Women's Leadership
Gertraud Salzmann is a Member of Parliament from Austria.
This interview was conducted in March 2019 in the margins of the sixty-third session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW63) in New York.
In this election, women made up an important voting bloc and the door is slowly opening as more women run for office. To talk about the influence of women in politics, KUNR’s Natalie Van Hoozer spoke to Dr. Christina Ladam, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. They also discussed how the current pandemic may or may not have affected women voters in this election.
Natalie Van Hoozer: Generally speaking, in terms of U.S. elections, how has the role or importance of the female voter evolved in recent years?
Dr. Christina Ladam: Where we're at right now, women vote at higher rates than men. Even though they've only been really involved in the voting and political process for a hundred years, much less than men, they're pretty influential in the political process now. We've seen that over the past five years or so, increasing numbers of women... the Women's March, and issues that women care about coming to the forefront.
Van Hoozer: Are you able to contextualize women's role in politics and as voters in Nevada with Nevada's political history?
Click here to read the full interview.
A report from the Center for American Women and Politics states that, in 2020, 18 Native American women—nine Democrats and nine Republicans—will have run as congressional candidates. This is the largest number of Native American women who have run—overall and in both parties—in a single election cycle. Some of these candidates were defeated in the primaries, but even so it’s still been a trailblazing year for Indigenous representation in a space that pays too little attention to issues impacting Indigenous communities, especially during COVID-19.
This is particularly noteworthy considering that there were no Indigenous women in Congress before 2018. The two Indigenous women who made history when they were elected to Congress two years ago, New Mexico’s Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) and Kansas’s Sharice Davids (Ho-Chunk), are both running for a second term this year. In addition to these two incumbents, a handful of additional Indigenous women are running for national office. Even on the state level, there has been a notable presence of Indigenous women. Stephanie Byers, who is Chickasaw, is a Democrat running for election to the Kansas House of Representatives to represent District 86; should she be elected, Byers would be the first openly transgender woman in the state’s legislature. Christina Haswood, who is Diné, is also running for election to the Kansas House of Representatives, to represent District 10; at 26, she would be the state’s youngest sitting legislator.
To recognize and celebrate the diversity of Indigenous voices running in this election, Vogueasked now veteran Haaland to converse with newcomer Tricia Zunker in an exclusive new conversation. Zunker is a first-time candidate for the U.S. House in a critical state: She is hoping to represent Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District. (She’s also a member of the state’s Wausau School District school board.) She hopes to bring Indigenous representation to Wisconsin, which has historically been a swing state but leaned Republican and elected Trump in 2016. “There are 11 federally recognized tribes here in Wisconsin, and the majority of them are in this large congressional district,” Zunker tells Vogue.“Representation matters.”
Click here to read the full interview by Vogue on 24 October 2020.
Watch the fourth in a series of short videos on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This video shares some shocking facts about violence against women and outlines steps that parliaments can take against this scourge.
This is a partnership video project between the IPU, Arizona State University, Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians, the Council of Women World Leaders, Equality Now, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS), Represent Women, United Nations, UN Women, Women Political Leaders, and the World Bank. The videos are designed for people working in and for parliaments, and for societal champions advocating for change.
Michela Montevecchi is a Secretary of the Senate Presidency of Italy.
This interview was conducted in March 2019 in the margins of the sixty-third session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW63) in New York.
While women have made significant inroads into politics in recent years, their involvement has spurred attacks, intimidation and harassment in many parts of the world, says Mona Lena Krook, a professor of political science at Rutgers University-New Brunswick and author of the new book Violence against Women in Politics.
Krook discusses this global phenomenon, its role in American politics – where the issue has gained growing attention in recent months – and abroad and provides solutions on how this problem can be addressed.
What is violence against women in politics?
It refers to tactics used to silence women’s voices in politics as women. Traditional definitions of political violence focus on the use of force and intimidation against political opponents. Violence against women in politics is distinct – and also troubling – because it aims to exclude and empower women as political actors.
The problem has remained hidden until now, largely because many women normalize violence as part of the political game. Others make a strategic decision to remain quiet about gender-based attacks, fearing that speaking out may harm their political careers or affect their parties' electoral fortunes. They may also believe they will be scorned or blamed for allegedly bringing the abuse upon themselves. Despite these barriers, political women around the world have increasingly mobilized to name the problem of violence against women in politics – and, in turn, to take steps to address it.
Click here to read the full interview by Newswise on 6 October 2020.
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.
Upcoming Event:
National Intergenerational Dialogue on Advancing Youth Participation and Representation in Leadership and Decision-Making
The main purpose of the National Intergenerational Dialogue is to promote intergenerational interactions/exchanges to bridge generational divides and to address the causes of…
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