Women's Leadership

Despite the fact that 61 percent of Ukrainians believe men and women should be equally involved in political life, women continue to be significantly underrepresented in Ukrainian politics. In this context, organizations and events that bring together women from across Ukraine to share knowledge and build connections are vital components of any effort to strengthen women’s involvement in national and local politics in Ukraine.

On September 15 and 16, NDI and implementing partner the Ukrainian Women’s Congress NGO assembled, virtually and in-person, 175 participants and more than 11,000 online viewers for the 5th Ukrainian Women’s Congress (UWC). The UWC is an annual event that brings together participants and speakers from across Ukraine to further the development of a comprehensive, cross-sectoral, and diverse gender equality movement. Leaders from the private, public, and civil society sectors delivered panels on topics including women’s leadership, making communities free from gender discrimination, and the role of local government in foreign policy. The event featured breakout sessions on sector-specific topics, including panels for civil society representatives, political parties, and local governments.

Click here to read the full article published by NDI on 16 November 2021.

• Mabel Chinomona, President of the Senate, Zimbabwe,
• Claudia Roth, Vice-president of the Bundestag, Germany, 
• Tone Wilhelmsen Troen, Speaker of the Parliament, Norway,
• Mmatlala Grace Boroto, Member of Parliament, South Africa,
• Eliane Tillieux, President of the House of Representatives, Belgium.

New reports published ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference COP26 in Glasgow in November show  that decision-making and technical panels under UN Climate Change (known as “constituted bodies”) are increasingly integrating a gender perspective into their work, but that male overrepresentation on constituted bodies and on government delegations still remains an issue of concern.

Equal and meaningful participation and leadership of women is vital to achieve climate goals. While women and girls around the world are demanding more climate action at the national and international level and have received increasing recognition for their leadership, in the international climate decision-making process, women’s voices are not yet equally represented.

Click here to read the full article published by UN Climate Change on 12 October 2021.

This working paper is part of UN Women’s research efforts to highlight the importance of women’s leadership and participation in decision-making during the pandemic and beyond. The working paper tackles the question of how women leaders at the national and subnational levels of government managed COVID-19 response and recovery during the pandemic’s first 15 months, from January 2020 through March 2021.

The paper finds that women leaders placed premiums on effective leadership, rapid response, and socially inclusive policies as they understood that the effects of the pandemic would reach far beyond public health, affecting every aspect of society and disproportionately harming women and girls.

The publication also maps out lessons learned and recommendations on how to ensure women participate in and influence decision-making during the pandemic response and recovery.

Click here to read the report.

By Rajan Murty 

As a build-up to the Annual National Forum on Women in Politics to be held on 27 October 2021, International IDEA’s Asia and the Pacific Regional Programme organized a webinar entitled “Challenges faced by Women in the Path of Politics”. This topic is relevant considering Fiji will go to polls some time in the second half of next year.

The sixth webinar in the Melanesian webinar series 2021 had speakers from two political parties in Fiji that have been active in politics for more than two decades. The two speakers shared their experiences and lessons learnt within their respective parties over the years. The third speaker, Dr Kerryn Baker, an expert in Government and Politics of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University, shared her research knowledge on women’s participation in politics in the Pacific.

Click here to read the full article published by International IDEA on 25 October 2021.