Women's Leadership
Voters under 50 are the least open to electing a female president, and four in 10 Americans personally know someone who would not elect a woman to the White House, a new poll finds.
The American University poll, shared first with POLITICO, reveals a complicated portrait of how voters view women in politics. A majority supports electing more women to office, yet female politicians face persistent headwinds over trust on key issues like national security. They also run up against double standards, with voters saying a female president must be both “tough” and “likable.”
Nonetheless, most voters support electing more women and believe the government gets more done with women in office, according to the national poll of 801 registered voters conducted last month. It was commissioned by the university’s Women and Politics Institute and had a 3.5-point margin of error.
Nearly one in five voters said they or someone they are close to would not elect a woman presidential candidate. That includes one-quarter of women under 50 and 20 percent of men under 50, who said they would not back a qualified female candidate for president, while 13 percent of men and women over 50 said they wouldn’t be open to supporting a woman for president.
Full article here.
On the sidelines of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA80), a powerful, intergenerational and intersectional group of women leaders called for urgent action to centre women’s leadership in global peace efforts.
The event, hosted by the UN Women Leaders Network, in partnership with the Government of Iceland and the UN Foundation, was held ahead of the 25th anniversary of UN Security Council resolution 1325, which launched the Women, Peace and Security agenda. This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action on gender equality, elevating women and girls’ leadership in peace and decision-making as fundamental to building a peaceful and sustainable future for all.
Gender equality commissioner Josie Christodoulou on Friday voiced concern over the low level of female participation in Cyprus’ political life ahead of the 2026 parliamentary elections, warning that unbalanced representation in decision-making creates a democratic deficit.
“Political parties need to demonstrate the same commitment to strengthening gender equality in politics to ensure the equal participation of all citizens in shaping the country’s future,” she said.
Christodoulou noted that women currently hold only 14 per cent of seats in parliament and 37 per cent of positions in the Council of Ministers.
At the local government level, female representation remains similarly low, while Cyprus is represented exclusively by men in the European parliament.
For several years, Nigerian MPs have been blocking legislation aimed at better representation for women in politics. The country's women – who make up the majority of the electorate – are pushing for a bill that would reserve at least 35 percent of seats in parliament for women.
Hundreds of women descended on the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Monday to push for a bill that would add women-only seats in the Senate and House of Representatives.
Several African countries, from Senegal to Rwanda, have increased their number of female legislators by using quota systems.
Nigeria, which has some of the lowest numbers of women in parliament worldwide, has no such system.
It counts just four women senators out of 109, and 16 women in the 360-member House of Representatives, according to the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), a local NGO.
Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation in politics, on boards, in sports and entertainment, in judicial offices and in the private sector in the U.S. and around the world—with a little gardening and goodwill mixed in for refreshment!
Milestones for notable women this week include birthdays for: Mary Church Terrell, African American civil rights activist and suffragist (1863); Muthoni Wambu Kraal, partner at NEWCO Strategies; New York City council member Diana Ayala; U.S. Rep. Erin Houchin; Mehrnaz Teymourian, RepresentWomen board member; Erin Loos Cutraro, founder & CEO of She Should Run; U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui; U.S. Rep. Marilyn Strickland; Onida Coward Mayers, RepresentWomen board member; Sophie Dorf-Kamienny, RepresentWomen alum; Serena Williams; Corinne Bennett, RepresentWomen alum; Fatma Tawfik, RepresentWomen international research manager; Vi Alexander Lyles, mayor of Charlotte, N.C.; Madeleine M. Kunin, former Governor of Vermont; Poppy McDonald; and Katharine Pichardo-Erskine, executive director of Latino Victory Project.
The immediate past Accountant General of the Federation, Dr Oluwatoyin Madein, has decried the under-representation of women in the country’s political space, saying that efforts must be intensified to address this imbalance.
In a statement issued on Saturday by the Media Consultant to the former Accountant General, Temitope Oyekan and made available to journalists, Dr Madein described Nigerian women as very brilliant, resourceful, resilient, courageous and possessing all the required capacity to provide adequate leadership for the betterment of the country.
She remarked while speaking at the Ogun East Conference for Women, held at the Akarigbo Palace Hall in Sagamu.
This year’s conference, themed “Women in Leadership: Building Capacity, Enhancing Participation and Securing Tomorrow,” brought together leaders, professionals, entrepreneurs, and grassroots advocates in a vibrant exchange of ideas, celebrating women’s achievements and charting pathways for greater inclusion in governance and economic development.
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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It’s 2024, but power still looks like a man. Despite Australia’s claim to egalitarianism, achieving equal political participation and representation remains a formidable challenge for women. Concerningly, the persistent and ingrained obstacles in women’s way are affecting the aspirations of the next generation of female leaders.
According to 2022 research spanning 29 countries, including Australia, satisfaction among young females aged 15-24 with their leaders’ decisions on issues they care about stands at a mere 11%. An overwhelming 97% acknowledged the importance of political participation. Yet, only 24% of those aspiring to engage in politics could see themselves running for office.
Worse still, 20% have been personally discouraged from political involvement. This is often because they’re either considered to be less qualified or that they will inevitably face discrimination and gendered violence.
I crunched the numbers to assess the situation in Australia. While much has been said about the mistreatment of female leaders, how does this play into the psyche of female constituents?
Read here the full article published by The Conversation on 7 March 2024.
Image source: The Conversation.
Abstract: While the passage of the 2018 Gender Parity Law was a step in the right direction, progress on women’s political empowerment in Japan has been slow. With a combined effort from advocacy groups, political parties, and the international community to include more women on ballots and support them to electoral success, Japan can move the needle on gender equity in politics.
The annual Group of Seven (G7) meeting invites opportunities for multi-national collaboration but also comparison amongst the attending states. The G7 countries (Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, France, and Japan, plus attendance from the European Union) indeed share many things in common: they are all relatively wealthy, liberal democracies committed to working together on global issues. Yet the photos from this year’s meeting highlight another questionable commonality: where aren’t there more women in positions of leadership? A deeper look reveals varying levels of gender equality in politics across G7 members with Japan continuing to lag significantly behind.
Click here to read the full article published by The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus on 10 December 2023.
Image by The Asia-Pacific Journal
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Previous work suggests that observing women officeholders increases women’s political ambition. Yet, jumps in women’s representation in the United States’ “Years of the Woman”—following the Anita Hill testimonies and the election of Donald Trump—are linked to women’s exclusion from political decision-making. Drawing on focus groups with prospective women candidates, we theorize that exclusion when combined with a gendered policy threat increases women’s political ambition. Using survey experiments replicated across different samples, we show that women who read about an all-male city council poised to legislate on women’s rights report increased ambition compared with their pretreatment ambition levels and to women in other treatment groups. Women’s increased sense of political efficacy drives these results. When women’s rights are not under discussion, men’s overrepresentation does not move (or even depresses) women’s ambition. Seeing the policy consequences of their exclusion causes some women to seek a seat at the table.
Click here to read the full article published by the American Political Science Association on 30 November 2023.
Image by The American Political Science Association
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Men still dominate political decision-making in the United Kingdom. Women hold just one or two seats on prestigious select committees in the House of Commons, like Defence, Foreign Affairs, and Justice. No women sit on the Domestic and Economic Affairs cabinet committee. And 95% of all local councils have majority-men membership.
Yet voters do care about women’s leadership in elected office. My research shows that when women are absent from political decision-making, voters view governments as less legitimate.
Click here to read the full article published by the Electoral Reform Society on 21 November 2023.
Image by Electoral Reform Society