Partner News

Katia Uriona is the former President of the Electoral Tribunal of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. Before that, as the Executive Secretary of the national Women’s Coordinator (Coordinadora de la Mujer), Uriona played an instrumental role in advocating for Law 243 on violence against women in politics in 2012. With the support from UN Women and other organizations, she gave an important drive to the Observatory of Parity Democracy. In March 2018, Ms.

Thailand has one of the poorest rates of gender equality in politics globally, and international agencies say more women are needed in key decision-making processes.

UN Women data shows that as of January 2017 women accounted for 4.9% of the Thai parliament, ranking the nation 184th out of 190 in terms of female representation.

Daw Saw Yee and Daw Ohn Shwe have many things in common, but until recently their paths had not crossed. Both in their 50s, their communities elected the two women as village tract administrators in January 2018 during the third local elections to take place since Myanmar started its transition to democracy.

“We young people, individually and collectively are a piece of peace”, said Lynrose Jane Dumandan Genon, a representative of the Young Women for Peace and Leadership programme of the Global Network for Women Peacebuilders in the Philippines, speaking at a side event in New York on 25 October, on the sidelines of the annual UN Security Council Open Debate on women, peace and security. “We do our part in making peace happen in whatever community we are in; we bring our little pieces together to create a bigger impact,” she added.

Halima Askari became the first woman head of the Provincial Council in Afghanistan’s conservative Wardak province in 2017. She is part of a new generation of women leaders who, little by little, are pushing for the transformation of governance. She ran for national Parliament this year and is awaiting the results. Regardless of the election results, Askari is determined to continue serving her community and advocating for girls’ and women’s education.

Tanya Gilly Khailany, from Iraqi-Kurdistan, is a former member of the Iraqi Parliament (2006 – 2010) and a co-founder of the SEED Foundation, an organization that works with survivors of violence and trafficking in Iraq. An outspoken women’s rights activist, Ms. Gilly Khailany was one of the key parliamentarians who legislated the 25 per cent quota for women in Iraqi provincial councils.

AS MEXICO’S NATIONAL congress assembled this past weekend, women occupied 47.8 percent of the seats in the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, and 49.2 percent of the seats in the Senate. The July elections that voted in the Congress also saw Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo win the election for Mexico City’s mayor, marking the first time a woman has won the vote to lead North America’s largest city.

Nabila Musleh, Afghanistan’s Deputy Minister of Women's Affairs, has worked to promote gender equality, women’s empowerment and human rights in Afghanistan for more than 10 years. From 11-16 August, Ms. Musleh joined 32 other senior government officials for a visit to Indonesia to learn about their gender-responsive budgeting experience. Indonesia has successfully championed gender-responsive budgeting, which has helped the government distribute public funds equally to address the needs of women and men.

To further discuss the establishment of a gender electoral network in the Arab region, the Organization of Arab Electoral Management Bodies (Arab EMBs), the UNDP and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) agreed last July to hold a meeting in August 2018.