Women's Leadership
News reports over the past few years featuring Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, or his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, have led to speculation about a future North Korea ruled by a woman. This is an intriguing development worth monitoring, given the North Korean regime’s history of patrilineal succession. However, ordinary North Korean women may have a greater role to play in the future of the country.
These women are typically out of the spotlight but always present in the background, working for the Kaesong Industrial Complex, applauding Kim Jong Un or his military parade with flowers, or dancing to songs in front of respected guests. They have never received significant attention, but they might have the potential to empower themselves and create positive dynamics in contemporary North Korea. Accordingly, the international community should focus specifically on increasing those women’s access to opportunities and resources and their ability to effect change in North Korean society through various multilateral engagements.
Read here the full article published by the United States Institute of Peace on 28 May 2024.
Image by United States Institute of Peace
In the last five-year term, both the proportion of women in the European Parliament and in relevant positions in European institutions have improved significantly. In contrast, the Hungarian government hold a negative record for the participation of female ministers: there are none. Hungary is also last in the EU when it comes to the percentage of women in parliament.
Hungary came last on yet another EU list, this time it has become the leader in the ratio of women ministers and MEPs, in the wrong way. After the resignation of Judit Varga, not only Hungary has the lowest proportion of female ministers in Europe, but this figure is simply 0 percent, as it has no female ministers at all.
For voters familiar with the reality of Hungarian politics, this is probably not an outlier: even before the Fidesz government, the proportion of female ministers in Hungary was never above 30%, and there were occasional periods, such as in 2009, when there were no female ministers. In the first quarter of 2024, Hungary also came last in the EU in terms of female representatives in the national parliament, with 14.1%, just behind Cyprus with 14.3%.
Also, the proportion of Hungarian female MEPs in the European Parliament is 38.1%, barely below the European average of 39.4%. In this article, we focus on how many women are elected, the number of those in prominent positions, and why there are so few of them.
Read here the full article published by the European Data Journalism Network on 24 May 2024.
Image by European Data Journalism Network
Nana Shettima, wife of Vice-President Kashim Shettima and other stakeholders, says political equity and women’s empowerment are crucial to sustainable development in Nigeria.
They stated this at the Women of Worth Group Global Magazine unveiling and Award Dinner in Abuja.
Ms Shettima said Nigerian women had faced numerous challenges yet were relentless in achieving their dreams.
She said, “I encourage you women to continue to be strong and to strive to succeed in all you do because you hold the key to national development.
“I urge you to carry everyone along regardless of religion and ethnicity, strive to create inclusion in all you do and work together as one, encouraging each other to be better.
“I commend the initiative of the Women of Worth Global Group. This is a major milestone in promoting women and giving them hope in politics and all spheres of life.’’
The keynote speaker, a humanitarian and politician Amina Farouk, said that although women were more than half of Nigeria’s population, lamenting, ”their political participation has been regressing over time.”
Read here the full article published by Peoples Gazette on 26 May 2024.
Image by Peoples Gazette
From the local to the global level, women’s leadership and political participation are restricted. Women are underrepresented as voters, as well as in leading positions, whether in elected office, the civil service, the private sector or academia. This occurs despite their proven abilities as leaders and agents of change, and their right to participate equally in democratic governance.
Women face several obstacles to participating in political life. Structural barriers through discriminatory laws and institutions still limit women’s options to run for office. Capacity gaps mean women are less likely than men to have the education, contacts and resources needed to become effective leaders.
As the 2011 UN General Assembly resolution on women’s political participation notes, “Women in every part of the world continue to be largely marginalized from the political sphere, often as a result of discriminatory laws, practices, attitudes and gender stereotypes, low levels of education, lack of access to health care and the disproportionate effect of poverty on women.”
Individual women have overcome these obstacles with great acclaim, and often to the benefit of society at large. But for women as a whole, the playing field needs to be level, opening opportunities for all.
Read here the full article published by UN Women on 27 May 2024.
On 20 May 2024, a round table on "Ensuring women’s engagement in political processes in Ukraine" was held in Kyiv.
The round table discussion was focused on the issues of common strategy towards supporting active women participation in political process, ensuring guarantees for the exercise of electoral rights by women in view of the challenges caused by the military aggression of the Russian Federation, as well as strengthening the legal framework for the provision and effective enforcement of gender quota in electoral lists, and other issues.
The round table discussion was attended by more than 50 participants, including members and representatives of the Parliament of Ukraine, Central Election Commission, other state authorities, civil society and international organizations.
During the event, amongst other, the results of the Council of Europe study "Gender equality, balanced political participation and representation of women and men in post-war public and political processes in Ukraine: challenges and perspectives" were presented and discussed, as well as the results of the strategic session, which the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine co-organised with the Central Election Commission in November 2023 on issues of needs, challenges and relevant support measures to ensure gender-balanced participation and representation of women and men in public, political and electoral processes in Ukraine in the post-war period.
The event was organised by the Ukrainian Parliamentary Committee on State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional and Urban Development in cooperation with the Civic Network “OPORA,” International Foundation for Electoral Systems and Council of Europe*.
Read here the full article published by the Council of Europe on 22 May 2024.
Image by Council of Europe
Before Donald Trump was a president, he was a television celebrity and high-profile real estate mogul. His political experience, or lack thereof, was touted on the campaign trail eight years ago as a fresh presence in Washington.
A few other men have garnered celebrity status before they ventured into politics. Ronald Reagan, Clint Eastwood and Arnold Schwarzenegger were all tough-guy film stars long before they ran for president, mayor and governor respectively. Al Franken got people laughing on Saturday Night Live before serving as a Minnesota Senator.
But no woman has transitioned from stardom to high public office.
To better understand why and which famous female might be able to make the shift, Suffolk University and USA Today conducted an exclusive poll earlier this month of 1,000 likely voters.
Three celebrity women would win the backing of nearly 30% of those polled: TV personality Oprah Winfrey, actor Sandra Bullock and 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams. Actresses Viola Davis and Julia Roberts and comedian Tina Fey each earned the support of about a quarter of those surveyed, with Whoopi Goldberg, Jodie Foster and Rachel Maddow not too far behind.
Read here the full article published by USA Today on 22 May 2024.
Image by USA Today
Latin America has been at the vanguard in implementing diverse strategies to combat violence against women in politics (VAWIP). In 2012, Bolivia became the first country to criminalize “political violence and harassment against women” with Law 243. Soon, Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica, and Mexico followed with similar proposals (Krook and Restrepo Sanín 2016). Despite high levels of criminal impunity (Piscopo 2016), legislative measures have been the preferred strategy to combat VAWIP within the region. The Inter-American Commission on Women (CIM) recently published a model law, drawing on experiences in Bolivia, to serve as inspiration for other legislative measures in the region. What can these legislative definitions tell us about the phenomenon of VAWIP, its limits, and its challenges?
Click here to see the academic article.
Violence against women in politics (VAWP) is a human rights violation, as it prevents the realization of political rights. Violence against women in political and public life can be understood as “any act or threat of gender-based violence, resulting in physical, sexual, psychological harm or suffering to women, that prevents them from exercising and realizing their political rights, whether in public or private spaces, including the right to vote and hold public office, to vote in secret and to freely campaign, to associate and assemble, and to enjoy freedom of opinion and expression” (UN Women/UNDP 2017, 20).
Although awareness of the gravity and increasing levels of VAWP is growing, the issue is a relatively new area of investigation, with no global statistics or measurements available on prevalence or incidence, a lack of commonly agreed definitions and indicators, a reliance on anecdotal evidence, and underreporting because of the stigma attached to genderbased violence in many societies. The absence of commonly agreed definitions and methodologies for measuring VAWP is a barrier to the advancement of research, monitoring, and policy and programming responses in this field. Are agreed indicators and methodologies for measuring VAWP necessary? How can consistency across different measurement approaches be ensured? This essay examines the extent to which VAWP is measured, identifying gaps in current violence against women (VAW) measurements and considering new opportunities for measuring and monitoring VAWP.
Click here to see the academic article.
Four years ago, Latin America was home to a third of the world’s female presidents. Today, it has none. But that doesn’t mean the region hasn’t made progress in advancing women’s role in the political sphere. In fact, as of the inauguration of Colombia’s new administration on August 7, there are more female vice presidents—in 12 different countries—in the hemisphere than ever before.
Latin America is also moving ahead when it comes to balancing the male-to-female ratio in legislative branches. The Inter-Parliamentary Union’s last update on June 1, registered that 28.9 percent of all congressional seats in the region were occupied by women, an increase of 3.7 percent since January 2014, and 5.1 percent above today’s global average. When Mexico’s new Congress is inaugurated on September 1, Latin America will be home to three of the four countries with the greatest proportion of congresswomen.
Click here to see the full Infographic.
Two years after Hillary Clinton became the first woman to win the presidential nomination of a major U.S. political party, and with a record number of women running for Congress in 2018, a majority of Americans say they would like to see more women in top leadership positions – not only in politics, but also in the corporate world – according to a new Pew Research Center survey. But most say men still have an easier path to the top and that women have to do more to prove their worth. And the public is skeptical that the country will ever achieve gender parity in politics or in business.
Republicans and Democrats have widely different views about where things stand today and what factors are holding women back. Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents are more than twice as likely as Republicans and those who lean Republican to say there are too few women in high political offices (79% vs. 33%). And while 64% of Democrats say gender discrimination is a major reason why women are underrepresented in these positions, only 30% of Republicans agree.
There are also wide gender gaps in views about women in leadership. About seven-in-ten women say there are too few women in high political offices and in top executive business positions; about half of men say the same.
Click here to see the report.
This report reflects discussions held during the May 2018 Expert Group Meeting hosted by UN Women on women’s meaningful participation in negotiating peace and the implementation of peace agreements. The meeting included some 50 experts from a diverse range of countries and contexts, including Bosnia, Colombia, Kenya, Kosovo (under UNSCR 1244), Georgia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Philippines, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.
The report highlights how far the international community and Member States have come in advancing women’s meaningful participation in conflict resolution since the adoption of UN Security Council resolution 1325 (2000). The report highlights the aims and outcomes of the convening, which included:
- the exchange of current research and good practice on women’s representation and “meaningful” participation in peace processes;
- the exploration of the concept of “meaningful participation”—what it includes and how the United Nations, Member States, civil society, and other relevant actors can best effectively advocate for it and consistently operationalize it;
- discussion of the barriers to women’s meaningful participation; and
- assessment of the trends and challenges in gender-responsive provisions of peace agreements and their implementation.
The report includes a menu of actions for relevant actors and recommendations that reflect on nearly 20 years of implementation of the women, peace, and security agenda.
Click here to see the report.
Considering that equal access of men and women to power is a necessary precondition for democracies to flourish, the African women’s decade 2010-2020: Women’s participation in decision-making & leadership 2017- 2018 report focuses on women’s role in decision-making and leadership in key positions and at all levels. Nowadays, women leaders have an enormous potential to influence decision-making, by promoting fairer policies and practices in governments, parliaments, the judiciary and the private sector. Even though women play a crucial role in all the above fields, previous reports have mainly focused on women in governments and parliaments. In other words, this report goes beyond limitations and seeks a holistic approach with regard to women’s participation in all spheres of decision-making such as women MPs, women ministers, women in the judiciary, women in the private sector.
Make Every Woman Count (MEWC) has been compiling a yearly report, tracking the progress of the African Women’s Decade (AWD) since 2011. This is achieved by presenting each country on the continent with a background and a presentation of progress and developments made within different areas during each year of the African Women’s Decade 2010-2020.
Click here to see the report.