Women's Leadership

The Kenyan 2022 General Elections represents a great step forward for women’s representation, albeit an incremental one. We have seen that a lot of women, both those who won and those who lost, have come forward to show that despite many decades where women have been despised in regards to political leadership, they can also be leaders like anyone else. Up forward from only four women elected to Parliament in 2002, to the Promulgation of the 2010 Constitution there is a significant and really great transformation in regards to the number of women representing the people. This article will showcase the new dawn of women in politics; fearless, courageous women.

Kenya’s legal framework for women’s political representation, participation, and inclusion are laid out in numerous documents and directives.[1]These include not only the 2010 Constitution, but also an array of national and international laws and treaties. The Judiciary has also developed significant case law in this area, In The Matter of the Principle of Gender Representation in the National Assembly and the Senate, [2] Katiba Institute v Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission,[3] Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW) v the Attorney General and the Commission on the Implementation of the Constitution.[4]

Click here to read the full article published by Capital News on 17 August 2022.

Some journalists have been sharing emails detailing disturbing threats.

Public instances of threats and intimidation of women in public life have intensified in recent weeks, with significant examples of abuse targeted toward politicians — most recently, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland — as well as activists and journalists.

For weeks, a group of journalists, particularly journalists of colour, have publicly shared a series of private, anonymous emails they've received. Those emails contained specific, targeted and disturbing threats of violence and sexual assault, as well as racist and misogynistic language.

Click here to read the full article published by CBC on 27 August 2022.

SALT LAKE CITY — Women on the internet are posting videos of themselves dancing, singing and partying as a political statement.

The trend began when Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin drew sharp criticism after a video of her dancing and singing with friends began to circulate on the internet. The backlash she received has struck a chord with women across the internet, and in Utah, pointing to what they feel is an unfair standard.

Sanna Marin's video

Marin was selected for office in 2019, at 34 years old, making her the youngest person to hold Finnish office and the youngest serving prime minister worldwide.

Click here to read the full article published by KSL on 24 August 2022.

Just a few years before she was elected as a Member of the Zanzibar House of Representatives (ZHoR), Zawadi Amour Nassor didn’t have political aspirations, but life had bigger plans for her. Today, she represents the Konde constituency of Northern Pemba, where the Representative seat had previously only been held by men. 

As a first-time contestant without much political experience, Nassor – a former teacher, was an avid advocate on ending violence against women and girls. Too often, she would see cases that either went unreported by survivors, or where perpetrators were not held to account due to gaps in the legal system.

“I have always been a problem-solver, driven by the need to speak out against what I saw as injustices,” said Nassor, “Eventually, I realized that in order to really make a difference and effect change, I needed more decision-making power, so I decided to run for a constituency seat in the ZHoR.”

LAGOS — A mere 17 women were appointed or elected to parliaments, ministerial or electoral offices in the West Africa/Sahel region out of 134 available positions from December 2021 to June 2022. While the paltry figures have long raised concerns among the region’s women’s-rights advocates, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres also chimed in while reporting on the concerning security developments in the region to the Security Council recently.

“I note the continued underrepresentation of women in decision-making instances across the region,” Guterres said on July 7. “I reiterate the importance of promoting the full and meaningful participation and representation of women in all political processes, including in elections and transitions.” His remarks were based on a new report written by the UN’s Office for West Africa and the Sahel, or Unowas, for Guterres on the status of the region. The office covers West Africa, including parts of the Sahel within that geographical area (see the Unowas map below).

Click here to read the full article published by Pass Blue on 23 August 2022.

Monrovia — The 54th Session of the National Legislature has an enormous opportunity to represent the interests of Liberian women and advance Liberia’s record of women’s leadership in Africa and globally through the passage of a mandatory gender quota in the New Elections Law that is currently on the agenda of the Senate.

Liberia already has the great distinction of being the first African nation to elect a female president, and currently has a female Vice President. However, state institutions remain largely male dominated and, globally, Liberia is ranked 156th of 162 countries on the Gender Inequality Index[1] and 163 out of 185 countries on the list of women in national parliaments.[2] Whereas the average percentage of women in national parliaments is 26% for sub-Saharan Africa and 17% in West Africa,[3] in Liberia women make up less than 11% of the 103 seats in the National Legislature. These statistics represent a crisis of under-representation given that women and girls comprise 50% of the population.

Without affirmative action and legislation to help address the exclusion of women from the national legislature, Liberia’s democratic and developmental goals will not be achieved.

Click here to read the full article published by Front Page Africa on 17 August 2022.