Women's Leadership

When a president addresses Congress flanked by the vice president and speaker of the House, it's tradition. But when both of those seats are filled by women, it's history in the making.

Such was the case on Wednesday night, when President Biden delivered his first joint address to a scaled-back crowd of mask-wearing lawmakers.

But the pandemic wasn't the only history-making factor. Behind him sat two women from California: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Harris, both the first women to hold their positions.

Biden recognized the historic moment at the start of his remarks, addressing "Madam Speaker, Madam Vice President," as the roughly 200-person chamber burst into applause.

"No president has ever said those words from this podium, and it's about time," he said.

Click here to read the full article published by NPR on 28 April 2021.

Amina Mohammed has risen from humble beginnings in Nigeria to become the most powerful woman in the United Nations. For more than 30 years, she has worked hard to shine a light on the developmental challenges facing our world – particularly women.

At a time when there are concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic could wipe out the progress made towards gender equality in multiple areas, what can be done to build back a fair world for women after the injustices of the pandemic? And would she like to become Nigeria's first female president?

(CNN) - A new wave of Black women are breaking barriers as they ascend to mayoral seats in cities with deeply rooted histories of racism and inequality.

On Tuesday, Tishaura Jones will be sworn in as the first Black female mayor of St. Louis after winning the election earlier this month.

Her victory came just two weeks after Kim Janey was appointed Boston's first Black female mayor following the resignation of Marty Walsh, who is now the US Labor Secretary. Janey recently announced she would run for a full term in this year's mayoral election.

With the ascension of Jones and Janey, there will be a historic high of nine Black women serving as mayors of the nation's 100 largest cities. Other major cities led by Black women include Atlanta, San Francisco; Chicago; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; New Orleans; Washington, DC; and Charlotte, North Carolina.

Click here to read the full article published by CNN on 20 April 2021. 

Some countries are better at promoting women’s representation in politics, suggesting social norms may create barriers.

Even though the world was far from reaching gender parity before the coronavirus pandemic struck, the impact of COVID-19 on gender equality is already tangible.

According to the World Economic Forum's 2021 Global Gender Gap report, more than 135 years will be needed for countries to close the gender gap, an increase of more than 35 years from the WEF's 2020 report. Across the four sectors measured – political empowerment, economic participation, education and health – the greatest disparities are seen among political empowerment, a measure of gender parity within politics which takes into account political representation from the parliamentary level to heads of state, a gap that will take 10 years longer to close.

"Gender equality" is one of 76 metrics in the 2021 Best Countries report, where survey participants were asked how closely they associate that attribute with a nation. In 2021, the Netherlands was perceived as the most gender equal, followed by Sweden, Denmark, Canada and Norway. The top scorers, based on perception, have high rates of women represented in politics, relative to the rest of the world, and some, particularly in the Nordic region, have been leaders in gender equality for decades.

Click here to read the full article published by U.S. News on 13 April 2021.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden released his first slate of 11 federal judicial nominations on Tuesday, nine of them women of diverse backgrounds including several Black candidates and an Asian American.

“This trailblazing slate of nominees draws from the very best and brightest minds of the American legal profession,” Biden said in a statement that emphasized their “broad diversity of background experience and perspective.”

The nominees, which include nine women, must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

The three Black women nominated for federal circuit court vacancies are Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Tiffany Cunningham for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and Candace Jackson-Akiwumi for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Click here to read the full article published by Reuters on 30 March 2021.

A three-day conference aimed at breathing life into Afghanistan’s stalled peace process has been launched in Moscow, but Afghan human rights activists have raised the alarm that the delegates included just one woman.

Habiba Sarabi, an activist and politician, was the only female delegate on the 12-member team representing the Afghan government and political leaders at Thursday’s summit in Moscow. The 10-member delegation sent by the Islamist Taliban had none.

Sarabi addressed a vast table of male counterparts at a Moscow hotel, calling for a ceasefire. “Why should [I] be the only woman in the room? We have not been part of the war, we can certainly contribute to peace,” she said, according to a tweet from a fellow negotiator that she shared. “51% of people should not be ignored.”

Click here to read the full article published by The Guardian on 18 March 2021.