Puntland regional leaders met Tuesday (May 21st) to encourage women's participation in the upcoming local council elections in July, setting a quota for desired participation, Somalia's Garowe Online reported.

A meeting was held Tuesday in Puntland state, northern Somalia, over the women’s participation in the upcoming Local Council elections, Garowe Online reports. The meeting was held at Puntland Development and Research Center (PDRC) compound in Garowe, capital of Puntland, and attended by Puntland government officials, Transitional Puntland Electoral Commission (TPEC) officials, representatives of registered political associations in Puntland, U.N. officers, and PWCN, a women’s association group.

Kenya’s nominees for cabinet secretary positions, who include an unprecedented number of women – six out of 18 – will undergo a gruelling public vetting process by the Parliamentary Committee on Appointments Thursday. Despite the appointments – which are yet to be confirmed – women’s rights organisations in this East African nation say President Uhuru Kenyatta’s new government must do more to seriously mainstream gender issues in the country.

THE number of women in leadership worldwide has gradually been increasing, but in some communities like Zanzibar more efforts are required to increase the representation of women in decision-making groups. Pressure groups and women rights activists have been pushing policy makers and the government to make sure that factors contributing to low representations of women in leadership at all levels are removed.

“As a woman of Zimbabwe, I personally wanted a Constitution that is fit for me,” said Zimbabwe’s Deputy Minister of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development and Member of Parliament, Jessie Majome, who participated in Zimbabwe’s Constitution-making process as part of the Select Committee of Parliament that facilitated the process.