Local Government

Is this the year of the woman in Georgia politics?

Based on the results of the May 22 primary election, including the local races, it may be.

Politics has been a male-dominated industry in the state for centuries, with no female governors or even Georgia House or Senate majority leaders, but that could change this year.

Georgia Democrats selected the first black woman to be a major party nominee for governor in the United States on Tuesday, choosing Stacey Abrams, a liberal former State House leader, who will test just how much the state’s traditionally conservative politics are shifting.

Most African countries are signatories of numerous protocols that encourage gender equality in politics, yet analysts say more still needs to be done to implement these protocols and ensure women are not sidelined.

Women in the region and beyond are breaking the glass ceiling in politics as evidenced by the likes of former Malawian president Joyce Banda and other women who have managed to occupy important positions in national governments and multilateral organisations.

The City of Banjul made history by electing its first female mayor. Mayoress-elect Rohey Malick Lowe will be the first woman to steer the affairs of The Gambia’s capital; which houses the country’s Central Bank and is the country’s economic and administrative center.

Japan's parliament on Wednesday passed a law to encourage female candidates to stand for elections in a country where women are vastly underrepresented in politics.

Under the new law, political parties are urged to make the number of male and female candidates as equal as possible and are encouraged to set targets for gender parity.

But the law includes no penalties for parties that fail to do so, nor incentives to encourage them.

A state representative, an Air Force veteran and two high-powered lawyers — all women — won Democratic House primaries on Tuesday in Pennsylvania, where a record number of women ran for House seats in a year of intense political enthusiasm among female Democrats.

Five women are among the names floated to lead a transitional government in Italy in what some speculate could be President Sergio Mattarella’s attempt to break with tradition while the country’s politics are mired in stalemate.