Women's Leadership
Opening the annual conference of the Gender Equality Commission, the Deputy Secretary of the Council of Europe Bjørn Berge emphasised that “only 27 countries around the world have a woman serving as Head of State or Government and 103 countries have never had a woman in their top executive office. And even where women occupy ministerial roles, they are largely outside of the powerful portfolios such as defence, foreign affairs or finance. There has been, not only a failure to advance, but a regression in gender equality.”
Despite progress in gender equality, women in politics continue to face disproportionate levels of harassment, exclusion, and violence. While gender quotas and anti-discrimination laws have helped increase women’s representation in public life, problems persist. Sexism and violence – both online and offline – continue to deter women from entering or remaining in politics. These threats not only violate human rights but also undermine the foundations of democratic governance.
“Advances in technology and artificial intelligence mean exponential increases in the amount of intimidation, humiliation and disinformation women are subject to. No longer a whisper in a corridor, but an artificially manipulated video or photograph, gone viral in seconds. We cannot say that we have true democracy if half the population does not experience equal access to the public life, experience violence or is effectively silenced,” Deputy Secretary Berge said.
Full article here.
Four days after violence left 51 people dead and devastated key seats of power, the former chief justice of the Supreme Court was appointed as interim prime minister. Parliament was dissolved.
After a four-day power vacuum, Sushila Karki, the former chief justice of Nepal's Supreme Court, was appointed interim prime minister on Friday, September 12. She was officially sworn in late in the evening before the president, Ram Chandra Poudel. Parliament was dissolved.
Karki, age 73, now faces the daunting task of holding the country together and preparing for the next elections, scheduled for March 5, 2026. It is a task made all the more challenging after the protests of September 8 and 9 plunged Nepal into a whirlwind of violence that left 51 dead and ravaged key sites of power in Kathmandu.
The Sudan War series is a joint collaboration between the Center for Economic, Legal, and Social Studies and Documentation – Khartoum (CEDEJ-K), Sudan-Norway Academic Cooperation (SNAC) and African Arguments – Debating Ideas. Through a number of themes that explore the intersections of war, displacement, identities and capital, Sudanese researchers, many of whom are themselves displaced, highlight their own experiences, the unique dynamisms within the larger communities affected by war, and readings of their possible futures.
They say revolutions turn out badly. But they’re constantly confusing two different things, the way revolutions turn out historically and people’s revolutionary becoming. These relate to two different sets of people. Men’s only hope lies in a revolutionary becoming: the only way of casting off their shame or responding to what is intolerable – Gilles Deleuze
Since the early days of the mid-April 2023 war, Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs) have emerged as a practical extension of the Resistance Committees. The latter were grassroots political groups formed during the December 2018 revolution tasked with shaping the direction of the mobilization towards change. The ERRs too are more than a coordinated humanitarian response, as their work and ethos build on the Committees’ original political vision: building a grassroots civic space that is people-centred with the aim of reconfiguring the uneven dynamic between society and the state.
In Bangladesh, the Forum for Women’s Political Rights has called for comprehensive electoral reforms to ensure fair and inclusive representation of women in the political arena.
The forum also demanded direct elections among women candidates to 100 reserved seats in parliament and the mandatory nomination of at least 33% women candidates by every political party to ensure greater representation of women.
During a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU), the forum leaders said the current 50 reserved seats without direct election do not provide women with meaningful political power.
The forum leaders highlighted that although women constitute more than half of the country’s population, their representation in parliament has historically been around just 7 percent.
They therefore believe that women’s representation in parliament should be increased to at least 50 percent, reports United News of Bangladesh (UNB).
That women in Nigeria who have been the backbone of community building, peace processes, and national development have not been well represented in the decision making and governance of the country is no longer a tale as the evidence abound for all to see.
Women representation in the National Assembly remains low, with only 4.2% (20 members out of 469) in the 10th Assembly (2023-2027), comprising 3 of 109 Senators and 17 of 360 members of the House of Representatives which is significantly below the global and African averages and is a result of factors like political party structures and male dominance.
It is trite knowledge that when it comes to political leadership, their voices are not only underrepresented, their contributions are undervalued due to cultural constraints in a society that is primarily patrilineal and patriarchal in nature. Unfortunately for Nigeria, evidence across the world shows that societies that embrace women’s participation in leadership record greater stability, deeper inclusivity, and stronger economic growth.
President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah reaffirmed Namibia’s firm commitment to promoting gender equality across all sectors.
She emphasised that women’s emancipation is both a constitutional duty and a moral obligation.
During the 63rd Pan African Women’s Day celebration in Windhoek over the weekend, President Nandi-Ndaitwah highlighted Namibia’s leadership in gender equality on the continent, ranking first in Africa and eighth worldwide on the latest international gender parity index.
“This ranking underscores our nation’s continuous efforts to empower women through political representation, education, and economic participation,” she stated.
She praised Namibia’s 50/50 gender representation policy, known as the zebra style, championed by Swapo.
“This strategic policy has transformed gender balance within Swapo structures and the National Assembly, serving as a strong example for Africa,” she added.
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.
Click here to read the full article.
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.
Haga clic aquí para leer el artículo completo.
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.
RepresentWomen's Arab State Brief reviews the extent to which women are represented in Arab countries, the history of Arab independence and revolutions - and their impact on women's rights and representation; and country-specific information that covers the history of systems reforms and their impact on women's political rights and representation in the region.
Click here to read the full report.