Parliaments & Representatives

The United Nations has rallied the nation to stamp out widespread violence against women in politics (VAWP) across the country’s political divide during election period.

Violence against women in politics occurs within the political domain targeting women creating a barrier to women’s political participation.

The British High Commission, in partnership with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), UN Women and the Uganda Women Parliamentary Association (UWOPA) on December 07 launched the second cohort of their mentorship programme for women parliamentarians in Uganda.

Women in Congress feel besieged and singled-out amid surging threats against lawmakers at all levels, with some frustrated more hasn't been done to halt the trend.

Why it matters: As record numbers of American women are being elected to public office, their growing political power is being met with death and rape threats, sexist and racist abuse and online disinformation. Collectively, it's discouraged women from running for office.

The threats arrive by mail, email, voicemail and social media. Hateful comments are shouted out of a car window or in line at the grocery store. More than ever before, the threats come home, in the form of protests or strangers circling the block.

Contrary to popular belief, the performance of Women legislators in both Houses remained remarkable and in Parliament’s history they presented a significant number of 133 bills for legislative business in just four years (2018 to 2021).

As women's influence in politics grows, so have the threats and coercion they have faced, according to a Rutgers scholar's grim analysis. For her work exploring the nature of violence against women in politics and suggesting ways to prevent it, Rutgers University scholar Mona Lena Krook has won the 2022 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order.

Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, has signed into law a bill that makes it mandatory to have at least 35  per cent women appointees in the State Executive Council and other classes of political appointments. The law is cited as Kwara State Political Offices (Gender Composition) Bill 2021.

Justifying the law, the state governor on Tuesday said it was only fair that women be given a fair space in the decision-making process. He spoke in Ilorin, the state capital, during a conference tagged ‘Cracking the glass ceiling: The story of Kwara women.’