Women's Leadership
British TV features plenty of women who wield power. This is unsurprising. But what we see little of is scrutiny of how these women are presented and the associated narratives. Stories and characters are compelling and therefore influential; narratives drive the evolution of culture and collective attitudes, so balance and variety in the stories we see in the media, TV and film is key. However, an analysis of several British TV series reveals a tendency to view powerful women through a sceptical lens. In general, women who obtain power and influence in atypical ways are portrayed not as potent changemakers, but as threats. So the question we need to ask is whether we need more narratives that encourage optimism about the potential of renegades and unconventional individuals — particularly women — to succeed in politics.
Click here to read the full article published by Shout Out UK on 21 November 2023.
Image by Shout Out UK
Women’s underrepresentation at all levels of government is a persistent problem in the United States. RepresentWomen’s research shows that although we have made progress towards parity, this progress is slow and inconsistent, meaning we are unlikely to reach gender balance within our lifetimes. Increasing and sustaining women’s leadership in elected office requires us to remove the barriers women candidates and legislators face. This drives our research at RepresentWomen to identify the barriers and system-level solutions we can implement to create a more representative, gender-balanced democracy.
Click here to read the full article published by LA Progressive on 22 November 2023.
Image by LA Progressive
The National Assembly (NA) stated that both the legislature and the executive branches of government have a strong political will to encourage, promote and strengthen the role of women to achieve the Cambodia’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) and its vision for 2030 and 2050.
The body has passed comprehensive laws to integrate gender equality into public policy and laws, taking into account the challenges faced by women.
Click here to read the full article published by The Phnom Penh Post on 22 November 2023.
Image by The Phnom Penh Post
Men still dominate political decision-making in the United Kingdom. Women hold just one or two seats on prestigious select committees in the House of Commons, like Defence, Foreign Affairs, and Justice. No women sit on the Domestic and Economic Affairs cabinet committee. And 95% of all local councils have majority-men membership.
Yet voters do care about women’s leadership in elected office. My research shows that when women are absent from political decision-making, voters view governments as less legitimate.
Click here to read the full article published by the Electoral Reform Society on 21 November 2023.
Image by Electoral Reform Society
Eva Perón, read via her clothes. The Argentine politician is an icon of Latin American feminism. Much has been written about the woman, who was at one point an actress, throughout the years. Dozens of documentaries and movies have focused on her story. Nonetheless, many aspects of her life continue to be a mystery. Although her time on Earth was brief, having died at 33 years of age, she is one of the most important figures in the history of Argentina.
Click here to read the full article published by El País on 15 November 2023.
Image by El País
Góðan daginn from Iceland, where the threat of an imminent volcanic eruption did not deter 500 women leaders from flying to the country for the Reykjavik Global Forum, an annual gathering of women politicians, activists and business leaders.
Iceland is a fitting place to host the forum, which is sponsored by Iceland’s government and Parliament in partnership with Women Political Leaders, a global network of female politicians. After all, it is the world’s most gender-equal country — and has been for 14 years in a row.
Click here to read the full article published by Politico on 17 November 2023.
Image by Politico
Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) have long played a central role in the advancement of human rights. In the fight against impunity and repression, WHRDs have been among one of the most vocal in calling for human rights to be protected and upheld. In recent years, WHRD-led movements have particularly gained traction. Their relentless work calling for justice has, however, exposed them to serious risks and threats.
In this context, the new working paper series of the FORUM-ASIA aims to put WHRD’s perspective at the centre, exploring personal reflections and case studies on how they are experiencing and promoting human rights in an increasingly challenging context.
Ongoing struggles of WHRDs in Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, as well as the coordinated actions of women garment workers advocating for their rights in Cambodia and the testimonies collected by the University of York, showcase the need for stronger support and protection mechanisms, taking into account psychosocial wellbeing. At the same time, reflections on progress made 25 years after the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action, and the advances and developments within the United Nations system indicate that a vibrant civil society is vital for WHRDs’ protection.
Click here to see the report.
Women who seek to participate in peace processes and political decision-making face many obstacles. To achieve sustainable peace and development, societies emerging from conflict must remove these obstacles. In so doing, they must recognize and prioritize that women are fully capable of active participation in all political processes. Women’s equal participation in leadership at every level and in every sector is imperative to eliminating gender-based violence, poverty and enabling sustainable peace.
In this policy brief, Women in International Security examines five main barriers to women’s participation at the peace table and in politics. And presents recommendations to the international community, state actors, civil society organizations, women’s rights defenders, and male champions to help create an enabling environment for the full participation of women in all political processes.
Click here to see the report.
A seemingly inescapable feature of the digital age is that people choosing to devote their lives to politics must now be ready to face a barrage of insults and disparaging comments targeted at them through social media. This article represents an effort to document this phenomenon systematically. We implement machine learning models to predict the incivility of about 2.2 m messages addressed to Canadian politicians and US Senators on Twitter. Specifically, we test whether women in politics are more heavily targeted by online incivility, as recent media reports suggested. Our estimates indicate that roughly 15% of public messages sent to Senators can be categorized as uncivil, whereas the proportion is about four points lower in Canada. We find evidence that women are more heavily targeted by uncivil messages than men, although only among highly visible politicians.
Click here to see the paper.
This research report seaks to analyze the use of social media during the 2018 General Election in Pakistan. The report focuses on online participation and harassement of female politicians along with issues pertinent to elections in the digital age: online advertising, misinformation and regulation of social media spaces.
Click here to see the report.
Around the world, women are targeted by violence because of their commitment to vote, their jobs as electoral officials and their aspirations to hold political office. NDI categorizes this kind of violence as “violence against women in elections” (VAW-E), and defines it as any act of violence -- threats, hate speech, assault, blackmail or assassination -- that is unduly directed at someone because of her gender, and that seeks to determine, delay or otherwise influence her engagement in an electoral process.
Election-related violence against women is a separate issue from general electoral violence because it is specifically aimed at preventing women from exercising their voice and agency. Women are targeted specifically because they are women, as opposed to the election violence that stems from differences in candidates’ or parties’ positions on issues.
Click here to see the report.
The Win With Women Political Party Assessment (WWW Assessment) is an initiative designed to help political parties become more inclusive and representative through an assessment that gauges men and women's perceptions of women in leadership, the types of social norms held by members of parties, and the individual, institutional and socio-cultural barriers to gender equality.
Click here to see the report.