Women's Leadership
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
Here we are in another presidential election year. (Pause for scream.) Chaos will surely abound on the campaign trail and elsewhere, but we here at Cosmo have found a way to not only survive elections but to use them to feel tangibly better about the world: Focus on the women.
A few elections ago, this took the form of our award-winning guide telling women exactly How to Run for Office. It felt urgent—at the time, only 8 percent of women told us they’d even consider running for office. Fast-forward seven years and nearly one-third of our state legislature seats are held by women. Twenty-eight percent of elected officials in Congress are women (compared to 19 percent 10 years ago). And we have our first-ever woman Vice President.
Now there’s a new urgency: While more women are gaining elected positions, they’re facing frustrating—and frustratingly gendered—obstacles once they’re on the job. So we’ve decided to publish a new guide about how to succeed in office once you get there.
It’s perhaps no surprise that for elected women, success requires the support of other women. Take it from our partner on the project, Pivotal Ventures, an investment and philanthropic company founded by Melinda French Gates to put $1 billion toward expanding women’s power and influence in the U.S. I caught up with Melinda—or “MFG” as her colleagues fondly call her and now so do I—this spring, right before Election Year 2024 really went into overdrive, to talk about our shared passion for helping all women thrive.
Read here the full article published by Cosmopolitan on 16 May 2024.
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There are calls for more support for Pacific women to get into politics, while also recognising cultural leadership roles.
Pacific Island Forum Secretariat policy advisor on gender equality Dr Fiona Hukula says Pacific women have to balance expectations that can contradict each other.
“We live and fend in a world where we are also tied to some of our cultural and social obligations, and it in many ways influences the way we think about gender relations, the way we think about leadership.”
In the Pacific region, just 8.8 per cent of MPs are women. In the Marshall Islands, Hilda Heine is the first woman to become president, and the first woman president of any Micronesian country.
Speaking to William Terite on Pacific Mornings, Hukula says the low representation of women in parliament is a longstanding concern.
“We know that our region has some of the highest rates of violence in the world and the lowest rates of women’s political representation, but to be fair, there’s been a lot of work in trying to ensure that women take up leadership roles.”
Louisa Wall is a former Labour cabinet minister, and was the Ambassador for Gender Equality in the Pacific until March when her role was scrapped by the coalition government.
Read here the full article published by the Pacific Media Network News on 14 May 2024.
Image by the Pacific Media Network News
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Why is it important to have more diverse women in spaces of power for democracy in Latin America? How does misinformation and online gender violence operate against them now that they are conquering political spaces? How is artificial intelligence beginning to play a role in the political participation efforts by women and underrepresented groups? These and other questions will be up for discussion this Tuesday in Mexico at the forum ‘Mujeres al poder, representación política y tecnología en elecciones (Women in power, political representation and technology during elections), organized by EL PAÍS América and Luminate, the alliance behind the Women Leaders of Latin America project. The event will feature numerous women with a public voice.
With less than a month to go before a national election in Mexico, where there are two women candidates with a strong chance of winning, the debate becomes increasingly relevant, and even more so because the forum is organized around solutions and an exploration of the challenges and difficulties faced by women who reach positions of power. One of the guest speakers who will discuss online gender violence is Salma Luévano, Mexico’s first trans lawmaker, who has suffered it firsthand; other Mexican speakers include Senator Beatriz Paredes of the PRI party, the politician and feminist Martha Tagle; and Rita Bell López, Advisor for the National Electoral Institute (INE).
Read here the full article published by El País on 14 May 2024.
Image by El País
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Progress towards legal gender equality has stalled in many parts of the world. The data published earlier this year by Women, Business, and the Law report reveals that women, on average, have less than two-thirds of the legal protections that men have, down from a previous estimate of just over three-quarters. This stark reality is a sobering reminder of the challenges that still lie ahead.
For example, the absence of legislation prohibiting sexual harassment in public spaces, such as mass transit, hampers women's ability to access employment opportunities and fully participate in the workforce. The lack of services and financing for parents with young children places a disproportionate burden on women. Furthermore, the effectiveness of gender-sensitive legislation is often undermined by inadequate enforcement mechanisms. In many regions, women's limited political clout fuels a self-perpetuating cycle of restricted legal rights and reduced economic empowerment.
Recognizing the importance of women's representation in political leadership, the World Bank, represented by the Women Business and the Law (WBL) report, Women Political Leaders (WPL), and the Oliver Wyman Forum (OWF), have joined forces to address the challenges faced by women in political leadership positions. Our collaborative efforts under the Representation Matters program aim to foster women’s participation in decision-making positions, and to promote legal equality and economic opportunities not only for women, but for everyone.
The initiative comes at a critical time. Achieving equal opportunity is not only a fundamental human right for half of the world's population; it is also an opportunity to drive faster economic growth, fostering prosperity for all.
Read here the full article published by The World Bank on 14 May on 2024.
Image by The World Bank
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Say you’ve just scored your dream job. And that dream job involves representing your town, county, state, or even country, dedicating your time and energy to making a difference in people’s lives. You’re feeling energized, hopeful, idealistic even. And then, on day one, you face a harsh reality: The majority of governments in this country weren’t set up with women in mind. You knew your job would be tough, but maybe you didn’t realize how tough.
It’s a previously underreported scenario we heard again and again while talking to elected women for How to Succeed in Office. They face far more roadblocks than their male counterparts on all fronts—financial, logistical, physical, mental, emotional, we could go on—with women of color and working parents often being even more affected.
Below are ideas and tangible solutions for the biggest and most common challenges women in office face. We also enlisted veteran politicians to help out a few newcomers with their very specific quandaries. Because we know it takes a village, and we’re pretty sure it’s women who are going to get each other out of this mess.
Read here the full article published by Cosmopolitan on 13 May 2024.
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This study report on Women in Power and Decision-Making in the Eastern Partnership Countries, 2015 is part of the project Short term high quality studies to support activities under the Eastern Partnership – HiQSTEP, carried out by an international consortium under the leadership of Kantor Management Consultants.
This study has been carried out to support the activities of Platform I - ‘Democracy, Good Governance and Stability’ – of the Eastern Partnership at the request of the Government of Sweden, supported by Georgia and Moldova. Gender has been identified as priority area by the EaP Platform I Work Programme 2014-2017. The Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR), the European Union External Action Service and the European Institute for Gender Equality are the driving forces in cooperation with EaP partner countries on this theme. The European Institute for Gender Equality has provided methodological support to the present Study to ensure comparability between the EU-28 and Eastern Partnership data.
In the Eastern Partnership Countries, women are remarkably absent from the structures of power. In politics, 17 women are currently appointed to Senior Minister posts out of 136 such posts, women elected as Parliament Members constitute 16 per cent and 3 political parties are led by women. Only 17 per cent of women managed to break the glass ceiling to reach the highest ranking civil servants positions. Small bright spots can be found in the judiciary, were women judges count for 29 per cent of the Supreme Courts posts, and in Local Assemblies, where their share reached 27 per cent.
Looking more closely at some countries, timid but possibly real gender-related advances can be identified, such as in Ukraine where two women were appointed to the most important financial positions of the Minister of Finance and the Head of the Central Bank. However, the Minister of
Finance is the only woman in the Ukrainian cabinet. In Moldova, a different approach led to the appointment of 6 women out of 22 as Senior Ministers1, the highest number in the EaP, and to the attribution of socio-cultural portfolios to 4 of them. In Georgia, a system of exams based on qualifications resulted in a higher number of women judges than men (51 to 49 per cent respectively). Women are even less present in positions of economic power. They represent 9 per cent of members of the boards of central banks, 15 per cent of members of the governing bodies of trade unions and 10 per cent of members of the governing bodies of employers’ organisations. Women in the boards of companies registered on the stock exchange are less than 15 per cent. Ukraine, however, stands out again as the only EaP country with two women Presidents and two women Vice-Presidents in two of its organisations representing workers.
These results are not surprising when one analyses the social and economic situation endured by women in the EaP Countries, where they often face severe horizontal and vertical segregations that constrain them in low-paid and informal jobs – predominantly in services sectors such as retail trade, education and health care. Protective regulations that prohibit the employment of women in dangerous or harmful conditions can further deprive women of jobs, which is the case in Azerbaijan, Belarus and Ukraine. Despite their higher levels of education than those of men across EaP Countries, gender pay gaps for women can be as high as 50 per cent, as is the case in Azerbaijan. Except in Belarus2, women’s unemployment is higher than men’s and they are more exposed to poverty.
The combination of these factors drives large numbers of women to entrepreneurship, such as in Belarus where women are 63 per cent of all individual entrepreneurs3. Access to credit or even micro-credit is difficult and the span of women’s activities remains limited. Women will often be excluded from the trade networks that facilitate the launch and development of businesses and companies for men. Many women, especially in rural areas, work in the agricultural sector of countries, such as Georgia, where land is mostly owned by men. Their work is not registered and they cannot benefit from allowances nor can they apply for compensations, thereby limiting their capacity to engage in society and politics.
When all other possibilities fail, women resort to emigrating: this is the case of Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Not only has Moldova the lowest level of labour participation amongst the EaP Countries, but it also experiences a continuing decrease of the active female labour force, losing 7 per cent of its active female population in the 2004-2014 decade. The lack of social services is particularly critical, when one considers that child-care services were more readily available prior to the current transition period. This is compounded by the fact that men are rarely involved in children’s education.
Women are scarcely present at the highest echelons of universities, with an average of 12 per cent women rectors in the EaP Countries, or in media, although some more women are appointed in positions at the second level of power. Their capacity to influence the public discourse appears therefore limited. All Eastern Partnership Countries are affected by different forms of violence against women including human trafficking and harmful practices. Violence against women negatively affects women’s general well-being and prevents them from fully participating in society.
From a legal standpoint, women in the Eastern Partnership Countries benefit from virtually all the gender equality requisites. All EaP constitutions, adopted between 1994 and 1996, rigorously impose parity between women and men and all legislations provide for equal rights, albeit in varying degrees. In contrast, however, legislation on violence and harassment against women remains insufficient. All these factors have direct and indirect implications on women’s roles in leadership and decision-making.
Summary record of the Joint Biennial Meeting of the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE) and the OECD-DAC Network on Gender Equality (GENDERNET)
“Implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: A game changer for gender equality, women's empowerment and women's human rights”
12-14 January 2016, Kampala, Uganda
KEY MESSAGES
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with its comprehensive standalone goal on gender equality (SDG5) and gender-specific targets across the other goals, provides an ambitious framework to transform the lives of women and girls everywhere. However, it will only be a game-changer if it is fully implemented (...).
Women have historically faced greater barriers than men when it comes to fully participating in society. Across geographies and income levels, disparities between men and women persist in the form of pay gaps, uneven opportunities for advancement, and unbalanced representation in important decision-making. Despite their strong convictions about gender equality in leadership, this Rockefeller Foundation and Global Strategy Group report shows that Americans are acutely aware of the forces that hold women back. Nine in ten (92%) say that traditions of, and expectations for, male leadership in workplace cultures contributes at least somewhat to women’s lack of representation in top positions—including 69%, who say it contributes highly. Other preconceptions also play a role, including women being seen as prioritizing family over career (89%), and the perception that women are less effective leaders than men (78%). Click here to access the report.
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This factsheet, produced by Oxfam, gives a brief overview of the status of women in the Middle East and North Africa with a focus on the themes of violence against women and girls in conflict and women’s political participation and leadership. It also discusses the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) and the extent of progress towards its goals, more than 15 years after the adoption of this landmark resolution on Women, Peace and Security. The factsheet is divided into two sections as it first highlights the different manifestations of gender-based threats and risks that women face, and then looks into the limited participation of women in decision making and peace processes. For more on this, click here.
The Arab region ranks the lowest in the world in terms of women‘s participation in parliaments. Recognizing the power of the challenges facing women in politics, this paper examines the political participation of women in the Arab countries and identifies the different challenges that impede Arab women's participation in decision making. It finds that these challenges include cultural factors, lack of coordination among women's organizations, shortcomings in the institutional and legal frameworks, practices of political parties and election process among many others. To read the full report, click here.
The Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) drafted a National Action Plan (NAP) on United Nations Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) to advance women, peace and security on the national level. The JNCW proposed a draft for the NAP in October 2014, which then was transferred for discussion within the Government of Jordan. The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) Jordan country office produced this note, which serves as a summary of the discussions hosted by UN Women and the JNCW on issues of women, peace and security in Jordan. Two consultations were held under the framework of the Beijing+20 review and appraisal process and the high level review of the implementation of resolution 1325. The consultations targeted national actors and decision makers on issues of women, peace and security, as well as Syrian refugees living in the Za’atari refugee camp in Al Mafraq governorate. For more information, click here.