Women's Leadership
“Increasing the proportion of women in public institutions makes them more representative, increases innovation, improves decision-making and benefits whole societies” - António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, Message on International Women’s Day 2017
Background
In 2015, governments unanimously endorsed the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and, through its Goal 16 on “promoting just, peaceful and inclusive societies” and Goal 5 on “ensuring gender equality and women’s empowerment,” recognized the role of gender equality and inclusive public administration and institutions in achieving more peaceful, prosperous, equal and sustainable societies.
Public administration refers to the aggregate state-funded machinery, including agencies, policies and services, in charge of the management and implementation of laws, regulations and decisions of the government. It enables countries to implement national policies and programmes and is essential in driving sustainable development[1].
In many countries, public institutions continue to be male-dominated and patriarchal, perpetuating harmful, and sometimes violent, attitudes and practices. Although there is no global baseline on women’s participation in public administration, existing research from UNDP shows that women are under-represented, especially in leadership and decision-making roles. The available data suggests that women make up on average 45% of public administration, yet there is high variation of women’s participation across countries, ranging from 3% to 77%. The overall share of women in public administration is highest, on average, in OECD countries (55.1%), and lowest in the Arab States (35.9%). However, when looking at the share of women in decision-making positions in public administration, the highest average share is found in Latin America and the Caribbean (43.4%) and the lowest in Africa (25.1%). Moreover, just 20% of countries have reached parity (50%) in the share of women in decision-making positions of public administration[2].
Diversity, including equal access of women to leadership roles, is not only the right thing to do but also the most productive. A recent UNDP and McKinsey study found that female participation in public administration and in decision-making roles is positively correlated with economic development as well as gender equality in society. It also suggests that women’s equal participation and leadership creates conducive environment for a better and more effective government. These findings are reinforced by another recent report by the Wilson Center that concludes: “where there are more women in power, there is better governance, and where there is good governance, there are more women in power.”
Objective
This e-Discussion is a forum to promote a dialogue on the role of women in public administration and decision-making and exchange knowledge and good practices on ways to increase and strengthen women’s participation in public administration and decision-making and ensure public institutions are safe and free of sexual harassment and gender-based violence. Please join the e-Discussion from 28 March to 19 April 2019. Women and men in politics and in public administration, national and local government representatives, civil society activists, experts, practitioners, and academia are invited to contribute with their experiences by answering to one or more of the below questions. The submissions will contribute to the elaboration of a Consolidated Reply that will augment the knowledge base available on the topic.
Questions
- Data is essential in identifying trends and shape targeted and effective policy responses. What is the level of women’s participation in public administration in your country? What about women in senior management positions in public institutions?
- There are many barriers to women’s full and equal participation in public administration and leadership. For example, women in public administration often face sexual harassment and gender-based violence[3]. Do women in public administration in your country face sexual harassment and/or gender-based violence? What are other barriers hindering women’s equal participation in leadership and decision-making roles in your country?
- What can be done to increase the equal and full participation of women, including young women, in public administration at all levels? What can be done to ensure public administration is free from sexual harassment and gender-based violence? Please share examples of good practices.
- Have women in public administration in your country used their position to advance sustainable development and peace? Please share examples.
To contribute
- Use the below comment section below.
- Send your contribution to connect@iknowpolitics.org so that we can post it on your behalf.
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[1] Public Administration Reform: Practice Note. UNDP, 2004.
[2] GEPA Initiative Database. UNDP and University of Pittsburgh, 2019.
[3] A recent report by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe revealed an alarming amount of sexual and psychological harassment/bullying targeting female staff of parliaments in Europe. 40.5% of those interviewed said that they had suffered acts of sexual harassment in their work and 50% had received comments of a sexual nature.
Over the last decade, iKNOW Politics has spoken with many women leaders around the world about the challenges they face in political life. Women interviewed often speak openly about the difficulties of combining a political career with family responsibilities, and in particular, the frequent travel required to meet with constituents or attend parliamentary sessions and committee meetings, usually held away from the family home, in the capital. This travel necessarily involves leaving family members – young or old – in the care of others, such as partners, parents and professional carers (e.g. nannies, child care workers, nurses, respite careers).
Some women politicians also expressed concern for their family members who become endangered when as MPs they are seen to be “too outspoken” on sensitive issues.
In this discussion, we want to hear about good practices in improving work/life balance for women and men MPs, and parliamentary staff who can also work the same long hours as MPs and who frequently travel with MPs in support of committee meetings.
Measures to encourage work/life balance
• What measures have MPs personally put in place to balance work and family responsibilities?
• What measures have been put in place by the political workplace (be it the parliament, the local council, the government department/ministry) to ensure work/life balance?
Transforming social norms and gender stereotypes
• What attitudinal barriers do women face in trying to balance work and family?
• Do men face the same attitudinal barriers?
• What good practices are evident in transforming social norms and gender stereotypes about women’s role in public life?
The impact of work/life balance on the political career
• What are the research findings on the impact of work/life balance on political careers of women?
• Is work/life balance a consideration for both men and women when deciding to embark on a political career? Why or why not?
Welcome to the circle on Young Women and Political Leadership. In this circle, iKNOW Politics members are invited to share their ideas and experiences about the participation of young women in politics and public life. It would be interesting to hear what iKNOW Politics members think are are the main obstacles for young women to participate in politics? Are there any effective measures to overcome such barriers and to engage more young women in politics?
Colorado has consistently ranked highly for the number of women holding elected office for the last few decades. Colorado currently ranks second in the nation for the number of women elected to the state legislature. But this number only tells a fraction of the story.
Despite this ranking, political experts and female lawmakers around the state say there is still a lot of work left to be done to level the playing-field for women at the State Capitol.
According to the director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics, Kelly Dittmar, despite the robust recruitment of women for public office in Colorado, what Colorado’s national ranking doesn’t indicate is who these women are and the political power they hold.
“When we're thinking about women's political power and influence, it's important to look across different levels and types of office because we make assumptions that a state that's doing well at one level is doing well at all levels, and often that's not the case,” said Dittmar.
And this rings true for Colorado. Despite having a high number of women represented in the state legislature, Colorado has never had a female U.S. Senator, a female governor, or even a female mayor of Denver — the most powerful leadership positions in the state.
On top of that, women of color — particularly Latina, Asian, and Indigenous women — are significantly underrepresented in the Colorado state legislature.
According to Dittmar, lack of access to resources, gatekeeping, toxicity, and institutional racism and sexism are among the “unique dynamics” in Colorado that explain why women are either dissuaded from running for office or are unable to win elected offices.
Read here the full article published by Colorado Public Radio on 26 April 2024.
Image by Colorado Public Radio
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This podcast series tells the stories of women as civil society actors, activists, authors, leaders, health and humanitarian workers, youth representatives, traders and entrepreneurs in the Sahel and West Africa. We gather first-hand examples of their outstanding work within local communities as well as their important contributions to advancing gender equality and positive change. These conversations also aim to better connect the Sahel and West Africa Club’s evidence-based analysis with civil society advocacy and action through dialogue and knowledge exchange.
Edith Efua Chidi is co-convener for the CSOs Cluster on Decentralisation and Participation. She is also the advocacy manager for SOS Children’s Village in Ghana.
Our host for this podcast episode is Dr Olajumoke (Jumo) Ayandele. She is a postdoctoral Research Fellow at New York University Centre for the study of Africa and the African Diaspora.
Click here to listen the podcast published by the OECD on 30 June 2023.
Image source: OECD/SWAC - Sahel and West Africa Club
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Belfast, Northern Ireland – Northern Irish academic and activist Monica McWilliams says it has taken 25 years for women to be recognised for their roles in bringing peace.
A co-founder of the Women’s Coalition political party and delegate at the multiparty talks that drove forward Northern Ireland’s peace process in the 1990s, she was also elected to the first regional power-sharing assemblies that were established by the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
Al Jazeera interviewed McWilliams at the recent One Young World 2023 summit in Belfast, on the key role women played in the peace process and unfinished work of the Agreement.
Click here to read the full article published by Al Jazeera English on 1 December 2023.
Image by AI Jazeera English
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Hon Isata Bussoh Kabia is a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in Sierra Leone. She served as a Member of Parliament representing All People’s Congress (the ruling party at the time) for the Port Loko District where she won 89.54% of the votes during the 2012 Parliamentary elections. Hon. Isata B Kabia was elected as Rapporteur at the Pan African Parliament in May 2015. In December 2015, Honorable Isata Kabia tabled the controversial Safe Abortion Bill 2015 as private member’s bill.
Kelly Dittmar, Director of Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, discusses her views on women's position and role in politics, following an abrupt resignation from now former New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern. She speaks with Kathleen Hays and Haidi Stroud-Watts on 'Daybreak Asia'.
Source: Bloomberg
A stronger representation of women in India’s power structure will greatly boost India’s economic growth, opined Augusto Lopez-Claros, chair of the Global Governance Forum. In a conversation with Times Network CEO and MD MK Anand at the Times Now Summit 2022, Lopez-Claros called for a quota for women in the Parliament which would ensure greater participation of women in the workforce in reverse.
The pivotal role of women in uplifting the economic and social well-being of a country is unmistakable. Taking the theme of ‘India: A Vibrant Democracy. Global Bright Spot’ at the Times Now Summit 2022 further, MK Anand, MD & CEO, Times Network, engaged with economist Augusto Lopez-Claros, Executive Director of the Global Governance Forum where the two discussed at length the tapping of ‘Women Power’ to unleash the true potential of the country.
Anand highlighted, what in his view, was a troubling reality – low participation by women in the workforce. In comparison to the world average, participation of women in sheer quantity and in the number of years is much lesser in India. "How is that it will play out?" he asked.
Click here to read the full article published by Times Now on 29 November 2022.
VVEngage is a Vital Voices signature fellowship supporting outstanding women political leaders making and influencing policy across the globe. Through this fully-funded fellowship, we aim to increase the capacity, decision-making power and effectiveness of women leaders in politics and government, shifting culture around women’s public leadership and moving towards equality in public representation globally. We also aim to work towards a more inclusive and equitable world by advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through policy.
Through this fellowship, Vital Voices advances women’s political leadership and the SDGs by conducting online and in-person* trainings with experts such as women leaders from the Vital Voices Global Network and professors from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. The fellowship also connects participants to a global network of peers and mentors, such as current and former female heads of state with the Council of Women World Leaders, with whom they can brainstorm and share challenges and best practices.
Click here to learn more and to access application details.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has developed a 10-Point Action Agenda for Advancing Gender Equality in Crisis Settings (10PAA), a roadmap to guide its development programming towards results that will help transform and advance gender equality in crisis contexts and achieve the Women, Peace and Security agenda. The 10PAA is central to UNDP’s new Crisis Offer, as well as its new Gender Equality Strategy 2022-2025. It represents a strong corporate commitment to addressing the most stubborn roots of gender inequalities.
The 10PAA is the result of a broad consultation process that aimed at finding entry points to strengthen gender-transformational results and women’s leadership and participation in crisis contexts. It is grounded in the understanding that deep-rooted, intersectional discrimination sits at the heart of the multiple challenges humanity faces and reinforces models of dominance that exclude and leave women behind, especially in crisis settings.
Click here to access the publication.
Online violence against women in politics (OVAW-P) poses a deepening challenge to democracy, serving as a key tool of illiberalism and democratic backsliding across the globe. OVAW-P encompasses all forms of aggression, coercion, and intimidation seeking to exclude women from politics simply because they are women. This online behavior seeks to achieve political outcomes: targeting individual women to harm them or drive them out of public life, while also sending a message that women in general should not be involved in politics. This online violence has a chilling effect on the political ambitions and engagement of women and girls, decreasing their presence and agency in politics and public life. Stopping gender-based attacks online is a solvable problem, and it is the fastest and clearest investment toward building an internet that enables everyone to be politically engaged.
This report includes a list of interventions that technology platforms, governments, civil society organizations, and the media can take to make meaningful progress towards ending online violence against women in politics.
Click here to access the report.
The Women in Government 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 in-person workshops, intensive virtual learning sessions, and hands-on mentorship by seasoned women politicians. This three-pronged approach will provide an academic grounding of democratic frameworks and policy-making, up-skill them with practical know-hows of electioneering, build the fellows' personal brands through personalised Public Narrative trainings by coaches from Harvard Kennedy School, and learn the ropes of politicking directly from a mentor who is undergoing the realities and tackling the challenges of being a woman in public office.
Application deadline: 30th November 2022
Shortlisted applicants' interviews: 5-15th December 2022
Selected Fellows list: 21st December 2022
Click here to learn more.
A compendium of ideas to reach gender parity in municipal politics
How can we begin to overcome the countless obstacles that are preventing women from fully participating in municipal politics?
The suggestions in this Inventory were compiled following consultations we carried out across Canada, as part of FCM’s Toward Parity Project.
These actions are not official FCM recommendations. They are potential strategies that need to be assessed to determine whether they can be adapted to fit local realities and opportunities.
Click here to access the guide.
To inform our own programming on advancing gender-balanced appointments and to establish a scalable, replicable, transformative model for advancing gender-balanced appointments, RepresentWomen gathered learnings from five similar initiatives around the country.
The following summary reviews these conversations:
- Key ingredients for success
- Stumbling blocks
- What they wish they knew
- Common tactics
Click here to access the guide.
For its inaugural Solutions Summit, RepresentWomen gathered experts in election administration, voting rights, and democracy reform to discuss the viable, scalable, and transformative initiatives that will strengthen our democracy. Over the course of three days, they held sessions on fair elections, fair access, and fair representation, ending each day with ways we could take actions to advance the solutions discussed that day.
They compiled all of those ideas, resources, and guides into one place to create this 2022 Solutions Summit Resource Guide, which provides a plethora of take-action options so you can be a part of the solution.
Click here to download the guide.
The internet is a tool that can simplify and encourage democratic engagement, but the rise of online disinformation challenges even the world’s most robust democracies. While the most recognizable disinformation campaigns are related to national politics, disinformers frequently employ narratives targeting women’s gender and sexuality in order to disrupt democracy. This is often then amplified by media agents and the general population, who may not have the intent to drive disinformation nor the capacity to discern it. NDI’s robust research in this field concludes that gendered disinformation is the use of false information to confuse or mislead by manipulating gender as a social cleavage to attack women and/or to sway political outcomes. It has three primary goals: to keep women out of politics; to change the views of women and men about women’s political participation; and specifically to change party policies or political outcomes. In short, it aims to undermine women’s free and equal participation in politics to the detriment of inclusive, resilient democracy.
Based on research conclusions, this paper outlines recommendations for NDI, its partners and those working globally to mitigate the democratic harms of disinformation, to ensure women’s safe participation and leadership in politics, and to monitor the social media and information environment in elections.
Click here to access the guide.
This guide is designed to increase the understanding of the legal obligations of countries in the West and Central Africa (WCA) region to achieve gender equality in decision-making. It focuses on strengthening efforts to improve the legal framework in the region to ensure that laws are clearly drafted, implementable and effective. Special focus is devoted to the processes by which laws supporting political participation of women are developed, negotiated, drafted, passed and implemented. It aims to strengthen law-making processes that build and secure the legal rights of women who want to run for elections and who are ready to take over leadership positions in their parliaments and governments. Legal instruments are presented that can be used to advance the political participation of women.
The comparative experiences presented in this guide address both examples of good practices and laws that have failed because their regulations are imprecise, unclear and/or lack effective sanctions. The guide presents also various provisions of laws resulting from different constitutional requirements or electoral systems, assessing their advantages and disadvantages.
Click here to download the guide published by UN Women in 2021.
This Handbook has been developed as publication by register of Political Parties with support from the Papua New Guinea Election Commission and the United Nations Development Programme in Papua New Guinea. This is part of UN Women Make the Change programme funded by the Australian Government’s Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development Programme.
Click here to download the report.