Women's Leadership
Women’s presence in politics is vital for shaping policy outcomes in the economic, social and cultural spheres. Despite progress over the past two decades, women remain under-represented in political leadership in Africa. This publication examines the factors motivating women’s participation and representation in politics on the continent, providing insights to enhance gender equality and empower women politically. Through interviews, it becomes clear that global and regional efforts for gender equality are key factors motivating women’s political participation. Women's movements and civil society groups have played a significant role in advocating for increased inclusion. However, social norms and practices often still hinder women from meaningful participation in decision making.
The report suggests that African governments should expedite the implementation of international and regional frameworks to enhance women’s political participation. Strengthening women’s capacity to engage in politics, improving access to finance and addressing violence against women in politics are essential measures to promote their representation.
Click here to read the full report published by IDEA International on 30 December 2024.
International IDEA organized in August 2024, in Kampala, Uganda, a roundtable with the Adeela Foundation to discuss and evaluate the role of Sudanese women in peace and ending war initiatives. The dialogue covered the war’s economic, social and political impacts on women’s groups. Also, it addressed the violations that Sudanese women are subjected to in a systematic and regular manner by all parties to the war without exception.
The participants discussed the role of Sudanese women in establishing women’s initiatives to stop the war and the role of Sudanese women in peace initiatives and ending the war led by regional and international institutions. Among the important topics discussed by the participants was the issue of the challenges and difficulties that hinder the participation of Sudanese women in building peace and restoring stability in Sudan. The participants agreed on practical, responsive and implementable recommendations. The dialogue results and the final recommendations were directed to local, regional and international policymaking institutions.
Click here to read the full report published by International IDEA on 20 December 2024.
New York, 19 December, 2024 – Women's representation in political leadership remained critically low in 2024. Only five women were elected as Heads of State out of 31 direct presidential elections held worldwide. These women leaders represent Iceland, Mexico, Namibia, North Macedonia, and the Republic of Moldova. For Mexico, Namibia, and North Macedonia, these elections were historic, as they marked the countries' first-ever women presidents. Additionally, Mexico and the United Kingdom achieved significant progress in gender equality by forming gender-equal cabinets following their respective elections, setting an important precedent for inclusive governance.
Women's representation in parliament remained stagnant at 27% in 2024. Among 39 countries with available data, 15 recorded increases in the number of women elected, while 24 experienced declines. Legislated quotas proved to be a driving force for progress; for instance, stricter enforcement in the Dominican Republic resulted in an eight-point rise in women's representation. Conversely, 12 out of 16 countries without quotas experienced declines, underscoring the pivotal role such measures play in advancing gender equality in political representation.
Read here the full article published by UN Women on 19 December 2024.
A new report has found that women in Congress are 70 times more likely to be targeted by deepfakes than men, often with sexually explicit images created by AI.
The American Sunlight Project (ASP) found that out of over 35,000 images of politicians, 26 different people have been exposed to non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII).
Out of these, 25 were women. Strikingly, one in six congress women have fallen victim to non-consensual imagery.
This is particularly concerning as Congress has previously introduced bills such as the Defiance Act, which criminalizes such activity. However, according to news outlet the 19th, due to the bureaucracy of the American political system, the House is still awaiting approval to finalize the legislation.
In a separate study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, an analysis of the comments on Instagram posts for women currently in power found that one in ten comments was highly likely to be toxic, with a staggering 93% of reports ignored by Instagram, as previously reported.
Read here the full article published by Cyber News on 16 December 2024.
Image by Cyber News
A new report published by the Open Nepal Initiative (ONI) sheds light on the increasing number of incidents of online violence targeting women politicians in Nepal.
The study says the pervasive issue undermines democratic participation and silences critical voices in public discourse. “The findings, based on monitoring the social media accounts of 12 prominent women politicians over three months (August–October 2024), expose alarming patterns and highlight the urgent need for action to create safer digital spaces,” a press release issued by the organisation on Sunday said.
The study finds that X, formerly Twitter, emerged as the primary platform for online abuse, accounting for most incidents during all three months. The anonymity and reach of social media have enabled perpetrators to launch coordinated attacks, spreading disinformation and gendered hate speech against female politicians, it said.
The study found that lawmakers Toshima Karki of Rastriya Swatantra Party, Sumana Shrestha of the same party and Minister for Foreign Affairs Arzu Rana Deuba of Nepali Congress are among the most targeted politicians.
Read here the full article published by The Kathmandu Post on 16 December 2024.
Image by The Kathmandu Post
The Coordinator, Afikpo North East Development Center, Comrade Ibe Immaculata Nnenna has urged women to encourage/support fellow women in office rather than castigate or seek their downfall.
The female politician spoke at a one-day high level multi-stakeholder’s roundtable on improving women’s political participation in Nigeria.
The event was organised by a Civil Society Organisation, Women Aid Collective, in partnership with UN Women, with support from the Government of Canada.
Sharing her experience as a young woman politician in Ebonyi State, Ibe, said the major hindrance she encountered in her political career were imposed by her fellow women.
She noted that as a young woman in politics, only few elderly ones showed willingness to extend mentorship to her while others were always bent on frustrating her efforts using diverse strategies.
Read here the full article published by 247ureports on 27 November 2024.
Image by 247ureport
Research showing that there is strong correlation between increased female labor force participation and women’s political participation is essentially based on empirical data from Western, democratic, and developed contexts. In this article, we discuss whether these conclusions hold for non-Western, nondemocratic, and developing settings too. Through a study of Ethiopian women’s employment and political agency, we find that employment is actually not significantly related to the level of women’s participation in local political meetings and is negatively related to their interest in politics.
Click here to download the article.
In 2018, a record number of women were elected to Congress, but it’s a different story when you look at governorships. Today, only nine women serve as governor, tying a previous record first set in 2004.
Twenty states have never had a woman governor, whereas only one state has yet to send a woman to Congress. The numbers are even more stark when it comes to women of color and LGBTQ women: only two states have ever elected a woman of color governor, and there has only been one openly LGBTQ woman elected governor.
When running for executive office, women face obstacles that men running simply do not. The Barbara Lee Family Foundation has consistently found that voters have been more comfortable seeing women serve as members of a legislature than they have been electing them to executive offices—positions where they will have sole decision-making authority.
This research, which asks about hypothetical Asian Pacific Islander American, Black, Latina, lesbian and white women candidates of the two major political parties, comprehensively examines what it takes for a woman to prove to voters she is ready to serve in executive office. For context, it also includes some of the lessons learned from interviews with 2018 gubernatorial candidates and their campaign staffs.
Click here to see the report.
Americans elected more than 100 women to office in the 2018 midterm elections, but women still hold less than a quarter of the seats in Congress.
Why are women so poorly represented? Theories include: women are less politically ambitious; there is a lack of support from political parties and donors; voter prejudice and a dearth of information about female politicians influence votes.
UCLA Anderson’s Melanie Wasserman was interested in a less-understood piece of the puzzle: Do women breaking into politics react differently to an electoral loss than men? If so, does this contribute to the low percentage of women who hold office?
Her analysis of 11,466 candidates in closely won local races in California between 1995 and 2014 (including city, county, and school districts) finds women new to politics were less likely than men to run again within four years of losing a close race. For men, losing an initial election caused a 16-to-19 percentage point decline in the probability of their running in another election within the next four years. Women exhibited an additional 7-to-11-percentage point decrease in the probability of running again, relative to the male candidates.
Click here to read the full article published by UCLA Anderson Review on 1 November 2019.
Political parties act as gatekeepers, meaning that improvements in the representation of women depend on parties’ willingness to nominate women candidates. Previous research suggests that party characteristics and gender quotas largely explain women’s nominations, but overlooks the political context in which parties operate. This study highlights the gendered outcomes that occur when parties make nomination decisions in times of public discontent, namely increasing political distrust and increasing perceived corruption. We theorize that parties hold similar biases to voters: gender stereotypes that regard women as more trustworthy and honest should advantage women as political trust falls and perceptions of corruption rise. We hypothesize that parties nominate larger percentages of women in these circumstances. Using two waves of data from over 100 political parties in 18 Latin American countries, we find that parties nominate more women when a large proportion of the public distrusts the national legislature, providing support for the theory.
Click here to see the academic article.
From mayors to MEPs: new study reveals women’s representation across Europe.
Women make up half of humanity, yet account for only 1/3 of political decision-makers in Europe and around 15% of mayors. A new study by the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) shows that despite some gains, politics remains a man’s world.
One-of-a-kind, “Women in Politics: Local and European Trends” provides in-depth analysis of women’s representation in 41 European countries and all levels of government, from local councils all the way up to the European Parliament.
Covering a ten-year period, the study breaks down the data by country, shows where and how women have made gains and provides recommendations on how to make further progress.
Click here to see the report.
Understanding the role traditional media and, increasingly, social media outlets are playing in the promotion of more gender-inclusive and participatory democracies and what we can all do to speed up progress is urgent, and critical.
This study aims at doing just that and has four key takeaways:
- An artificial intelligence powered analysis of the 2020 primaries shows that female candidates are attacked more often than male candidates by trolls/fake news accounts/bots and there is anecdotal evidence the same is happening in India, Ukraine and Italy.
- Despite a highly toxic social media environment, female candidates globally have been at times able to use both Twitter and Facebook to support their political ambitions, by leveraging their support networks online and offline.
- Globally and on average, women are still less visible than men on traditional media and the nature of the coverage they receive is often biased or plainly sexist, representing a serious disincentive for women to consider a political career.
- There are actionable steps and evidence-based solutions and innovations that can speed up progress towards gender equality in government, by ensuring that traditional and social media are fairer arenas of political engagement - and everyone has a role to play in implementing them.
Click here to see the report.