Women's Leadership
The Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, last month committed to a revitalised gender equality declaration. This declaration, spearheaded by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, was subject to extensive consultation across the region. The first of its seven priority areas is “political leadership and regionalism”, in which leaders have committed to accelerated actions to strengthen the participation of women and girls in all their diversity “at all levels of leadership and decision-making”.
In various ways, women’s political leadership in the Pacific has changed over the last ten years. In 2023, women were represented in the parliament of every national jurisdiction in the region for the first time. Before then, no woman had ever been elected to the legislature of the Federated States of Micronesia. In 2021, the region saw its first female head of government, Fiamē Naomi Mata’afa, elected in Samoa. This followed the region’s first female head of state, Hilda Heine, in the Republic of the Marshall Islands in 2016. Women have held diverse executive portfolios in office, serving as deputy prime minister and leader of the opposition, and as ministers for foreign affairs, education, home affairs and justice, to name a few.
Click here to read the full article published by The Fiji Times on 8 January 2024.
Image by The Fiji Times
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Amidst the global struggle against gender-based violence, the plight of women in politics battling this pervasive issue remains alarmingly prevalent in Liberia. In a bold initiative led by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) tagged “Breaking the Silence,” emerging as a beacon of hope, dedicated to unearthing the concealed narratives of physical violence endured by women in politics who defiantly challenge societal norms and tirelessly advocate for substantive change.
This groundbreaking endeavor transcends the mere revelation of untold stories, delving deep into the multifaceted challenges encountered by women in their political pursuits. The project aspires to carve a path toward a more inclusive and secure political landscape in Liberia, where women can participate without fear or hindrance.
Click here to read the full article published by Front Page Africa on 04 January 2024.
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This is despite guarantees of equality as provided for in the constitution of Zimbabwe, chapter 4 part 3 section (80) (1), which states: “Every woman has the full and equal dignity of the person with men and this includes equal opportunities in political, economic and social activities.”
In chapter 5 part 3 section (104) (4) the constitution states: “In appointing Ministers and Deputy Ministers, the President must be guided by considerations of regional and gender balance.”
Top human rights lawyer Passmore Nyakureba said political space is also non-existent for women because of the weaponisation of political violence against them.
Click here to read the full article published by The Zimbabwean on 06 January 2024.
Image by: The Zimbabwean
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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.
Image by The Irish Sun
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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.
Image by Modern Ghana
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There are currently 22 gender-balanced cabinets, of which 14 have at least 50% of women ministers.
Women continue to be under-represented globally in political leadership positions. Data from UN Women and the Inter-parliamentary Union’s 2019 Women in Politics map shows that women made up 24.3% of all parliamentarians and 20.7% of government ministers, in January 2019. Although far from parity and gender-balance, this represents an all-time high for women in politics.
According to the same data, only nine countries had 50% or more of women in ministerial positions on 1 January 2019.* These were Spain (64.7%), Nicaragua (55.6%), Sweden (54.4%), Albania (53.3%), Colombia (52.9%), Costa Rica (51.9%), Rwanda (51.9%), Canada (50%) and France (50%).
Below is an update on parity and gender-balanced cabinets (see our previous list here). As of 1 September 2019, there are 14 government cabinets made up of at least 50% of women ministers:
1. Spain
Caretaker Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s acting cabinet includes six men and ten women, making Spain the country with the highest proportion of women ministers at 62.5%. Click here to learn more.
2. Finland
Prime Minister Antti Rinne’s government is composed of seven men and 11 women ministers. The proportion of women ministers is 61.1%. Click here to learn more.
3. Nicaragua
President Daniel Ortega Saavedra’s current cabinet includes seven men and ten women. The share of women ministers is 58.8%. Click here to learn more.
4. Sweden
Sweden has the world’s first self-proclaimed feminist government. Prime Minister Stefan Löfven’s cabinet is composed of ten men and 12 women ministers. The proportion of women ministers is 54.5%. Click here to learn more.
5. Albania
Albanian Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Edi Rama reshuffled his cabinet at the end of 2018. The government is composed of eight women ministers out of a total of 15, bringing the proportion of women ministers to 53.3%. Click here to learn more.
6. Rwanda
Prime Minister Édouard Ngirente’s government includes 25 ministers, among which 13 are women (52%). Rwanda has the highest proportion of women MPs in its Chamber of Deputies at 61.3%. Click here to learn more.
7. Canada
Upon assuming office in November 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed a parity cabinet. Following the most recent reshuffle in March 2019, gender parity remained with a total of 17 men and 17 women ministers. Click here to learn more.
8. Colombia
President Iván Duque announced Colombia’s first parity cabinet in August 2018. The current government team is composed of eight men and eight women ministers. Click here to learn more.
9. Costa Rica
President Carlos Alvarado’s current 24-member cabinet includes as many men as women ministers. Click here to learn more.
10. El Salvador
On 1 June 2019, President Nayib Bukele announced upon his inauguration a parity government with eight men and eight women ministers. Click here to learn more.
11. Guinea-Bissau
In July 2019, a presidential decree announced a new government under the leadership of Prime Minister Aristides Gomes with eight men and eight women ministers. Click here to learn more.
12. Haiti
The new Prime Minister Fritz-William Michel announced a parity cabinet in July 2019. Despite a government reshuffle a month later, parity was kept with nine men and nine women ministers. Click here to learn more.
13. Moldova
In June 2019, Ms. Maia Sandu was elected Prime Minister of Moldova by Members of Parliament. Her new government is formed of five men and five women ministers. Click here to learn more.
14. South Africa
In May 2019, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s second cabinet was inaugurated. In includes 14 men and 14 women ministers. Click here to learn more.
Close to parity but not quite, there are currently eight gender-balanced cabinets where women occupy at least 40% of ministerial positions. These are France (48.6%), Ethiopia (47.6), Peru (47.4), Norway (42.8%), Switzerland (42.8%), Seychelles (41.6%), Germany (40%), and Iceland (40%).
Did we miss anything? Please let us know at connect@iknowpolitics.org.
* All calculations do not include Prime Ministers/Heads of Government, unless they hold ministerial portfolios. Vice-presidents and heads of governmental or public agencies are not included.
This policy paper aims to reconsider the concept of parity democracy in the current context of the EU and focusing on the elections to the EP in May 2019. As developed in the Athens Declaration, adopted at the European Summit of Women in Power in 1992, parity democracy stands on 5 basic arguments (equality, democracy, good use of human resources, needs and interests of women and quality of policy-making) which are recalled and updated with a view to provide stakeholders, including democrats standing for gender equality and feminist movements, with useful ammunitions to inform and convince EU citizens (women and men) to vote and to vote for women defending equality. This policy paper is, therefore, part of broader Gender Five Plus’ efforts to inform EU citizens and influence stakeholders for greater gender balance in the EU. The analysis in this policy paper is based on desk research, literature review and includes diverse forms of experience in EU policy-making. It is divided into four different parts and a list of recommendations. Part I tries to answer the question of why parity democracy is important to the EU; Part II focuses on why the EU and parity democracy are important to women; Part III analyses gender balance in the EU decision-making (focusing in the EP); Part IV examines the possible challenges and opportunities for fostering parity democracy in the current EU context and the conclusion provides space for a reflection on the EU that we want and need to build. Finally, derived from the analysis of the whole policy paper, a noncomprehensive list of recommendations is provided.
Click here to see the report.
Raising women’s political participation leads to faster maternal mortality decline. We estimate that the introduction of quotas for women in parliament results in a 9–12 per cent decline in maternal mortality. In terms of mechanisms, it also leads to an 8–11 per cent increase in skilled birth attendance and a 6–11 per cent increase in prenatal care utilization. We find reinforcing evidence from the period in which the United States experienced rapid declines in maternal mortality. The historical decline made feasible by the introduction of antibiotics was significantly greater in states that had longer exposure to women’s suffrage.
Click here to see the academic article.
By Elizabeth Renzetti,
Imagine, for a second, that you’re walking down the street with your kids or your dog and someone who doesn’t like the way you do your job decides to hurl abuse at you. This probably seems inconceivable, if you’re a teacher or a lawyer or a baker or a construction worker.
However, if you are a politician – a female politician, specifically – it could be part of your life. This week we learned that Catherine McKenna, the Liberal Environment Minister, is sometimes accompanied by security, after the constant abuse she suffers online spilled over into real life (while she was with her kids going to see a movie in Ottawa, a man hurled an expletive at her and called her “Climate Barbie.”) The incident made international headlines – not the kind we usually associate with our friendly country. It was, perhaps, the wake-up call people needed to understand the situation that many women in politics face.
I’m Elizabeth Renzetti, a columnist and feature writer with The Globe and Mail, and I’ve long been interested in the ways that women are discouraged from seeking a life in politics. Over the years I’ve interviewed politicians and aspiring politicians and academics who study politics, and one thing is clear – the abuse that women take, online and increasingly offline, is getting worse.
It’s not an issue that follows partisan lines, either: the abuse cuts across party politics. The former interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose wrote that she had been “mocked, dismissed, insulted, threatened (including with sexual violence), underestimated, cyber-bullied, sexually harassed, disrespected and ignored” because of her gender. Women in politics tend to have hides thicker than suitcase leather, but we cannot and should not become inured to threats that require them to have security guards by their sides, which happened with both Alberta MLA Sandra Jansen and former Alberta premier Rachel Notley.
Click here to read the full article published by The Globe and Mail on 13 September 2019.
Gender equality is fundamentally related to sustainable development, and globally accepted as a necessity for the promotion of human rights. Gender empowerment is determined by active participation of women and men in social, economic, and political spaces and activities taken in decision-making. In the context of local government, gender equality is critical as women and men face different challenges in full participation, representation and decent work opportunities. Though the constitution provides women the right to be elected in political and public representative institutions, such as parliament and local government bodies, gender inequality, as a collection of interlinked problems existed in the political arena too. Today the representation of women in politics has been increased considerably but due to their low participation, their issues and problems are generally unseen and unnoticed. Participation of women in the decision-making levels not only enhances their social, political and economic status, but also strengthens democratic institutions and even perhaps change the nature of the democratic process. Thus, the present study analyzed the gender challenges, gender influence in leadership styles, gender role and responsibilities of the elected panchayat leaders in Sivagangai district. The sample size of the study is 50 and the Harvard Analytical Framework has been used as a tool for data collection. Findings of the study assisted in the framing of strategies for the effective role performance of women in rural local governance and for the promotion of Gender Responsive Governance.
Click here to see the academic article.
There is a persistent gender gap in motivations to run for political office. While exposure to role models is widely believed to increase women’s political ambition, there is little field experimental evidence on whether exposure to female politicians in realistic settings can increase political ambition. We conducted a field experiment in which a sample of 612 female students was randomly assigned to receive emails inviting them to an event that included career workshops with female politicians, or no email. The treatment increased interest in the ongoing national election campaign, but, against expectations, did not have any positive effect on political ambition. Our results suggest that female politicians who discuss their experience bluntly, instead of following a motivational script, may fail to motivate other women to pursue a political career. These results highlight the need for more research into the type of events and messages that bring more women into politics.
Click here to see the study.
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Regional Dialogue on Advancing Transformative Gender Social Norms to Enhance Women and Youth Participation
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