Women's Leadership

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.

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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.

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IMF examines the impact of gender equality on electoral violence in Africa using micro-level data from the sixth round of Afrobarometer surveys. The sample covers 30 countries. IMF finds that gender equality is associated with lower electoral violence. Quantitatively, their estimates show that an increase in female-to-male labor force participation ratio by 1 percentage point is correlated with a reduction of the probability of electoral violence across the continent by around 4.2 percentage points. Their results are robust to alternative ways to measure electoral violence and gender equality, as well as to alternative specifications. The findings of this paper support the long-standing view that women empowerment contributes to the reduction of violence and underscore the urgency of addressing gender inequality in Africa.

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The research had three main objectives: first, to obtain a more detailed picture of the situation regarding women’s political participation in the CARICOM countries; second, to identify contextual factors and analyse how they affect the presence of Caribbean women in politics; and third, to provide a list of necessary measures to increase women’s political participation and presence in decision-making positions. In light of these findings, this regional analysis will be an important resource for political parties, civil society, women’s organizations and governments to help identify the steps necessary to increase the presence and representation of women in politics. Moreover, we hope it will serve as a catalyst for strategic alliances amongst these diverse actors. In particular, we hope that the findings will prompt further research and inspire policy reform that accelerates equal political participation of women and men in decision-making structures and promotes it as an indispensable driver for more effective democratic governance, and ultimately, for sustainable human development.

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Women are under-represented on decision-making bodies and in positions of economic power. They continue to earn systematically less than men for the same work. Encouraging women to enter politics is key to changing this. More women in politics, and particularly in parliaments, can have a trickle-down effect for the whole of society. Women’s increasing influence results in positive changes in laws, practices, behaviour and cultures. However, women running for office face numerous challenges – including violence, harassment and intimidation.

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The global average for women’s representation in parliaments was 24 per cent in January 2019. Political parties are identified as responsible for women’s underrepresentation, given their role as the main gatekeepers of elected decision-making positions in most countries.

This factsheet illustrates the link of gender in political parties’ programmes and operational policies, processes and practices. It highlights the approach for institutionalizing gender equality in the conceptualization, development and implementation of a party’s strategic plan.

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