leadership

Photo-AFP

Some accused it of being predictable and even boring - a presidential election in which the incumbent was all but guaranteed of being re-elected without, perhaps, even the need for a second round of voting.

But then tragedy intervened and changed everything.

We simply do not know what kind of president Eduardo Campos, the presidential candidate for Brazil's Socialist Party who was killed in a plane crash last week, would have been.

AP Photo/Andre Penner, Felipe Dana

Photo-Santiago Navarro F.

The emigration of men to the United States threatens indigenous systems of governance in Mexico. When men leave, the weight of activities in small towns falls on women, but despite this women are still fighting for space in the political arena.

Rebecca Naden/PA Wire

When we talk about “gender quotas”, what we really mean is quotas for women. We see the under-representation of women as the problem that needs fixing. So we try to explain why there aren’t more women in politics, then look at measures to boost women’s representation.

She is often called the “Iron Lady” of Hong Kong. Anson Chan earned respect serving as Hong Kong’s second-highest official when the British were in charge. And when the colony was handed back to China in 1997, Beijing enlisted Chan to help with that transition.

Photo-Ikenna Ikeotuonye and the Howard University Student Association.

It is “highly likely” a woman will challenge Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa in the race to replace President Jacob Zuma in 2017.

This is the view of ANC Women’s League president Angie Motshekga, who told The Mercury at the weekend there were several women in the league who were ready to take over the party’s and country’s presidencies.

Motshekga and Zuma were in Durban for Women’s Day celebrations at King Zwelithini Stadium in uMlazi.

In March 2014, the Maltese electorate gave a resounding thumbs-up to four female Maltese candidates out of the six elected to the European Parliament. A month later the second female President of Malta was sworn into office.

It is with great satisfaction that one notes such a positive leap towards gender parity in Maltese politics.