Women's Leadership
Exile Hub is one of Global Voices’ partners in Southeast Asia, emerging in response to the 2021 coup in Myanmar, focusing on empowering journalists and human rights defenders. This edited article is republished under a content partnership agreement.
What you see in the frame is a woman holding a camera in a war zone.
What you don’t see is everything beyond it: the sound of military aircraft overhead, the fear of a second strike, and people running for safety.
While others fled, Myat Moe Thu, a recipient of Exile Hub’s Critical Voices Fellowship 2026, moved toward the scene.
A journalist reporting from the border areas between Shan and Kayah (Karenni) States, she documents the realities of war as they unfold. On the day this image was taken, a military jet had just dropped two 500-pound bombs on a civilian village. As residents fled, fearing another attack, she walked into the aftermath to gather the story.
There was no protective gear. No guarantee of safety. Only a decision to bear witness.
Nigeria’s democracy has survived. The harder question is whether it is deepening. Since 1999, the country has sustained civil rule longer than at any other period in its post-independence history. Elections have been held. Governments have come and gone. Political parties have risen and fallen. At important moments, power has changed hands peacefully. These are not small achievements.
But democratic survival is not the same thing as democratic success.
For many Nigerians, democracy still feels distant from daily life. Citizens are courted during campaigns and forgotten after elections. Representatives emerge in the people’s name but often govern without a meaningful connection to the people’s voice. Voter turnout has been troubling. Public trust is weak. Political inclusion remains uneven. Too many Nigerians see democracy as a ritual of voting, not a lived experience of belonging, influence and accountability. This is why the relationship between participation and representation deserves urgent attention.
Bangladesh’s democratic trajectory reveals a persistent paradox. Despite the prominence of women in national leadership, strong female voter turnout, and significant economic participation, particularly in the ready-made garment sector, their substantive engagement in formal politics remains limited. This essay examines how structural constraints within major political parties, notably the Awami League (AL) and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), as well as broader societal norms, have shaped and sustained this disparity under both AL- and BNP-led governments. It argues for a more inclusive and intersectional model of political representation to bridge the gap between women’s symbolic visibility and their actual influence within Bangladesh’s political institutions.
SEOUL, June 03 (AJP) - The Ruling Democratic Party candidate and former justice minister Choo Mi-ae is certain to win the Gyeonggi Province gubernatorial race, making her the first woman to head a metropolitan or provincial government in South Korean history.
According to the National Election Commission on Wednesday, Choo is projected to defeat People Power Party candidate Yang Hyang-ja in the June 3 local elections. The six-term lawmaker maintained a wide lead over Yang throughout the campaign, cementing her victory early on.
Her win breaks a long-standing glass ceiling in South Korean politics. Since the country introduced nationwide local elections in 1995, women have consistently run for top regional posts but have never won.
The closest attempts occurred in 2022 and 2010. In the 2022 Gyeonggi governor race, conservative candidate Kim Eun-hye lost to Democratic Party candidate Kim Dong-yeon by a margin of 0.15 percentage points after a tight race that stretched into the morning after election day. In 2010, Democratic Party candidate Han Myeong-sook lost the Seoul mayoral election to Oh Se-hoon by 0.2 percentage points.
Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, Deputy Executive Director for Normative Support, UN System Coordination, and Programme Results, visited Bangladesh from 16–21 May this year. During her visit, she travelled to Dhaka and Cox’s Bazar and engaged with key UN Women partners, including government counterparts, civil society organisations, and development partners, to discuss both opportunities and challenges in advancing gender equality in Bangladesh.
In an interview with Prothom Alo, Gumbonzvanda speaks on gender equality issues and ways to strengthen collaboration to accelerate the implementation of international and national commitments on gender equality. She was joined by Christine Arab, Regional Director, UN Women Regional Office for Asia and Pacific. The interview was taken by Ayesha Kabir.
80 years ago, a landmark referendum empowered women in Italy and led to the birth of the Italian Republic.
On 2 June 1946, millions of Italian women entered polling stations across a country still scarred by war and queued to do something their mothers and grandmothers had been denied: cast a vote at national level.
The occasion was the institutional referendum in which the Italian people chose between monarchy and republic, and simultaneously elected a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution.
It was a founding moment in modern Italian history, and it was also, for around half the electorate, the first time they had ever been recognised as full citizens of a democratic state.
80 years on, Italy is marking this anniversary with official ceremonies and events across the country. In addition to celebration, the occasion invites reflection on the long and frequently obstructed journey that led Italian women to the ballot box.
Executive Summary
In August 2013, RepresentWomen launched the Gender Parity Index (GPI) to help researchers and advocates track progress toward gender-balanced governance and identify opportunities for increasing women’s political representation in the U.S. Each year, we assign all 50 states a Gender Parity Score, letter grade, and ranking according to their proximity to parity. One of the key takeaways from this exercise is that progress toward gender balance is slower and less stable than it first appears.
In the first GPI, 40 states earned a “D” grade (< 25.0) or worse (< 10.0); the remaining 10 states were split evenly between “Cs” (< 33.0) and “Bs” (< 50.0), and no state achieved an “A” (50.0 and above). Eleven years later, two states (Oregon and Maine) have earned “A” grades, 22 states have earned “Bs” and “Cs,” and 26 states received a “D.” For the first time ever, no state has received an “F.”
However, great improvements in women’s representation often overshadow smaller changes that occur year-to-year. The 2024 Index reflects our complex political landscape, suggesting progress in women’s political representation may stagnate or even backslide. Every year shows differences both in the changes themselves and the magnitude of change. This Index shows the most movement for women at the state and local levels: Louisiana elected two new woman state executives, and Indiana elected nine new women to local offices.
Overall, women are still underrepresented at every level of government in the U.S., comprising over 50% of the population but holding just under one-third of all elected positions. To make lasting progress in women’s representation, we must take a systems-level approach that creates opportunities for women to enter the political sphere and supports the women already in office.
Read here the full report published by RepresentWomen on 30 July 2024.
Image by RepresentWomen
São Paulo witnessed a historic change in the 2020 municipal elections. Four Black women were elected as councillors — over 72 years, the capital of São Paulo state has elected only six Black women councillors in total.
However, the proportion of women among the 55 members of the City Council — the largest in Brazil — is still below that of the general population. In São Paulo, for every 10 councillors, two are women. When taking into account all of the metropolitan region, the average falls to one woman councillor for every 10 deputies in the town halls.
When looking at municipal councils, the situation seems even more difficult: only three of the 39 cities in Greater São Paulo have women mayors.
According to the platform TSE Women, of the High Electoral Court, women comprise more than half (52 percent) of the electorate in Brazil. However, the number of votes won by women candidates between 2016 and 2022 was 33 percent, with 15 percent of them being elected.
A few months before new elections in the 5,565 Brazilian municipalities, scheduled for next October, Agência Mural talked to councillors, community leaders, and experts about why it is so difficult for women, especially from peripheral, poorer areas, to enter institutional politics, and also about the journeys of those who were elected.
Read here the full article published by Global Voices on 18 June 2024.
Image by Global Voices
The Global Gender Gap Index annually benchmarks the current state and evolution of gender parity across four key dimensions (Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment). It is the longest-standing index tracking the progress of numerous countries’ efforts towards closing these gaps over time since its inception in 2006.
Read here the full report published by the World Economic Forum on 11 June 2024.
Image by WEF
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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Pursuing gender equality remains a significant challenge in the 21st century. Despite notable advancements in fields such as education, healthcare, and economic engagement, there remains a persistent disparity in the representation of women in leadership positions across various industries. This disparity not only hinders the optimal utilisation of the labour force but also restricts societal progress. Existing evaluation criteria often prove inadequate as they fail to account for the intricacies of women's leadership trajectories, particularly in the Global South nations. To bridge this divide, a comprehensive quantitative approach that delves into the nuances of female leadership and empowerment is imperative.
Reimagining gender indices
Several well-established indices have been crucial in assessing advancements in gender equality. The Global Gender Gap Index by the World Economic Forum and the Gender Inequality Index by the UNDP offer essential insights into various areas, including economic participation and political representation. Initiatives like the Women's Empowerment Principles by UN Women and the Women, Peace, and Security Index by Georgetown Institute shed light on specific facets of women's rights and inclusion. However, these measures often prioritise a limited number of indicators, primarily concentrating on outcome-driven data.
Read here the full article published by the Observer Research Foundation on 30 April 2024.
Image by Observer Research Foundation
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Tracking the number of women in elective office represents only one measure of political power, two Rutgers University researchers told the 2024 National Press Foundation Women in Politics Fellowship.
They say entrenched inequities persist in legislative leadership, fundraising, and the outsized influence of unelected gatekeepers.
“We know that keeping track of women’s political representation, specifically the numbers of women in elective office, is just one piece of a larger puzzle to understanding and addressing disparities in women’s political power,” said Kelly Dittmar, associate professor of political science and director of research Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.
Read here the full article published by National Press Foundation on 25 April 2024.
Image by National Press Foundation
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