Women's Leadership

BEIJING – The Communist Party congress has laid bare the striking gender imbalance in the upper echelons of Chinese politics, with not a single woman making the 24-person Politburo for the first time in at least a quarter of a century.

As Xi Jinping and his allies concentrated power over the weekend, the party’s highest-ranking woman leader retired.

Veteran politician Sun Chunlan, a vice premier overseeing China’s health policies, was absent from the Central Committee list published Saturday, meaning she has stepped down.

Click here to read the full article published by The Japan Times on 24 October 2022.

Pourquoi privilégier l’étude des médias quand on travaille sur les questions de genre ?

En ce qui me concerne, je poserai la question des femmes politiques à partir de mon terrain d’observation qui est celui des médias, et plus spécifiquement, des médias d’information. Pourquoi privilégier cette focale quand on travaille sur les questions de genre ? Parce  que, pour reprendre le propos du philosophe Michel Foucault, les médias sont « des technologies de pouvoir ». Reprenant Michel Foucault, Teresa de Lauretis, grande théoricienne du genre, va plus loin, et parle quant à elle de « technologies de genre » : à l’instar de l’école, de la famille ou des tribunaux, les médias participent à l’imposition de valeurs et de normes, de genre en particulier, tout en prétendant n’en être que le reflet.

Les médias d’information se présentent volontiers comme «le reflet de la réalité», «le miroir du monde». Il n’en est rien: comme le dit le Chat de Gelück, une autre de mes grandes références ! : «Quand on lit le journal, on croit apprendre ce qui se passe dans le monde. En réalité, on n’apprend que ce qui se passe dans le journal.» Journalistes et rédactions sont pétris des stéréotypes de genre et des rapports de domination genrés qui caractérisent la société dans son ensemble.

Cliquez ici pour lire l’article publié par 50/50 Magazine, le 22 septembre 2022.

This article presents the results of a randomized survey experiment demonstrating that the public evaluates women politicians more highly than men across multiple characteristic assessments. This finding is consistent with a recent wave of research indicating greater preference for women politicians. Which respondents rate women politicians more highly, and why? The survey found that women and younger voters do not account for the greater marks given to women politicians. Instead, respondent partisanship and the presumed partisanship of the politician account for a great deal of the findings, with gender playing a complicating role. Democratic and Republican respondents are apt to project their own partisanship onto politicians, and across both parties, the survey found higher assessments for co-partisan politicians and for women politicians. On the whole, women politicians are evaluated on par with of significantly higher than men politicians across six characteristics, scoring especially well relative to men when politicians are presumed to be members of the opposing party and when traditionally feminine characteristics are assessed.

Click here to access the article.

By Madeline Fitzgerald

India had the largest share of respondents agreeing that countries led by women are better managed, according to a U.S. News survey.

Women serve as elected heads of state or government in only 28 countries, according to the U.N. But a survey suggests the global public might happily welcome many more.

About 70% of queried respondents believe that countries led by women tend to be better managed, according to a U.S. News survey involving more than 17,000 people from 36 countries. Another 90% believe that women deserve equal rights.

The findings are culled from the 2022 Best Countries survey, which was fielded this year from April 30 to July 13 and is used for an annual, perception-based ranking of countries. Those surveyed were asked to state how strongly they agreed with a variety of statements, such as “women should be entitled to the same rights as men” and “countries led by women tend to be better managed."

Click here to read the full article published by US News on 5 October 2022.

Afro latinos face immense challenges to be represented in politics. These Black women in Latin America have been breaking the mold.

In Latin America, White Latinos continue to dominate politics, despite the number of Afro Latinos throughout the region. Brazil, for instance, has the highest population of Black people after Nigeria, and Afro-Brazilians make up half of the country’s population, yet its Congress is only 4% Black.

Despite racial and gender discrimination and economic barriers, there are some Black women in Latin America who are fighting for important political representation and making history. Read more about these barrier-breaking women.

Click here to read the full article published by Essence on 27 September 2022.

Fixing discrimination isn't as easy as putting anti-discrimination laws on the books. But, there is a tool that can at least chip away at the effects of discrimination: quotas. Over 130 countries have adopted gender quotas…and around one-quarter of the world uses some form of affirmative action programs. So, do quotas actually work at creating more diverse and equitable societies.

In this episode of Entitled, Claudia and Tom learn how quotas are working—or not working—around the world. They speak with Rumbidzai Kandawasvika-Nhundu, senior adviser for democracy and inclusion at International IDEA; Tarunabh Khaitan, professor of Public Law and Legal Theroy at the University of Oxford; and Jessie Majome, former member of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe.

Click here to access the podcast.