Women's Leadership

The Second Annual Summer School for Young Leaders from African Political Parties took place in Kigali, Rwanda, on 6–8 June 2018. The overall theme was ‘Youth participation in political processes: emerging trends of the negative aspects of money in politics’.

The Summer School unfolded in a context that recognized that youth participation in politics, especially by young women, either in the form of direct representation in political structures or within less formal modes of political engagement, remains limited across Africa.

These low levels of active participation and influence by young people unfold in a situation where young people constitute a very large and growing proportion of the general population.

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Gender quotas are a means to improve women’s political representation. This article examines the impact of Jordan’s municipal quota enacted in 2007. The quota drew into the political arena women who would otherwise not have run for office. Women councillors have firmly established their rightful presence on the local councils, a public realm previously deemed only for men. They successfully navigated the give-and-take of local Jordanian politics. In the process they gained a hard-won, invaluable political education and emerged as Jordan’s first sizable body of experienced women politicians on the local level. This article draws on extensive personal interviews with twenty-six female councillors from the first cohort of women elected under the quota. The results show that even a quota enacted in a clientelist system such as Jordan’s can bring positive change for women’s representation in politics.

This GSoD In Focus showcases global and regional data around trends in and the progression of gender equality, based on data from the Global State of Democracy (GSoD) Indices. The GSoD Indices are International IDEA’s measurement of democracy for 158 countries between 1975 and 2017.

The political position of women today is better than just 20 years ago. Trends in the GSoD Indices Gender Equality subcomponent show improvement in gender equality in every region of the world. Women are in more positions of political power, are more represented in the political sphere, have higher access to education and less barriers to civil society participation. In 1997, only 3 per cent of countries had a lower chamber legislature made up of more than 30 per cent women; in 2017, this had risen to 28 per cent of countries. These gains should be celebrated, although much progress remains to be made before most countries have a critical minority of women in parliament. Furthermore, progress with women in ministerial positions is slower. Although gender equality is a necessary ingredient for a healthy democracy, some of the countries in the GSoD sample have a high proportion of women in political office coupled with low levels of democratic performance overall. While these countries are often hailed for their high levels of gender equality, these gains need to be analysed critically, as women’s political agency within regimes that have democratic deficits may be limited.

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The report looks at whether women’s capabilities and actions in different spheres lead them to have more presence and influence within private and public decision-making. Based on a review of over 400 sources, the report is organised around thematic chapters on women's:

• political participation, including in peace processes, constitutional reform, political parties and through quotas;
• social activism, through social mobilisation and social accountability processes; and
• economic empowerment, through access to financial and productive assets and the labour market.

Overall, it is known much more about women’s exercise of voice, than about when and how they are effective leaders and influencers. A large body of research clearly shows that a woman’s ownership of assets and employment can increase her power within the household, but little is known about how this effects her public power. While increases in the number of women in leadership positions is itself a measure of gender equality, there is no automatic link between increases in the power of individual women and more equitable political settlements or improved outcomes for women more broadly. However, the evidence is unequivocal that women women’s collective action through social movements, political coalitions and economic associations has driven legal, policy and social norm change in many countries. What is less understood is how different political settlements shape women's power and influence, and how women in public navigate and reshape gendered institutions, relationships and networks.

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The government's disposition toward citizens' rights and freedoms is a measure of its openness and an indicator of the type of relationship it holds with them. The constitution stands as the most powerful reflection of that relationship. Egypt certainly has a long-standing tradition of drafting constitutions as a political process. Throughout that tradition, granting certain rights or consolidating some forms of government were constantly pursued and this is evident in Egyptian constitutions since 1923. Citizen participation has always been an integral part of drawing Egyptian constitutions up, with advocacy playing a role in guaranteeing rights for all, men and women.

Egyptian women played a major role in the country’s transformations throughout history, especially in drafting constitutions. Since Egyptian women participated in the 1919 Protests, their rights have become a key issue in the public sphere. Demands were put forward to include some rights for women in Egyptian constitutions.

Nazra for Feminist Studies is issuing this paper in February 2019, after the Egyptian Parliament’s general session of February 14, when Parliament referred the Constitutional Amendments Proposal (suggesting amendments to several articles in the 2014 Egyptian constitution) to the Constitutional and Legislative Committee for review. In this paper, we shall discuss the overall state of women’s rights in Egypt in light of the proposed amendments, as we attempt to answer some basic questions: will amendments to the 2014 Constitution benefit women? Do the proposed amendments include more rights for women? Do Egyptian women in 2019 need constitutional amendments that would extend the president’s term, hence detract from the principle of separation of powers and other rights and freedoms (including women’s rights), already guaranteed by the 2014 Constitution? Finally, would raising women’s quotas in Egyptian elected councils be conducive to women’s right to participate in politics or is women’s limited participation attributed to more complex factors?

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This paper is part of a Gender Briefing Series to support women’s meaningful participation and the integration of gender perspectives in peace processes that aim to end violent intrastate conflict. The key target audience of these series of papers is women, gender equality advocates, and others engaged in peace processes, who wish to influence negotiations with a view to:

• addressing the particular experiences of women during conflict, and
• achieving lasting peace process outcomes that will improve women’s lives and the lives of those around them

This Brief presents the different forms of territorial power-sharing that arise in peace agreements, and the potential opportunities and risks for women’s inclusion that these can entail. It proposes critical questions that women could ask of peace processes if territorial power-sharing is likely to be negotiated, and highlights strategies and tactics that women and allies have used in conflict-affected contexts to navigate inclusion issues.

Click here to see the paper Gaining ground: Women and territorial power-sharing in peace processes.