At a special event hosted by Mr. Abdulla Shahid, President of the General Assembly, on the sidelines of the 66th Commission on the Status of Women, leaders came together to call for concrete actions and responses to end violence against women in politics around the world.

The lawmakers’ decision on International Women’s Day came hours after simultaneous protests by women in four states.

Nigeria’s lower house of parliament has rescinded its decision on three bills that it discarded at a constitutional amendment session.

The Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel, Ms Giovanie Biha, chaired the first edition of the annual Women's Forum for Peace and Security in West Africa and the Sahel, held on 14 and 15 March in Nouakchott, capital of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.

Top UN officials on Tuesday gathered with government and civil society representatives to draw attention to the scourge of violence against women worldwide who are involved in politics, which is increasingly seeing women parliamentarians, human rights defenders and electoral observers silenced, and intimidated. 

Constituting one-fifth of parliament, women parliamentarians accounted for nearly 35 per cent of parliamentary agenda during 2021-22 – 38 per cent in the National Assembly and 25 per cent in the Senate.

According to the Annual Women Parliamentarians Performance Report 2022 released by Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) on the occasion of International Women’s Day, this year’s contribution by women parliamentarians is their highest annual contribution since the 15th National Assembly took oath in 2018.

As the world commemorates the 2022 International Women's Day, the plummeting of women's representation in elective office in Africa is alarming. According to the first Women's Political Participation (WPP) Africa Barometer 2021, women constitute 24 per cent of the 12,113 parliamentarians in Africa - 25 per cent in lower legislative houses and 20 per cent in the upper houses of parliament. Based on data from 19 sampled countries, women constitute 21 per cent of councilors in local councils.