For the first time in the island’s history, women leaders will take Barbados’ two major political parties into the arena as the island prepares for a snap general election. Incumbent prime minister, Mia Mottley, head of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) will face off with attorney-at-law Verla De Peiza and the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) at the polls set for January 19, 2022.

This will also be the first general election to take place since the island became a republic at midnight on November 30.

A CROSS section of female politicians in Namibia have voiced their concern over the slow progress of political parties in implementing 50/50 (zebra style) representation in party structures and parliament.

While some believe the country is on the right path to achieving the set Southern African Development Community (SADC) target of 30% representation of women in positions of power, primarily in politics, others believe not enough is not being done, and called for a paradigm shift.

The court has turned down a constitutional case filed by independent candidate Arnold Cassola against government over the gender corrective mechanism approved by parliament last April.

Cassola had argued constitutional amendments approved in parliament are discriminatory in favour of “PNPL women” and against all other women who are not affiliated to one of the two big parties. “Worse than that, it is an insult jointly concocted by the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party,” Cassola had said.

Over 30 years since declaring independence from Somalia in 1991, the Republic of Somaliland has established itself as a paragon of stability in a tough neighbourhood. Although it remains internationally unrecognised, it is inevitably compared favourably to Somalia, not least in its efforts to establish a homegrown democratic tradition. Though not always smoothly, Somaliland has held eight functional elections and one constitutional referendum since 2001.

Congress' Uttar Pradesh in-charge and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has been leading the charge in the state. She has made several populist announcements and started direct interactions with women after not left with any strong base in the politics of caste and community.

Communities across NSW can look forward to better, more representative local government following a dramatic rise in the number of women elected to councils, the sector's peak body said. MidCoast Council has four female councillors including one new councillors.

These include Claire Pontin, Katheryn Smith, Kathryn Bell, and Dheera Smith. Local Government NSW (LGNSW) president Darriea Turley said women now make up 39.5 per cent of all councillors in NSW - an 8.5 per cent jump on the proportion of women elected in 2016/17.