Political Parties

Alexa McDonough, whose leadership of the Nova Scotia NDP in 1980 made her the first woman to lead a major political party in Canada, has died at the age of 77.

McDonough, who also became the leader of the federal New Democratic Party in 1995, died at a care home in Halifax on Saturday after a lengthy struggle with Alzheimer's disease, her family said.

In many parts of Papua New Guinea, fear of violence and harassment has caused a set back to the lives and small businesses of many women, but new candidates who now intend to enter politics aim to change this for the better.

“People within the community have approached me to stand for election - to revive the work and services my father had supported,” explains a local female candidate intending to enter politics.

An actress jailed for protesting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s controversial citizenship law, the mother of a rape survivor, and a beauty pageant winner. These are the women leading India’s once-dominant Congress party as it seeks to reinvent itself in a hotly contested state election.

In line with the inclusive principles enshrined in the Constitution of Nepal 2015, the three major political parties—in their recently held general conventions—included cluster-wise inclusion in their central committees (CCs). Yet while the inclusive principles were applied in selection of lower-level leaders, top positions continued to be in the hands of the traditional elite groups.

South Asia Partnership (SAP) Pakistan and Aurat Foundation held a convention on women’s political participation in Pakistan on Saturday. The focus was on women in local government.

Centre-right Maltese lawmaker Roberta Metsola, chosen Tuesday as only the third woman to head the European Parliament, is viewed as a political moderate despite controversy over her anti-abortion stance.

Elected on the day she turns 43, the politician from the European Union's smallest nation becomes the youngest president ever to run the chamber. She takes over at a time of mourning for the legislature as it marks the sudden death last week of its speaker David Sassoli.

France's former justice minister Christiane Taubira on Saturday launched her bid to unify the floundering French left and challenge President Emmanuel Macron in April presidential elections, but she faces a slew of competing candidates reluctant to cede the limelight.

"I'm committing myself here before you because I share your aspiration for another kind of government," Taubira told supporters in Lyon at the official launch of her campaign.

Cheri Beasley is well aware of the challenges facing Black women who run for statewide office. “I know what it's like to hear the doubters and those who are skeptical that people of color can't win, because it's not what we're used to or who we envision in positions of power,” she said in an interview with NBC News.

The former judge has made two successful runs for statewide judicial positions, and this year she is running for North Carolina’s open Senate seat, joining a cohort of Black women looking to make history.