Women's Leadership

Finland’s PM says she met Ardern in New Zealand because they are both ‘prime ministers’ after journalist asks whether it was due to similar age and gender.

The prime ministers of Finland and New Zealand have taken a swipe at suggestions their first face-to-face meeting in New Zealand happened because they are both young female leaders.

“We’re meeting because we are prime ministers,” Finland’s Sanna Marin said at a joint press conference at Auckland’s Government House on Wednesday morning, after a journalist suggested some people may have thought they were meeting because they share a similar demographic.

Click here to read the full article published by The Guardian on 30 November 2022.

This paper proposes replacing the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Gender Inequality Index with two new gender indexes: the Global Gender Parity Index (GGPI) and the Women’s Empowerment Index (WEI).

The proposal builds on a review of concepts of gender equality in the capability approach that underpins UNDP’s human development paradigm and the international policy frameworks of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Beijing Platform for Action, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It also implements current proposals for reform, which emphasize measuring gender inequality in capabilities (rather than institutional inputs or resources that enable or constrain these capabilities) and measuring gaps in achievements between women and men and the level of women’s potential for empowerment by different indexes.

Evaluating the options for measurement, the paper identifies several Sustainable Development Goal indicators and novel data as potentially useful in translating the selected capabilities into new indexes. The first index, the GGPI, is a relative measure of well-being, which encompasses the dimensions of health, education, decent standard of living and decision-making. The second, the WEI, focuses solely on women and measures freedom from early motherhood, reproductive choice, and freedom from intimate partner violence as well as women’s capabilities to seek education, pursue science, technology, engineering, and math degrees, have voice in national and local governing bodies, and hold economic leadership positions.

Click here to access the report.

On the eve of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, held every year on 25 November, the spokesperson for the Council of Europe Congress on Gender Equality, Ms Eirini Dourou (SOC, Greece), made the following statement:

“Inclusive societies start with inclusivity at decision-making levels. However, women still remain under-represented in politics. All too often, sexist attitudes and violence against women discourage them from making their voices heard and participating in political life. The Congress is therefore convinced that ending violence against women is key for the fulfillment of women rights and for promoting women’s involvement in local and regional public life.

Click here to read the full article published by The Council of Europe on 24 November 2022.

The CEO Women Radio, a non-governmental organization, Toun Okewale Sonaiya, has lamented that female politicians and leaders are not given the adequate media coverage as their male counterparts.

This was part of the submission at a two-day media training for political reporters organized by the Women Radio with support from United Nations Women and the Government of Canada held in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, Thursday. 

She therefore called for adequate and accurate publicity for women even at the instance of gender discrimination, religious bigotry, cultural and traditional factors among other factors militating against them in the society. da held in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, Thursday. 

Click here to read the full article published by Blueprint on 18 November 2022.

The former culture minister replaces Aníbal Torres, who resigned after losing the confidence of the Andean parliament.

The president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, he appointed Betsy Chavez as the new prime minister. Chavez, who until today had held the post of culture minister, replaces Aníbal Torres, who resigned after losing the confidence of the Andean parliament. The woman, who has already taken the oath in the hands of the head of state, will therefore be the fifth prime minister at the start of the Castillo administration, in July 2021. In the next few hours, the president of the republic will also indicate the new composition of the rest of the government, reset following Torres' resignation.

The premier's resignation came after Congress, Peru's unicameral parliament, rejected the confidence issue presented by Torres himself on the derogation from the law that limits citizens' direct participation in politics through referendums. "After this express refusal and after accepting the resignation of the Prime Minister, whom I thank for his concern and for his work, I will renew the Cabinet," Castillo said in an address to the nation.

Click here to read the full article published by Agenzia Nova on 26 November 2022.

'Far too little attention has been paid to either the obstacles women face once they achieve positions of political leadership or the reasons why they leave politics.'

Chonticha “Lookkate” Jangrew regularly experiences online abuse, intimidation, harassment, and name-calling. As a young political activist and one of the leaders of pro-democracy groups in Thailand, she has been constantly subjected to public humiliation and persecution. Lookkate faces more than 30 charges for her political activism. She stands accused of violating Article 112 of the Thai criminal code, which prohibits anyone from defaming members of the royal family, which, if she is convicted, could land her in prison for up to 15 years per count. She has already spent time in jail, been strip-searched, been sexually violated in detention, received multiple physical and death threats, and been the target of various “fake news” attacks. She has been called a drug addict, a ghost, a witch, a prostitute, a traitor — in attacks weaponizing personal characteristics such as her looks in addition to those against her political beliefs. Despite all this, Lookkate — as Jangrew is popularly known in Thailand — is contesting a seat in Thailand’s upcoming national election.

This situation is not exceptional. Lookkate is a modern-day female political leader.

Click here to read the full article published by Rappler on 24 November 2022.