Women's Leadership

Hundreds of women peacefully marched through the main streets of the Central African Republic’s capital Bangui today to demand for inclusive, violence-free elections.

“All we want is peace,” sang the participants who donned white t-shirts, a symbol of their message for peace. They called for election security and respect for women’s rights; they denounced election-related gender-based violence and urged unity among Central Africans.

Organized by women’s civil society organizations in the Central African Republic (CAR) in partnership with MINUSCA and UN Women on the occasion of Human Rights Day celebrated on 10 December, the “March for Peace” coincided with the closing of this year’s “16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence” campaign.

“Our voices are louder than your weapons,” chanted the crowd while calling for Central African women and girls to make their voices heard in demanding for peaceful elections. The march sough to highlight the need to protect women from violence – to which they are too often subjected during the electoral period – and raise awareness on the need for women’s meaningful participation in the various stages of the election.

Click here to read the full article published by United Nations on 20 December 2020. 

The good experiences and practices in women’s political participation in Finland, which is known for gender equality, are followed with an interest in Demo Finland’s programme countries. Demo Finland supports the political participation of women particularly at the local level in Zambia and Sri Lanka. In Zambia, the proportion of women in municipal councils is currently 9 percent, in Sri Lanka their share is almost a quarter after a law adopted in 2017 guaranteed a 25 percent quota for women. The current, predominantly female, Finnish government and the Prime Minister Sanna Marin, who has been prominently featured in the international media, have received amaze and admiration in many countries where the role of women in decision-making is still marginal.  

The increase in women’s political influence in Finnish municipal politics has been a slow process. Women in Finland have had equal suffrage and eligibility in municipal elections since 1917 – more than 100 years. Yet, the proportion of women in municipal councils has never been above 40 percent. Currently, 39 percent of councilmembers are women. The share rose in the 2017 elections almost 3 percentage points from the 2012 elections, where the share of women had slightly declined. At the moment, 39 percent of municipal council chairs and 31 percent of municipal board chairs are women. The proportion of women elected to municipal councils varies from one municipality to another. Municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants have the lowest share, while in large municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants the share is almost half.   

Click here to read the full article published by DemoFinland on 6 November 2020. 

A councilwoman who was ousted from the town assembly in a famous Japanese hot springs resort after accusing the mayor of sexual assault said Friday her case highlights the problems of male-dominated small town politics in which women are often silenced.

Shoko Arai, the only woman in the 12-member assembly in the town of Kusatsu, northwest of Tokyo, was voted out of office in a Dec. 6 referendum initiated by the mayor and his supporters.

Arai accused Mayor Nobutada Kuroiwa in an online book in November 2019 of forcing her to have sex in his office in 2015. In December 2019, the town assembly voted to expel Arai, but the decision was overturned by the Gunma prefectural government.

Click here to read the full interviews published by Star Tribune on 18 December 2020.

The city of Paris has been fined 90,000 euros for an unusual infraction: It appointed too many positions in the government.

In 2018, 11 women and five men became senior officials. That meant 69% of the appointments were women — in violation of a rule that dictated at least 40% of government positions should go to people of each gender.

In remarks on Tuesday to the capital's governing body, Mayor Anne Hidalgo said she would deliver the check to the Ministry of Public Service herself — along with the women in her government.

"So there will be many of us," she said.

Since 2019, French law provides a waiver to the 40% rule if the new hires do not lead to an overall gender imbalance, Le Monde explains. That's the case for the city of Paris, according to the newspaper: Women still make up just 47% of senior executives on its government. And female city officials are paid 6% less than their male counterparts.

Click here to read the full interviews published by NPR on 15 December 2020.

International delegates lauded Vietnam’s contributions to affirming women’s roles in building and sustaining peace while attending the International Conference on Women, Peace and Security held by the Foreign Ministry in partnership with the United Nations on December 7-9.

United Nations (UN) Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlombo-Ngcuka spoke highly of Vietnam’s contributions to promoting the adoption of UN Security Council’s Resolution 1889 on women’s role in post conflicts when the country played the role of a non-permanent member of the UNSC during 2008-2009. 

Meanwhile, UN Resident Coordinator for Vietnam Kamal Malhotra said that the conference is a wonderful opportunity for countries to enhance their commitments to improve the roles of women.

Click here to read the full interviews published by Vietnam Plus on 10 December 2020.

Although none of the 29 female candidates won a seat in Kuwait's elections they are far from stopping their efforts. But analysts fear calls for quotas and women's political leadership are falling on deaf ears.

Less than a week after Kuwait's 4.8 million people (including 3.4 million foreign workers without voting rights) elected new members for the next four-year term of their national assembly, the shock that none of the female candidates made it, is setting in. In total, 326 candidates were vying for the 50-member legislature, 29 were women.

"We need fundamental changes," says Alanoud Al Sharekh, Director at Ibtkar Strategic Consultancy and co-founder of "Mudhawi's List," the country's first and only online platform for female candidates.

It's been 15 years since the oil-rich country, a major US-ally, introduced the right to vote and to run for office for women. However, many tribes and Islamists are openly advocating against women in politics.

"In Kuwait, people don't yet believe in women's political leadership," Alanoud Al Sharekh says. She wishes there was a quota in Kuwait. "I’ve been fighting for this for many years and will continue."

Click here to read the full interviews published by Deutsche Welle on 10 December 2020.