Women's Leadership
Assistant Foreign Affairs Minister Lenora Qereqeretabua said it is important for the Fiji government to be represented at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2024 Samoa.
Speaking to The Fiji Times, Ms Qereqeretabua said it was a great time for Fiji’s inclusion as it was important to be heard as a country.
“It is important for us to be here and to be one of the many voices in the Pacific in particular when Fiji wanted to be a leader within the region,” Ms Qereqeretabua said.
“With the Ocean of Peace, it is important that the government of Fiji is represented at the CHOGM with nearly 60 other members of the Commonwealth here.
“When the Minister’s Forum begins this Thursday, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka will be here, but in the meantime it is great to be heard as a country.”
The Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka is expected to arrive today and will be meeting with the Fijian diaspora in Samoa.
According to the Fijian community in Samoa, Mr Rabuka will be meeting with them at the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).
Read here the full article published by the Fiji Times on 23 October 2024.
Image by Fiji Times
The We Women Want Festival And Awards by NewsX, was a power-packed session, featuring accomplished women from various fields, sharing their experiences and perspectives on empowerment.
The We Women Want Festival And Awards by NewsX, was a power-packed session, featuring accomplished women from various fields, sharing their experiences and perspectives on empowerment.
Hosted by Priya Sehgal, the panel included prominent voices like Kaveree Bamzai (Senior Journalist & Author), Naina Lal Kidwai (Chair of India Sanitation Coalition & Rothschild India), Shaifalika Panda (Trustee & Founder CEO, Bansidhar & Ila Panda Foundation), and Shama Mohamed (Congress National Spokesperson).
Read here the full article published by NewsX World on 14 October 2024.
Image credits: NewsX World
Distinguished Guests,
Dear friends,
It is an absolute pleasure to be here today with so many bright, passionate, young leaders and changemakers.
You are the driving force behind the progress we've made in recent years.
And what an incredible journey it has been!
As we kick off this Global Gateway High-Level Youth Event, I want to acknowledge the many partners that have been essential in driving this movement forward. Many of you are here today, in person as well as online.
But this is more than recognition.
It's a celebration of your passion and dedication.
Together, we have achieved so much.
Two years ago, with your help, the European Commission launched its first Youth Action Plan in External Action.
It was a landmark moment – the culmination of a collective effort that involved more than 220 international stakeholders, including young people and youth organisations.
Our goals were ambitious:
To engage young people by giving them a voice in policy and decision making.
To empower them with the resources they need to lead sustainable change.
Read here the full speech deliver by Commissioner Jutta Urpalainen published on the European Commission website on 10 October 2024.
Image by Commissioner Jutta Urpalainen
Adamawa State deputy governor, Professor Kaletapwa Farauta, has highlighted the growing need for female leadership to bring about significant change in Nigeria’s political landscape.
Speaking at the 28th Annual National Conference of the National Association of Women in Colleges of Education (WICE) in Yola, Farauta praised the state’s progress in empowering women in politics. She emphasised the pivotal role women can play in leadership, noting, “Nigeria is waiting for great women to make a change in the political arena.”
Farauta underlined the benefits of female leadership, particularly in terms of accountability and effective governance. She also expressed optimism about the possibility of women becoming local government chairpersons soon.
Read here the full article published by the Daily Trust on 9 October 2024.
Image by Daily Trust
In the remote yet strikingly beautiful Nguruman Escarpment of Kajiado County, Kenya, a transformative initiative is unfolding. Here, in a traditionally patriarchal Maasai community, a group of men—known as the Men Champions—has become crucial allies in the fight for gender equality in leadership. These men are part of a broader effort to challenge deep-seated cultural barriers, offering crucial support for women seeking political leadership in a county where progress has been slow.
Despite Kenya’s constitutional requirement that no more than two-thirds of elective or appointive positions be held by the same gender, Kajiado County remains a striking example of gender disparity. In the 2022 general elections, not a single woman won a political seat beyond the legally mandated women representative position, reflecting the powerful cultural and financial barriers women face when attempting to enter the political arena.
Men as Allies: Supporting Women’s Leadership in Politics
The Expanding Spaces for Women's Political Participation in Kenya project, implemented by Uraia Trust with support from UN Women and Global Affairs Canada, is actively addressing these challenges. One of the most significant elements of the program is the engagement of men in supporting women's leadership aspirations. These Men Champions—community gatekeepers and respected elders—are leading peer-learning forums that bring together male and female gender champions to discuss how to create pathways for women to participate in politics and governance.
For generations, leadership in this region has been male dominated, with powerful clans selecting political aspirants. However, as Paul Ole Koisaba, a prominent elder in Nguruman, explains, “We cannot continue to make decisions that exclude half of our population. Our women have the skills and the vision to lead, and we must stand behind them.”
By challenging the traditional norms that have held women back, these men are setting the stage for women to run for office with the full backing of their communities. In doing so, they are not just supporting women—they are building a future where leadership is more inclusive and representative of all voices.
Read here the full article published by UN Women Africa on 5 October 2024.
Claudia Sheinbaum leads a groundbreaking team of women in Mexico's government, achieving significant gender parity in leadership roles across the country.
Mexico has taken a significant step towards gender parity in leadership, marking a historic milestone with the inauguration of its first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum. As she assumes office, the country stands out as a leader in gender representation, surpassing the United States in this regard. Sheinbaum's administration features a cabinet comprised of 50% women and a Congress that is evenly split between men and women.
Claudia Sheinbaum, 62, elected on June 2 with nearly 60% of the vote, is not only the first female president but also Mexico's first Jewish president. She grew up in a politically engaged family, with her mother, Annie Pardo, being a prominent biologist. After earning a PhD in energy engineering from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Sheinbaum became active in politics, serving as head of the environment department under then-Mayor Andrés Manuel López Obrador. She later won the mayorship of Mexico City in 2018.
In a recent statement, Sheinbaum asserted, "Never again should we hear the statement, 'You're prettier when you stay silent.' Those days are over in our country."
Read here the full article published by The Latin Times on 6 October 2024.
Image by The Latin Times
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.
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.