Partner News

The status of women’s political participation in Nigeria is low, with less than 5 per cent of women holding political positions. Lois Auta, 38-year-old polio survivor from Abuja, is all about changing the status quo. Auta is a candidate in the upcoming elections for the House of Representatives and received capacity-building training from UN Women.

Ahead of Nigeria’s presidential elections on 16 February, UN Women and partners have been training women candidates, documenting political violence and advocating for measures to boost women’s low representation in Parliament.

UN Women in Moldova has launched an initiative for the civic and political empowerment of women candidates with disabilities ahead of the 2019 local elections, in partnership with the local ‘MOTIVATIE’ Association.

Women Radio 91.7 has embarked on advocacy visits to stakeholders of democracy in a bid to ensure 2019 general elections is peaceful and non-violent to increase women’s participation.

As many political analysts see democracy weakened by introverted, xenophobic parties and autocratic leaders, a glimmer of hope is offered by a new generation of candidates and voters. This year will test that optimism in a series of important elections around the world.

The Office of International IDEA to the European Union organized on 7 December 2018, a Roundtable discussion on ”Political empowerment of women through ICTs”, with the support of the Canadian Mission to the European Union. The aim of the event was to share experiences and views on the availability and use of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) tools to advance the political empowerment of women.

By Adam Taylor,

The United States has never had more women in Congress than it does now. As of last week, when the 116th Congress was sworn in, 23.7 percent of the 535 members of Congress are women — roughly a quarter of the Senate and 23.4 percent of the House of Representatives.

The UK Gender Sensitive Parliament Audit, published today, finds that steady progress has been made in increasing the representation of women in both Houses of Parliament, but there are still too many barriers to women standing as MPs or putting themselves forward to the House of Lords Appointments Commission.

The President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Gabriela Cuevas Barron praised Qatari legislation that ensures the rights of Qatari women and enables them to reach leading posts in all fields.