women's rights

The mayor of Bangui, Catherine Samba-Panza, was elected interim president of the Central African Republic on Monday, as the European Union agreed to send hundreds of troops to help restore peace to the country torn by sectarian bloodshed.

Samba-Panza, a businesswoman with a reputation as a fighter who became mayor of the capital in 2011, was elected in a second-round vote by the transitional parliament, becoming the chronically unstable country's first woman leader.

Democratic women have gained legislative seats at a much higher rate than Republican women in recent years. To a great extent, the rise of female Democrats is about the rise of Democratic women of color. Although they do not hold office in proportion to their presence in the U.S. population, minority women have advanced in state legislatures.

We invite you to read the full article published January 19, 2014

Governor Margaret Alva on Friday said the country must act soon to quash the perils of gender-based issues among other evils. She insisted on institutional spaces for dialogue, and, as importantly, institutional mechanisms to reflect the will of the people. "We in India, have taken democracy to the grassroots through panchayati raj with reservations for the marginalised, leading to democratic decentralisation.

Colonel Jamila Bayaz, a 50-year-old mother of five, this week became the first women to be appointed police chief  in Afghanistan. Bayaz will lead the 1st District of Kabul.

After decades of trying to amass power, several women have vaulted to the top of influential congressional committees, putting them in charge of some of the most consequential legislation being considered on Capitol Hill.

The $1.1 trillion spending plan Congress approved this week was the handiwork of Senate Appropriations Com­mittee Chairman Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) and her House counterpart, Harold Rogers (R-Ky.).

The 113th Congress has been applauded for its diversity, but women – and specifically women of color, who only make up 4.5% of the 535 members – are still the vast minority.

Although women of color have made recent strides in politics, the fact remains: only two have ever served in the Senate. It was as recent as 2013 that Democrat Mazie Hirono became the first Asian-American woman elected from Hawaii. Hirono comes after Carol Moseley Braun, who was the first and only African-American woman elected to the Senate. She served from 1993 to 1999. 

Across the world, female political representation continues to be an issue.

Most recently, it’s become a significant issue in Jamaica, where the 51 Percent Coalition has been pushing for more women in Parliament (and in boardrooms) in the country.

So we decided to take a look at the Parliaments in the Caribbean that have the most female members.

New research has found negative media coverage of former PM, Julia Gillard, is discouraging women from pursuing their political aspirations.

The survey, conducted by the YWCA and University of Adelaide, found 80 per cent of female respondents over the age of 31 who wanted to enter politics were less likely to do so, because they perceived the media’s treatment of Gillard as negative.