Local Government

This past spring, as Armenia erupted in protests that would eventually oust the country’s longtime leader, women took to the streets in droves. Within days, their ranks swelled to numbers unheard of in the small, and still largely patriarchal, Caucasus nation.

Men in positions of power are dropping the ball, according to former president Barack Obama, who thinks perhaps a way to fix that is to get more women at the table.

Democrats, in particular, have high hopes for the impact women could make in the fall's midterm elections. But the former president spoke about the importance of having more women in leadership positions globally, particularly in Africa.

After years of being told to put on a suit and recite their résumé, women running for office are now revealing themselves in more complex ways.

The guys at the union hall have just swapped out the first keg when Abby Finkenauer, Democratic candidate for Congress, arrives and immediately reveals the kind of vulnerability that campaign consultants have long told women to avoid.

Record numbers of women are standing for election in countries around the world - changing the global face of politics and bringing gender equality in national legislatures a step closer.

Mexico has just elected an equal number of men and women MPs across both houses of the country's parliament in what is being celebrated as a "major milestone".

The resignation of Robert Mugabe in November last year has brought a glimmer of hope for credible elections in Zimbabwe on July 30 after the many miscarriages of justice in the past three elections.

But, despite a great deal of advocacy and a much-publicised meeting by women from all walks of life with President Emmerson Mnangagwa in May, women’s representation in Parliament and local government will at best remain the same and, at worst, decline.

‘Step it up for gender equality’ was one among the many commitments renewed at the third South Asian Speakers Summit on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) implementation, convened by the International Parliamentary Union and Sri Lanka’s Parliament in Colombo, July 11-12, 2018.  

UN Women Malawi has engaged community radios in the country in a campaign to promote female aspirants through radio messages and radio talk shows.

Is the Westminster harassment and bullying scandal nearing its endpoint? Is there a plan out there that will bring Parliament out of the stone age as a workplace? A working group is about to report on the proposed new scheme that will govern what happens when staff make HR complaints. Having reviewed their proposals, the answer would be: no.