Women's Leadership
"If things aren't going well in town, [...] we issue alerts. Because women are afraid. The children are afraid. We get together to discuss and solve any issues so that we can move forward together."
Mouna Awata is the president of the "Case de la Paix" (House of Peace), a project designed to foster women’s dynamic participation in conflict resolution and public life, and promote their economic empowerment in the precarious region of Gao, in the north of Mali.
A major crossroads of trade with neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso, Gao also hosts a growing number of displaced people seeking refuge due to armed conflicts in the surrounding regions. According to the UN Refugees Agency (UNHCR), over 200,000 people have been displaced in and around Gao as of 31 January 2024.
Since its creation in 2013, the "Case de la Paix", now made up of 76 women’s associations and 2000 women, demonstrates the remarkable resilience and initiative displayed by women in the Sahel country in West Africa.
Read here the full article published by the UN Sustainable Development Group on 3 April 2024.
Image source: UN Sustainable Development Group
President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo has appointed Judith Suminwa Tuluka as the country’s next prime minister. Judith, a former planning minister, makes history as the first woman to hold the position. She takes over from Jean–Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge, who served as prime minister from 2021 to 2024.
In her new role as prime minister, Judith will be tasked with advancing the president’s agenda, which focuses on employment, youth, women and national cohesion for the nation of about 100 million people. In her first televised address as prime minister, she acknowledged the challenges: “The task is big, the challenges are immense but together… we will get there. She emphasised the importance of her role, stating, “I am aware of the great responsibility that is mine.”
Read here the full article published by Bella Naija on 3 April 2024.
Image source: Bella Naija
MOGADISHU (HORN OBSERVER) – In a press conference joined by local women activists on Monday, Somali women Members of Parliament (MPs) expressed their frustration and lack of political will to include a 30% women quota in the constitutional amendments amidst a heated debate over the Somali Provisional Constitution.
"What we were pushing for was that the women quota of 30% be included into the constitution. But sadly, we have now seen that a new parallel process was started which excludes women quota,” said MP Ifrah Naaleeye, highlighting the challenges faced in advancing women’s representation.
The MPs condemned recent comments from political and religious groups opposing the women’s quota, citing religious grounds, a view dismissed by many religious scholars.
"Those who spoke in the Jazeera hotel and said that women quota is haram. I want to ask them where were they when women were killed, raped and abused?” questioned MP Ifrah Naaleeye, challenging the basis of the opposition.
Additionally, the MPs criticized remarks made by the Mayor of Mogadishu and the Somali prime minister, accusing them of using religion to confine women to their homes instead of addressing issues of violence and threats faced by women activists.
Joining the MPs in their advocacy were women activist groups, emphasizing the importance of respecting women’s political participation in Somalia.
Click here to read the full article published by the Horn Observer on 20 March 2024.
Image source: Horn Observer
The European Union and partners launch the Women’s Leadership Initiative, a component of the Women and Youth in Democracy Initiative (WYDE), in New York today during the 68th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women.
Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen said: “In recent years, we have witnessed the erosion of democratic values. And when democracy is being eroded, women’s rights are under attack as well. Protecting democracy means ensuring an open civic and political landscape in which women can participate safely. This is the objective of the Women Leadership programme which I am pleased to launch today with our partners as part of the EU’s Women and Youth in Democracy Initiative.”
With €11.5 million from the EU for a period of three years, the WYDE | Women’s Leadership Initiative will promote the full and effective participation in decision-making of diverse women, especially those most often left furthest behind, by leveraging collective action, partnerships, coordination, knowledge, and resources at global level. The initiative will prioritise changing the social norms and cultural attitudes that portray the roles of women in communities and society as incompatible with political power. It will build the political skills of young women, and engage men, boys, office holders and the media as allies for gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Read here the full article published by the EU International Partnerships on 14 March 2024.
The landscape of women leadership in Bangladesh presents a paradox: despite notable female figures in key political positions, the overarching advancement of women into leadership roles remains stagnant. Despite having a female prime minister, a female speaker, women ministers and lawmakers and women heading the major political parties, the desired progress towards gender parity in leadership is yet to be achieved.
The mandated quota of 33% female representation in all political party committees by 2020 has not been met. While there has been an increase in the participation of women in politics, their ascension to leadership roles lags significantly behind.
Apart from the Awami League and the BNP, the left-wing political parties have fallen short of meeting the prescribed targets, with little visible action towards fulfilling the goal of one-third female representation by 2030.
Zara Zebin Mahbub, a seasoned MP representing the Awami League's reserved women's seat from Chapainawabganj, highlights the systemic barriers hindering women's progress.
She said: "Women are as active as men in politics, but only men are promoted. Despite women's equal efforts, men dominate party nominations, media coverage, and resources. The main obstacles for women in elections are men's influence, muscle power, and financial advantage."
Read here the full article published by the Dhaka Tribune on 8 March 2024.
Image source: Dhaka Tribune
In commemoration of International Women's Day, Global Voices is delving into the state of women's political participation around the world. This year, over 3 billion people are eligible to vote, making it the largest electoral moment in history. Women’s participation in this election year, whether through advocating for policies that benefit women and girls, turning out to vote, or outright running for office, can create significant and meaningful change and is an essential part of fostering gender equality around the world.
In this special coverage, we highlight the distinct stories, triumphs, and challenges faced by women in the political arena. While the strides towards gender equality have been significant, systemic barriers persist — often in the form of gender-based harassment or violence — hindering the full realization of women's political potential.
Already in the first quarter of the year, women politicians and voters from Argentina to Indonesia have faced unique gendered attacks and harassment for daring to participate in the political ecosystem. In many contexts, these harassment campaigns are launched because women are challenging the status quo and trying to reshape the political landscape of their nations away from oppressive patriarchal norms.
Read here the full article published by Global Voices on 8 March 2024.
Image source: Global Voices
The women, peace and security UN Security Council resolutions poster provides a helpful overview of each of the eight resolutions, and pulls out key provisions for each resolution. The poster is an informational resource which can be used by experts and non-experts alike to help explain and highlight the meaning and intention of each resolution on women, peace and security.
The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) includes gender equality and women’s empowerment programming as a key facet of its democracy-building work in countries transitioning from violent conflict to more stable political processes. IFES has programs on the ground in flashpoint countries such as Libya, Burkina Faso, and Syria, as well as countries striving to end the cycle of conflict such as Côte d’Ivoire and Myanmar. These countries represent a critical cohort of transitional states, which need tailored conflict and political transition interventions well in advance of credible, transparent and inclusive elections. Research has shown that gender equality is a bulwark for democracy – ensuring the resilience of democratic institutions that represent the needs of all their constituencies –and IFES works with partners to ensure women and men from all segments of society are part of the political and electoral process.
Work in conflict and unstable democratic settings will continue for the foreseeable future and a commitment to inclusive democracy will be challenged by these settings in unique ways. The legal framework for elections and political processes are often shaped, drafted, or reformed during peace processes and political transitions. IFES is committed to programming that integrates gender equality and women’s empowerment into all political and electoral technical assistance, including evolving and complex transitional contexts. This is critical for two reasons:
Excluding women from the nascent stages of conflict resolution is a missed opportunity to have all voices influence the blueprint for peace and democracy in their countries, and
Excluding women from political transition processes risks replicating gender inequality in new structures and perpetuating it in societal attitudes.
This briefing paper by IFES Senior Gender Specialist Jessica Huber outlines IFES’ gender-specific programming, which examines and responds to points along the continuum of crisis, political transition and stable democracy.
Click here to access the briefing paper.
With many positions left to fill, President-elect Trump has already tapped several women for important positions in his administration. They include: Governor Nikki Haley as U.N. ambassador and charter school advocate Betsy DeVos as secretary of education (The Washington Post); former labor secretary Elaine Chao as secretary of transportation (The New York Times); Fox News commentator K.T. McFarland as deputy national security advisor (The New York Times); and health care consultant Seema Verma to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (NPR).
Seven women currently serve in the Obama administration in cabinet or cabinet-level positions. Forty-eight women have held a total of 54 cabinet or cabinet-level appointments in the history of the United States. Of the 48, 30 had cabinet posts, including two who headed two different departments. Three more women held both a cabinet post and a position defined as cabinet-level, and one held two cabinet-level posts. Thirty-one of these women were appointed by Democratic presidents and 17 by Republicans. Ten presidents (four Democrats and six Republicans) have appointed women to their cabinets.
Want to know how many women past presidents have appointed? See CAWP's fact sheet about women in presidential cabinets.
This mapping is made for the benefit of researchers who want to learn about Gender Studies in the Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden on the theme of women/gender in public life. Most of the research literature - especially from the first decades of Nordic Women’s Studies/Gender Studies - was published in the native languages, and is therefore not included in this mapping. But with the development of Gender Studies, an increasing number of publications are available in English. Click here to access the full list.
A short piece of research was carried out in Zimbabwe in August 2015, as part of a larger research programme undertaken by Womankind Worldwide to look into the different spaces (explained further in section 7) that had been created for women to promote their political participation at community level in four countries. In Zimbabwe this was the Ward Level, and the women who came represented all of the villages within each Ward. The purpose was to explore how women use these spaces to bring about positive change in their lives, especially the opportunities provided by these spaces to raise issues with women leaders and other decision makers. The research was funded as part of the Funding Leadership and Opportunities for Women (FLOW) programme, by the Dutch Government, which was designed to improve women’s political participation in four countries through training and education, skills-building and working together in order to influence local development plans, get into leadership positions in the community, and to enable the women at the local level to promote their interests and hold decision makers to account. It was also designed to strengthen the accountability from national policy structures to local-level structures and from local-level political structures and personnel to individual communities. The projects had different priorities and different approaches in each country context, though there were many overlaps in implementation.
With a special attention to gender, this four-year regional development project is designed to strengthen the development responses to mitigate the growth of violent extremism in Africa.
This focus is motivated by the ever-increasing presence of violent extremist groups on African soil. Violent extremism is having a devastating impact on the lives and livelihoods of populations across the continent - particularly the most vulnerable, and including youth, women and children.