In 1985, I made it to the front page of The Herald newspaper. It was a photo of me wearing a big smile, shaking President Robert Mugabe’s hand during the five-year independence celebrations. This roused my dream to one day become a politician and lead the country.
Why are there so few female elected officials in the second largest city in the country? Of 18 elected positions in City Hall, only one is held by a woman — Nury Martinez, who joined the council in July.
Most American media coverage of the Middle East paints a bleak picture of the status of women. There certainly is reason for pessimism given the perpetuation of honor killings and child marriages and, more generally, the exclusion of women from economic and political life.
Women make up 34% of the 8th Parliament of Zimbabwe, with 32% in the National Assembly and 48% of Senate. Although the quota for women in parliament led to the dramatic increase from 19% in 2008 to 34%, the number of women who actually won, fell from 34 to 26.
Progressive groups unveiled a major initiative on Wednesday to draw attention to challenges that women still face and to promote public policies to address gender disparities.
Egypt's National Council for Women (NCW) said in a statement issued Wednesday that new amendments under-discussion to the currently suspended 2012 constitution are "fairer" to women.
President Goodluck Jonathan has been urged to replace sacked female ministers with women in order to keep and perhaps surpass the 35 per cent affirmative action as favoured by the current administration.
Date: 16 September 2013
Author(s): Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
The emergence of three female Democrats as competitive Senate candidates has party activists optimistic the 2014 election cycle will end with a record number of women in the upper chamber.
