due to a disagreement with the government over the institution’s budget. Neil Quigley, chair of the central bank, also departed last month. The RBNZ canvassed 300 candidates for the role, according to finance minister Nicola Willis, who in a statement on Wednesday praised Breman’s “impressive blend of technical skills and organisational leadership experience”.
On this International Day of Peace on September 21, the call for unity and reconciliation resonates worldwide but for women in conflict zones, peace is not just a principle to celebrate, it is a daily act of survival and rebuilding. Local community and government leaders, health workers, policymakers, and mothers sustain fragile trust in communities torn apart by violence. They rebuild, they console, they negotiate. Their actions and voices are critical in peace and security efforts, yet their stories seldom receive the recognition they deserve.
The Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda acknowledges the meaningful perspectives that women bring to the table, drawing them from the margins to the center. Rooted in UN Security Council Resolution 1325, this framework emphasizes that decisions about peace must meaningfully include women. In alignment with the aims of the WPS agenda, organizations like Our Secure Future are leading initiatives to advance women’s roles in peace and security efforts in order to enable more effective policy-making and lasting peace. Evidence consistently shows that when women fully participate in peace processes, peace agreements tend to endure and carry meaning beyond words.
However, women remain underrepresented in peace processes globally. In 2023, women constituted only 9.6 percent of negotiators, 13.7 percent of mediators, and 26.6 percent of signatories in peace and ceasefire agreements, a notable improvement from earlier figures, yet still far short of parity even as their informal leadership continues to shape trust and dialogue in countless ways.
The harassment of women is nothing alien in Bangladesh, but when it comes to politics, the hostility is sharpened and deliberate. Women candidates, and anyone who dares to support them, are unfairly attacked, judged, and harassed. The recent student council elections in our biggest universities made this painfully clear. The misogyny, the character assassination, the filth in the comment sections of social media platforms, it is all meant to remind women of one thing: Politics is not your field.
I am no fan of BNP politician Rumin Farhana. But it stuck in my head when I scrolled through a news post about her; the comments were filled with bigotry, obscenity, and misogyny. This is the norm, but when the subject is a woman in politics, the ugliness multiplies. She is not attacked for her politics, but for her personal choices, for being unmarried, for simply existing as a woman in public life. The cruelty is staggering.
This cruelty is not just reserved for national figures. At Dhaka University, female candidates contesting the Ducsu elections have faced waves of online abuse. Obscene comments under campaign posts, sexually explicit inbox messages, doctored videos, even rape threats -- this is the reality of student politics for women.
One incident was so severe it reached the High Court: After a left alliance candidate filed a petition, a student posted a call for her “gang rape” on Facebook. The offender was suspended, but almost every woman candidate reported cyberbullying. As one described, social media had become a “weapon to bring down opponents.” Misogyny here is not about ideology. It is about punishing women for daring to get involved in politics at all.
Every fall, as Parliament returns and calendars quickly fill with receptions, meetings, and fundraisers, one gathering on the Hill stands out from the rest. Women on the Hill has become a cherished Ottawa tradition, bringing together women from politics, policy, media, government relations, and diplomacy.
What sets Women on the Hill apart on the Ottawa reception circuit is its purpose of creating a space for women to truly connect. Since the beginning of its origin, the aim has always been to shine a light on the contributions of women who shape the national conversation from House of Commons to press galleries, embassies to boardrooms. It is where senior political leaders and new staffers, veteran journalists and emerging government relations professionals, trade insights and stories over a glass of wine…or two.
The community that the Women on the Hill event has fostered is unique to any other recent throughout the year. It’s a space where a minister may strike up a conversation with a young staffer, where journalists and diplomats share perspectives, and where industry veterans make themselves accessible to the next generation of women on the hill.
Full article here.
Milestones for notable women this week include birthdays for: Lois Wessel, Amy Poehler, Alexis Bledel, Caroline James, Soledad O’Brien, Nancy Bocskor and Lauren Leader. It’s also the anniversary of the week that Harriet Tubman set herself free in 1849, that Carla Hayden was named the first female librarian of Congress, and Margaret Chase Smith was the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate in her own right.
The gender disparity in politics is indicative of the of need to promote education amongst women, thus, enabling greater political participation.
While numerous political advancements have occurred throughout the world in recent decades, the most important influence has to be on women’s involvement and representation in political roles. Women make up about half of our population, but they are underrepresented in our political system in proportion to their numbers. At every level, from the home to the highest levels of government, women are excluded from decision-making. Women’s decision-making engagement in politics may have a substantial impact on women’s empowerment, which is why India is battling with the issue of gender disparity. Despite the Indian Constitution’s provision of equal opportunity, women have a small presence in legislative bodies and political participation at all levels. Accessing the possible reasons, we see that, interestingly, education plays a part in politics; however, only for women because the literacy rate of female politicians is higher than the male politicians, implying that only women need political education.
Click here to read the full article published by Observer Research Foundation.
By Tapan Kumar Sahu, Kusum Yadav
The paper empirically examined the relationship between education level and political participation of women. The indices of political participation include the following: membership of political party, voting in elections, occupation of political post, means of occupation of political post and level of occupation of political post. The results revealed that women of the South West region of Cameroon are fairly well exposed to formal education as only 4.1% of the sampled population had no formal education. The study revealed that the higher the level of women's formal education, the more their tendency to participate in politics in areas of voting in elections and occupation of political post either through elections or appointments at all levels of government. The study was guided by the following objectives; the first was to assess women’s political participation and decision making. Secondly, what the opportunities of women political participation the third objectives was to determine the level of opportunities women’s political participation and decision making. The researcher recommends that the government, civil society and women activists need to work towards sensitization and awareness creation among the community to realize the need of the Women to participate in politics and governance. The men need to realize the women’s need for political power and change the way they look at the women and the government should embark on activities which support women’s political x Initiatives. The researcher recommends these areas to be further studied including: a study that could analyzes the contribution of civil society organizations in promotion of women political participation and human rights, a study that could assess the policy gaps concerning gender equity in governance and politics for women empowerment and other study could be conducted in the field concerning implication of culture on women’s political participation and decision making.
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By Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
While rebuilding a country previously engulfed in civil war for over 14 years, my administration oversaw, then, one of the deadliest health crises of the 21st century. I, Africa’s first democratically elected woman president and Liberia’s first elected president of the post-conflict period, had to pivot quickly in both attitude and action, as a means of responding to the Ebola outbreak of 2014. The outbreak posed a devastating threat to Liberia’s people and to the gains we had made in recovery and development. Rather than falter, we leaned into the complex challenges the outbreak posed, crafting and embarking upon an approach that embraced the strategies called for by community health workers and ordinary people fighting to save their loved ones. During this period, we lost many lives but averted a national crisis and found an inclusive and sustainable path of hope. In most African countries, strengthening the national health structure requires investing in and prioritizing community health workers and systems. Local community health workers are crucial in times of crisis because of their proximity to those most impacted. Utilizing community leadership ensures communities feel empowered and share in the responsibility, creating genuinely inclusive and responsive approaches. Liberia’s early success in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic relied on the same community health workers and leaders from the Ebola crisis. They were central in the dissemination of reliable information, coordination efforts across the country, building partnerships both internally and internationally, and leading their communities.
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The primary objective of this 2019 CEMR study on women in politics is to evaluate the progression of women’s representation in decision-making over a ten-year period and to present an overview of the current situation. The study aims to mobilise actors and decision- makers at all levels across Europe, in the institutions and organisations included in the study, but also in the associations of local and regional governments, political parties, civil society organisations, as well as anyone interested in just and democratic governance.
Click here to download the report
LGBTQ Victory Institute’s The Decision to Run Report set out to uncover the barriers and motivators for LGBTQ women who want to run for office. The findings — a result of an extensive survey of nearly 290 LGBTQ women as well as four focus groups — show six common barriers and four motivators mentioned by respondents. It is a first glance – not a comprehensive account – of the challenges LGBTQ women encounter. Yet it can be a guide for equality organizations, campaign training organizations and candidate recruitment programs that believe in the importance of representation for LGBTQ women, as well as a starting point for future research.
Click here to download the report.
This policy brief shows that while much remains to be explored, there are clear links between anti-corruption and women's political participation that are important to understand for politicians, anti-corruption advocates, and those working on increasing women’s representation in political office.
Click here to read the full report.