Women's Leadership
WOMEN make up half the population here, so it only makes sense that the rate of women’s participation in politics is improved to better represent Malaysia’s demographic.
Those in academia and civil societies working on this issue say having more women in important leadership positions in politics and the government will foster a more inclusive and democratic society.
“Women’s participation in politics is necessary for a more inclusive democracy and for them to exercise their political rights,” says Dr Lai Suat Yan, senior lecturer in the gender studies programme at Universiti Malaya’s faculty of arts and social sciences.
The country also stands to benefit from the unique perspectives and invaluable contributions that women can bring to the table that will enrich decision-making processes and governance outcomes.
Parliwomen co-leader Aisyah Adly says women in politics can ensure that the often overlooked concerns of women can be highlighted in discussions revolving around policies and decision-making.
“Their advocacy leads to the formulation of more comprehensive and responsive policies that address the needs of all citizens, thereby promoting social cohesion and sustainable development.
Read here the full article published by The Star on 28 July 2024.
Image by The Star
As a young woman in politics, I often wonder when it will no longer matter that I’m a woman in politics and when I’ll be commended for my work alone, no matter my sex.
I speak very proudly of my role and responsibilities as an MSYP, and I’m forever grateful that I’m able to do what I do.
Though sometimes, I have to remind myself that society wasn't always so accepting of ambitious, influential, and opinionated women - and to an extent, it still isn’t.
I fully recognise that female representation is continually growing within Scottish and UK politics, and I think it’s fantastic that being a woman is no longer a barrier to this world that it once was.
Only a couple of weeks ago did we see the proportion of women elected into the House of Commons increase to more than 40%, while In the Scottish Parliament, women account for 46% of members.
Meanwhile, in the Scottish Youth Parliament, the board of trustees is fully female and the membership as a whole is the most diverse and inclusive parliament in the UK.
Read here the full article published by the Greenock Telegraph on 29 July 2024.
Image by Greenock Telegraph
There are too many accomplished women in the democracy reform movement whose voices go unheard—which perpetuates misrepresentation in U.S. politics. RepresentWomen, an organization dedicated to creating gender-balanced representation in elected and appointed government positions, maintains a database that aims to change this.
Their Women Experts in Democracy Directory is meant to help organizations and media outlets connect with women in politics to ensure their meaningful representation in today’s important political conversations. It allows users to search almost 100 women by their location and area of expertise.
The directory was born out of RepresentWomen’s annual convening of women experts, the Democracy Solutions Summit, a three-day online conference that brings together hundreds of women experts, advocates and elected officials to share solutions to creating a stronger, more representative democracy.
“The Women Experts in Democracy Directory is a one-of-a-kind directory for finding qualified and knowledgeable women experts in the democracy reform space for various events, conferences and more,” said Victoria Pelletier, national partnerships director at RepresentWomen. “With the existence of so many manels [all-male panels], it’s an incredible resource to make sure women’s voices, experiences and expertise are part of all conversation.”
Read here the full article published by Ms. Magazine on 23 July 2024.
Image by Ms. Magazine
Transport Minister Barbara Creecy and Transnet CEO Michelle Phillips will be critical in changing the direction of South Africa’s economy.
Transnet’s inefficiencies have seriously inhibited growth in South Africa, with manufacturers, miners, and farmers struggling to move their goods.
In 2023, South Africa recorded historically low coal and iron-ore exports due to logistics troubles, specifically rail.
According to the consultancy research group Gain, the issues at Transnet’s Freight Rail (TFR) led to a projected loss of R353 billion in 2023, roughly 4.9% of GDP – in line with the National Logistics Crisis Committee’s estimates.
The picture is not much better when goods reach the coast.
The Cape Town port was also named the worst port in the world in the recent 2023 Container Port Performance Index (CPPI), coming 405 out of 405.
However, Ngqura (404), Durban (398), and Port Elizabeth (391) also ranked incredibly poorly.
Exporting is not the only issue, with importers struggling to access goods across the country.
For instance, Woolworths previously said that its Fashion, Beauty and Home business was impacted by poor availability, primarily caused by the late arrival of certain summer ranges arising from congestion at Transnet’s ports.
Amid these struggles, Creecy and Phillips will be heavily responsible for the performance of the economy.
Read here the full article published by Business Tech on 22 July 2024.
Image by Business Tech
After the double blocking of the unitary candidates in March—first of María Corina Machado and then professor Corina Yoris—the initially provisional candidacy of Edmundo González, who is currently leading the polls, was accepted by the National Electoral Council. Hours before, a meeting between Machado, Zulia governor Manuel Rosales and the parties of the Unitary Platform had concluded in the unanimous designation of González as the opposition ‘s candidate. But the meeting’s composition was an unprecedented milestone of Venezuelan politics: five of the ten member parties of the Platform –not counting Machado’s Vente– were being represented by women.
The scene seemed to go against the trend set in the 2021 regional elections, which registered a decline in the number of women candidates and elected officials and resulted in a gender gap exceeding 90% in governorships and 80% in mayoralties. And it’s not an isolated event, as women seem to be taking the reins of opposition politics in the race towards the July 28th presidential elections.
Read here the full article published by the Caracas Chronicles on 24 July 2024.
Image by Caracas Chronicles
NPR's Ari Shapiro talks to University of Houston's Mirya Holman about why women in political leadership tend to be referred to by their first names more often than their male counterparts.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: A moment from four years ago might feel familiar to any woman in a position of authority.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SUSAN PAGE: Kamala Harris - Senator Harris, I mean - I'm sorry.
KAMALA HARRIS: That's fine. I'm Kamala.
PAGE: No, no, no...
HARRIS: (Laughter).
PAGE: ...You're Senator Harris to me.
SHAPIRO: That was the vice presidential debate in 2020, where moderator Susan Page slipped and called Senator Harris by her first name. Research shows that this happens to women in positions of power all the time, whether they are authors, professors or even vice president of the United States. So if you've noticed people referring to Trump, Biden and Kamala, it's not your imagination.
Mirya Holman studies gender in American politics at the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston, and I asked her whether this first-name gender gap is simply evidence of a bias against women.
MIRYA HOLMAN: One of the pieces that I think is going on here is that women are not seen as the norm in politics. They're unusual. And so people think about who they are in a different way. I do actually think it is a sign of disrespect in an environment where you have multiple candidates, and you're referring to one by her first name and then all of the men by their last name. You are making her the exception and not giving her that very small piece of respect that we give people in positions of power.
Read here the full interview published by NPR on 24 July 2024.
Image by NPR
Political gender equality is a central pillar of democracy, as all people, independently of gender, should have an equal say in political representation and decision-making. In practice, democracies are generally better at guaranteeing gender equality than most non-democratic regimes. According to International IDEA’s Global State of Democracy Indices, 41 per cent of democracies have high levels of gender equality, while this is the case in only two of the world’s authoritarian regimes (Belarus and Cuba). The democracies with low levels of gender equality are also exceptional (only four, all weak democracies - Iraq, Lebanon, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea). Low levels of gender equality are much more common in non-democracies – more than one third of them fall into this category.
Despite more than half the countries in the world being democracies of some form, levels of political gender equality have not kept pace with democratic progress. In 2022, only 26 per cent of legislators in the world are women, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union. At the current rate, gender parity will not be achieved until 2062, according to International IDEA’s estimate. The proportion of women heads of state is even lower. In 2022, only 19 countries in the world have women in the highest office of executive power. Of these, all except four are democracies. Moreover, as global democratic progress is threatened by rising authoritarianism and democratic backsliding, fragile levels of gender equality, further weakened by the pandemic, are at risk of more setbacks, as gender is increasingly used as a weapon in such processes.
Click here to read the full article published by International IDEA on 7 March 2022.
The pantheon of autocratic leaders includes a great many sexists, from Napoléon Bonaparte, who decriminalized the murder of unfaithful wives, to Benito Mussolini, who claimed that women “never created anything.” And while the twentieth century saw improvements in women’s equality in most parts of the world, the twenty-first is demonstrating that misogyny and authoritarianism are not just common comorbidities but mutually reinforcing ills. Throughout the last century, women’s movements won the right to vote for women; expanded women’s access to reproductive health care, education, and economic opportunity; and began to enshrine gender equality in domestic and international law—victories that corresponded with unprecedented waves of democratization in the postwar period. Yet in recent years, authoritarian leaders have launched a simultaneous assault on women’s rights and democracy that threatens to roll back decades of progress on both fronts.
Click here to read the full article published by Foreign Affairs.
Fawcett's Sex and Power 2022 Index is a biennial report which charts the progress towards equal representation for women in top jobs across the UK. Yet again, the report reveals the pace of change is glacial in the majority of sectors and shows that women are outnumbered by men 2:1 in positions of power.
Women of colour are vastly under-represented at the highest levels of many sectors and alarmingly, they are missing altogether from senior roles such as Supreme Court Justices, Metro Mayors, Police and Crime Commissioners and FTSE 100 CEOs.
Click here to download the report.
Very little research has considered how media discrimination could impact men and women’s political ambition. Yet, media discrimination could impact both beliefs about gender roles and political competence, and beliefs about voter bias, both of which could decrease women’s political ambition and increase men’s. Alternatively, media discrimination could lead women to react against discrimination and be motivated politically. This study tests how political ambition of men and women is impacted by media discrimination in a campaign and election lab experiment. Media discrimination in this experiment under-reports on women and uses traditional, stereotypical depictions of men and women. The results suggest that in certain conditions, media discrimination in political news may lead to a reactance or positive challenge effect for women, increasing their political ambition. Men, instead, may feel an aversion to entering politics, lowering their political ambition.
Click here to read the full article published by Sage Journals on 22 October 2022.
Although a voluminous literature has studied the substantive representation of women, these studies have largely been confined to advanced democracies. Similarly, studies that focus on the relationship between Islam and women’s rights largely ignored the substantive representation of women in Muslim-majority countries. As one of the first studies of its kind, this article investigates the role of religion in the substantive representation of women by focusing on a Muslim-majority country: Turkey. Using a novel data set of 4,700 content coded private members’ bills (PMBs) drafted in the Turkish parliament between 2002 and 2015, this article synthesizes competing explanations of women’s representation in the Middle East and rigorously tests the implications of religion, ideology, critical mass, and labor force participation accounts. The results have significant implications for the study of gender and politics in Muslim-majority countries.
Click here to download the report.
In times of crisis, people are more likely to appoint women and people of colour to be leaders. But this puts crisis leaders in a very precarious position.
When Carol Bartz was appointed CEO at Yahoo in January 2009, the internet company was struggling. She was hired on a four-year contract and put forward a strategic plan to turn things around. But in September 2011 – in a phone call with Yahoo's chairman of the board – she was fired, just two years and eight months after she'd joined the company.
"They didn't even let [her plan] come to fruition," says Alison Cook, a professor of management at Utah State University in the US.
Bartz is one of countless female leaders given a precarious leadership position and left standing on the edge of a "glass cliff" with no support.
Research shows that women and people from ethnic minorities are more likely to be chosen to lead a company, sports team, or even country when it is in crisis mode. While those glass cliff positions can provide a way for some leaders to prove themselves, they come with significant downsides – including stress, burnout, and derailed careers.
Click here to read the full article published by BBC on 7 February 2022.
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