Women's Leadership

Women’s full and equal participation in all decision-making processes is necessary to achieve gender equality and drive progress towards sustainable development. In 2017, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the International Gender Champions–Geneva published Shaping the international agenda: Raising women’s voices in intergovernmental forums to empower a wide range of gender champions and stakeholders in advancing gender equality and parity in intergovernmental processes.

This second edition updates the findings and recommendations based on survey responses received from members of the United Nations Governing Bodies Secretariat (UNGBS) in 2020. Il also concludes with recommendations to further enhance gender parity goals directed at three important groups of actors: the UNGBS; Member States of the United Nations; and ministers, ambassadors, heads of organizations and other senior officials. A knowledge product and an advocacy tool, this report is intended to raise awareness, share lessons and inspire others to commit to action that improves and strengthens women’s participation, which is critical to shaping an inclusive international agenda.

Click here to access the report.

Kamala Harris made history on January 20 when she became the United States' first female, Black, and Asian American vice president.

During the historic inauguration, she wore a bright purple dress and coat.

The color purple has several possible meanings, including symbolizing bipartisanship and paying homage to the suffragette movement, according to Insider's Amanda Krause.

Her outfit may also have been a nod to Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress and the first to run for president, CNN commentator Abby Phillip observed.

Chisholm famously wore purple during her presidential campaign, according to Newsweek.

Harris has been known to draw inspiration from Chisholm, such as using a color scheme similar to Chisholm for her presidential campaign logo.

On January 16, Harris officially acknowledged the influence Chisholm has had on her political career, tweeting "Shirley Chisholm created a path for me and for so many others."

Click here to read the full article published by Business Insider on 21 January 2021.

Harris, whose political career has included many barrier-breaking moments, was surrounded by firsts as she took the oath of office Wednesday.

Kamala Harris, the daughter of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father — both immigrants — broke a nearly two-century barrier in American politics long dominated by white men on Wednesday when she was inaugurated as the nation's first female vice president, as well as the first Black American and first person of South Asian descent.

Her swearing-in was laced with the historic nature of the day.

The oath of office was administered by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina member of the high court. Harris swore on two bibles, one belonging to Regina Shelton, a close family friend, and the other once owned by Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court justice. Harris often says that Marshall inspired her to become a lawyer.

Click here to read the full article published by NBC News on 20 January 2021.

By Hibbaq Osman, Founder of Karama, a network of women's rights organisations

Soon it will be a decade since the smoke from fire raging in Tunisia reached Cairo, the city I call home. 

In December 2010, a trickle of protest in a small city in Tunis quickly became a flood, engulfing North Africa and the Middle East almost entirely, becoming known as the Arab Spring.

As a Somalian activist committed to securing greater rights and freedoms for women and girls, the energy and determination of the young people leading it reminded me of Somalia’s revolt against our own dictator nearly 20 years earlier. 

The ongoing impact of the 2007-8 global financial crisis had hit hard, and many protestors had grown up in countries led by the same regime, and often the same man for decades – dictators and authoritarians who had never faced a fair election.

The young people of the Arab region felt they had no future, so they took the streets to protest.  The story we must remember from that time, however – one it has been convenient for many to forget – is that from Tunisia to Egypt to Yemen, it was often women who were leading the protests and were the most powerful and persuasive voices.

Women like Amal Basha from Yemen, a prominent advocate for human rights, who opened the eyes of the world to violations carried out during the Yemeni revolution, she reported on them from the streets.

Like Mouna Ghanem, who co-founded a movement – the Syrian Women’s Forum for Peace (SWFP) – and became a powerful voice for peace and women’s participation.

And Zahra’ Langhi, a peace advocate who formed one of the first campaigning groups for Libyan women, the Libyan Women’s Platform for Peace (LWPP).

Of course it was women who were front and centre – so many had nothing to lose. 

Click here to read the full article published by Metro on 18 December 2020.

Politics & Gender is an agenda-setting journal that publishes quality scholarship on gender and politics and on women and politics. It aims to represent the full range of questions, issues, and approaches on gender and women across the major subfields of political science, including comparative politics, international relations, political theory, and U.S. politics.

Politics & Gender short paper series on Gender, Politics, and the Global Pandemic

The Gender, Politics, and the Global Pandemic series features 24 articles. The topics fall into three broad categories: Gender, leadership, and policymaking on Covid-19; gender, health, and public opinion during the Covid-19 pandemic; and Covid-19, caring, and inequality. The papers address such questions as: Were women leaders more successful in managing Covid-19 response? Why are men less likely to report wearing face coverings? How did the pandemic impact elections?

Click here to learn more and access the articles.

Femme First Foundation – a non-partisan, non-profit organisation committed to amplifying women’s leadership in Indian politics – has opened applications for the She Runs Government Fellowship, India's first fellowship for women in politics. The Fellowship is a six-month program that is focused on capacity-building, training, and mentorship of women in politics. It seeks to enhance and improve the quality of political participation of women. The fellows will undergo residential in-person workshops, intensive virtual learning sessions, and hands-on mentorship by seasoned women politicians.

The objectives of the programme are:

• To equip with skills and strategic knowledge to effectively run for office, legislate, and govern
• To develop a deeper understanding of the nuances and challenges of the Indian democratic system and various political theories, and to gain exposure to policy-framing under renowned practitioners and domain-experts
• To provide mentorship to navigate the labyrinth of the political world directly from seasoned women politicians
• To build a network of women leaders, policy experts, and campaign professionals to form partnerships and draw upon shared knowledge and exchange best practices

The deadline to apply is 28 February 2021.

Click here to learn more and apply.