Women's Leadership
In this final episode of Season 1, we reflect upon what women political leaders in South Asia have told us about their career journeys with our guests. We delve into bringing role models closer to youth, especially young women aspiring to be in politics.
Listen here to the full podcast posted by the Centre for Gender And Politics South Asia on 11 November 2024.
Despite some progress over the past decade, women's representation in political leadership remains limited globally. As of 1 January 2024, only 27 out of 159 countries are led by women – a modest increase from just 18 countries a decade ago (United Nations Women Headquarters Office 2024). Women represent 23% of cabinet members heading ministries worldwide in 2024; in Europe and Northern America, this share is 33%.
On the one hand, these numbers hint at the long road ahead to reach the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal of gender equality (SDG 5), which aims to ensure equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic, and public life (United Nations 2015). On the other hand, they underscore the need to understand to what extent the underrepresentation of women politicians matters for policy choices, especially in times of crises.
Read here the full article published by the Centre for Economic Policy Research on 12 November 2024.
Image by Centre for Economic Policy Research
To many left-leaning Americans, it is resoundingly clear that women who backed Donald J. Trump in the presidential election voted against their own self-interest.
Liberal women, in particular, have spent recent days practically stunned, stewing over how other women could have rejected Kamala Harris, who would have been the first woman to lead the nation in its nearly 250-year history. Instead, they chose a candidate who spews misogyny seemingly with glee. For the second time.
One voter from Maine, interviewed after Mr. Trump declared victory, offered a takeaway shared by many. As she put it, “The sisterhood did not stand up.”
In many ways the election results seemed to contradict generations of progress made toward women’s equality and for feminism generally. Women have made strides in nearly every facet of American life in recent decades, generally making up a greater proportion of the U.S. work force than in the past, taking on high-paying jobs and outpacing men in higher education — though they remain underrepresented at the top levels of both business and government.
They now find themselves in a country where Mr. Trump won decisively with a campaign that pitted men against women, sitting down with podcasters who trade in sexism and choosing a running mate who had criticized single women as “childless cat ladies.” Mr. Trump took credit for appointing the Supreme Court justices who overturned the constitutional right to abortion but appeared to pay little price at the polls. Immediately after the election social media posts were circulating by men that read, “your body, my choice.”
Read here the full article published by The New York Times on 12 November 2024.
Image by The New York Times
In elections across the globe, the spotlight has been trained on the question of women’s representation, and rightly so. How vibrant can a democracy be if half of its population does not find adequate representation in politics or in the corridors of power? Which is why, when Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee for the US presidential election, it was welcomed by those who thought it was high time that a woman — especially a woman of colour — held its highest office. Her campaign and the possibility of her victory was seen as symbolising the maturity of American democracy and an acknowledgment of its diversity.
As it turned out, a large number of African Americans, especially young men, and White women voted en-masse for Donald Trump. There are many reasons for this, but one is that mere symbolic gestures are not enough to win voters’ support. India has seen this happen in recent elections in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana and Haryana. We are seeing the end of vote-bank politics and the emergence of value-based voting. In India, women across the political spectrum have marched beyond mere symbolism and metaphors. Women have become game changers, shaping electoral politics and defining electoral gains. They have transitioned from descriptive political representation to substantive political presence, and with women-centric policies, like Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and Jan Dhan Yojana, we have seen women becoming changemakers in policy formulation. The outcome of such politics promises a brighter tomorrow by making women more skilled, employable and empowered.
Read here the full article published by the Indian Express on 12 November 2024.
Image by Indian Express
Gender quotas have become an important mechanism for promoting gender equality in political representation. This blog post explores their impact on women’s political empowerment, particularly in Malta, by discussing the historical context, current situation, and future prospects for gender equality in Maltese politics.
Understanding Gender Quotas
Gender quotas are affirmative measures designed to increase women’s participation in politics by reserving a certain proportion of seats for them. According to the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), the goal is to provide a clearer pathway for women to enter political leadership, as they have historically been underrepresented. This is particularly relevant in Malta, where, despite advancements in other areas of gender equality, political representation remains unequal.
A Historical Overview of Women’s Political Participation in Malta
Women’s political participation in Malta has a long history, tied to the broader socio-political developments of the nation. Women were first granted the right to vote and run for office in 1947, preceding Maltese men who received this right three years later. However, significant measures aimed at improving female political representation only came in the 21st century. The Gender Corrective Mechanism, introduced in 2021, was a landmark policy. It mandates an increase in parliamentary seats if female representation falls below 40%, ensuring that women have a stronger foothold in Maltese politics.
Read here the full article published by Gender On The Ballot on 11 November 2024.
Image by Gender On The Ballot
Kemi Badenoch has become the new leader of the UK Conservatives and the first black woman to lead a major political party in the UK.
Badenoch, 44, replaces Rishi Sunak as leader and has promised to lead the party through a period of renewal following its election loss to the Labour Party in July.
Badenoch won 53,806 votes from party members to win the leadership over former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, who won 41,388 votes.
Badenoch’s leadership will mark a shift to the right for the Conservatives. She has told supporters it’s time to “get down to business”.
“The task that stands before us is tough, but simple, our first responsibility as his majesty’s loyal opposition is to hold this Labour government to account,” she told party members after winning the vote.
“Our second is no less important, it is to prepare over the course of the next few years for government.”
Badenoch is the sixth Tory leader in less than 9 years. She has a professional background in banking and IT and became an MP in 2017.
She has talked about returning the party to “first principles”, and has been described as having a no-nonsense style of communication and holding “anti-woke” values.
During the campaign for the Conservatives leadership, Badenoch sparked debate on maternity pay, when she said it was “excessive” . She spoke about how she believes in personal responsibility and “the answer cannot be let the government help people to have babies”. She later clarified that she believes in maternity pay.
Read here the full article published by the Women's Agenda on 4 November 2024.
Image by Women's Agenda
The High Level Political Forum (HLPF) is the core United Nations platform on Sustainable Development. It is the mechanism which follows up on UN Member States’ implementation of the 2030 Agenda and seeks to hold governments accountable by encouraging them to submit national reviews on their progress toward the 2030 Agenda. Each year, the HLPF focuses on a different theme and reviews a different set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This year’s theme was “Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”.
The following set of goals were reviewed:
- Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
- Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
- Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries
- Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
- Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
- Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.
As the HLPF adopts inter-governmentally negotiated political declarations, this report analyzes each of the 6 goals through a gendered lens and emphasizes the importance of taking a gendered approach in implementing each of the goals. Additionally, this publication focuses on how each goal impacts women and girls and how their involvement makes a global difference. Each goal is explored through a gendered analysis, backed up by examples of good practices from around the globe. These case studies demonstrate innovative and gender-sensitive practices that governments have implemented in their efforts toward the 2030 Agenda. The purpose of this report is to present how women and girls can have an effective impact on societies and governments when they are given a chance to take part in global discussions that may affect change. More importantly, this publication emphasizes how women and girls play a significant role in achieving the 2030 Agenda.
Click here to see the report.
The report on “The Empowerment of Women in Politics and the 6 th Legislature National Assembly Elections 2018” is an analysis of the data and views of Cambodian women’s participation in politics, especially the process of the 6th Legislature National Assembly (NA) Elections 2018.
This report looks in particular at the women’s political empowerment and elections; number of women candidates, measures for how to select women candidats, policies of political parties for promoting women’s political participation, political party platforms on women’s and children’s issues, challenges facing women both as voters and candidates including violence against women in politics. Also, it shows about women’s opinions on electoral progress, and activities related to promoting women’s participation in politics as well as the outcome of elected women representative from the single party CPP which dominated the election and the outcome. It also provides an overview of a rapid survey on “The reason of women voters who voted or have indelible ink on their finger and women voters who did not go to vote or have no indelible ink on their finger” conducted by Women Volunteer Citizens throughout the four provincial target area of COMFREL a day after the election and two case studies. The report closes with a set of recommendations to improve gender equality and women’s political empowerment in Cambodia.
Click here to see the report.
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.