Civil society organisations in good governance promotion in Africa have urged leaders across the continent to prioritise efforts which would increase the participation of women in governance, saying they will provide the difference critical for Africa’s transformation.

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.

On November 6, 125 women were elected to the House, Senate, and governorships. This week, they assume power. Here's what they plan on doing with it.

The proposed amendments to the constitution have granted women a fixed quota. If the amendments are approved, women will hold 25 percent of the total parliamentary seats by the power of law. 

The proposed bill stipulates that the number of total members of the Parliament must not be less than 450. 

Since the establishment of the Egyptian House, the number of women parliamentarians has never reached such percentage. 

It’s been 20 years, but Assemblywoman Maggie Carlton still remembers the cigar smoke. During her first year as a Nevada state senator in 1999, she heard about a meeting happening in her committee chairman’s office without her. So she and a female lobbyist walked in through the side door and found a handful of men sitting around the conference table.

The steady increase in the percentage of women in Israel’s parliament has not been accompanied by a similar rise in their cabinet representation.

In February 1969, Golda Meir was appointed fourth prime minister of the State of Israel, thus becoming one of the first women in the democratic world to serve in her country’s highest political office. Despite this achievement, however, the inclusion of women in Israel’s cabinets is far from impressive.

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.