Campaigns

As countries across West Africa transition to democracy following years of autocratic rulers, civil unrest, and sometimes civil war, women are frequently left out of the process. Though they make up more than half of the population, women are often excluded from politics by rigid social norms, opaque party structures and other societal hurdles.

Yet democracies with more women in power have been shown to yield more equitable societies, have less corruption, and make more advancements in education, infrastructure and health standards.

If Park Geun-Hye is elected South Korea's first-ever woman president on Wednesday, she will lead a country that is ranked below the likes of Suriname and the United Arab Emirates in gender equality.

South Korea's journey from war-torn poverty to Asia's fourth-largest economy has done little to break the male stranglehold on political and commercial power in what in many ways remains a very conservative nation.

It is 8.30 a.m. on Saturday in the middle class area of Chandra Nagar. Jagruti Pandya, widow of former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya, who was murdered in 2003, is doing a walkabout. She is the Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) candidate from the posh Ellisbridge constituency, which her late husband represented, and her decision to use this election to focus on the fact that all those charged with her husband’s brutal killing were let off last year, has created a ripple of interest.

Dr Michael Abu Sakara Foster, Presidential Candidate of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) on Wednesday said when elected his government would champion the cause of women in nation building.

He said "politicians must practice what they preach, and walk the talk..., as the CPP has demonstrated with its commitment to gender mainstreaming by electing a woman as the Chairperson of the party.

Kim Sung Joo, who refused an arranged marriage to pursue her fortune selling luxury goods, said electing Park Geun Hye next month as South Korea’s first female president would help destroy its entrenched gender gap.

“If she becomes the top leader in Korea, we’ll break through everything -- glass, concrete,” Kim, 55, a co- chairwoman of Park’s election campaign committee, said in an interview on Nov. 15. “That will equalize men and women in Korean society.”

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi took to the campaign trail in Himachal Pradesh by exhorting the youth to be more participative in politics.

The young leader also talked about the merits of women in politics, saying states with politicians from the fairer sex were more developed than others.