Women's Leadership

This book addresses the central question of how right-wing women navigate the cross-pressures between gender identity and political ideology.

The hope has always been that more women in politics would lead to greater inclusion of women’s voices and interests in decision-making and policy. Yet this is not always the case; some prominent conservative women such as Margaret Thatcher have rejected the feminist label while others such as Angela Merkel have reluctantly accepted it. Republican women in the U.S. Congress have embraced social and economic policies contrary to what many consider to be women’s issues while EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is a staunch supporter of feminist ideas. Other conservative women, such as Marine LePen in France strategically use feminist ideas to justify their conservative stances on immigration. This brings up an interesting yet understudied question: under what circumstances do conservative women become feminist allies and when do they toe the party line? It is this tension between women’s political representation and conservatism that this edited volume explores.

Click here to access the book.

VVEngage is a Vital Voices signature fellowship supporting outstanding women political leaders making and influencing policy across the globe. Through this fully-funded fellowship, we aim to increase the capacity, decision-making power and effectiveness of women leaders in politics and government, shifting culture around women’s public leadership and moving towards equality in public representation globally. We also aim to work towards a more inclusive and equitable world by advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through policy.

Through this fellowship, Vital Voices advances women’s political leadership and the SDGs by conducting online and in-person* trainings with experts such as women leaders from the Vital Voices Global Network and professors from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. The fellowship also connects participants to a global network of peers and mentors, such as current and former female heads of state with the Council of Women World Leaders, with whom they can brainstorm and share challenges and best practices.

Click here to learn more and to access application details.

Nicola Sturgeon has announced she will stand down after eight years as First Minister, telling a press conference “the time is now”.

In a shock announcement on Wednesday, the SNP leader said she was not reacting to “short-term pressures” after a series of political setbacks.

The longest-serving – and first female – First Minister told a hastily arranged press conference she will remain in office while the SNP selects her successor.

“In my head and in my heart I know that time is now. That it’s right for me, for my party and my country,” she said.

Ms Sturgeon, who guided the nation through the coronavirus pandemic and led the SNP to repeated election victories at UK, Scottish and local level, acknowledged the “physical and mental impact” of the role.

Click here to read the full article published by The Independent on 15 February 2023.

Kelly Dittmar, Director of Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, discusses her views on women's position and role in politics, following an abrupt resignation from now former New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern. She speaks with Kathleen Hays and Haidi Stroud-Watts on 'Daybreak Asia'.

Source: Bloomberg

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Record numbers of women serve in congressional, gubernatorial, and state legislative offices as a result of the 2022 election. But even when women win public office, equitable power—with men and among women—is not assured.

There is robust evidence that women officeholders disrupt institutional rules and culture as well as alter policy agendas and outcomes. That’s power. But charting the gender disparities among elected officeholders is just a first—albeit important—step in efforts to achieve gender parity in U.S. politics. Creating more equitable political institutions and outcomes requires rethinking political power—and efforts to re-allocate it—in more expansive and complex ways. Important in this work are more explicit discussions of which women are represented and where, which women have more or less political power, and to what end that political representation and power leads.

Click here to read the full article published by Forbes on 1 February 2023. 

For the first time, the leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees are all women, as is the top White House budget official. Can they avert a fiscal disaster? They’re determined to try.

WASHINGTON — Inside a grand committee room in the Capitol on a recent afternoon, Senator Patty Murray paused at the end of the 31-foot conference table to re-enact how, as a rank-and-file lawmaker years ago, she would have to stand up and wave to catch the attention of the men running negotiations from the center of the room.

Now it is Ms. Murray, Democrat of Washington, whose name is etched in gold cursive at the center of the table, set among frescoes of Roman goddesses and a multitiered crystal chandelier, signifying her position as the chairwoman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. These days, she is part of the first-ever all-female team of Republicans and Democrats to lead the congressional committees that control government spending.

Click here to read the full article published by The New York Times on 1 February 2023.