Women's Leadership

Highlighted Resources

Inside plan for women's political inclusion in S. Sudan

The UN Women and UNDP in South Sudan have launched a three-year programme to enhance women’s political participation and leadership.The project, funded by Peacebuilding Fund, will support capacity building and advocacy efforts for women’s political participation.It will also tackle the barriers...

The women who are barred from the negotiating table…

Shirley Chisholm, the first Black American woman elected to the US Congress back in 1972, once famously remarked: “If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”The legendary remark was a reflection of the gender bias in the US where women were discriminated against in the...

Gender equality in urban governance: the need for women community leaders

Women play a critical role not just in their homes and offices but also in the progress of the entire human race. While they have always held roles like those of scholars, writers, administrators, and reformers, women’s participation as community leaders in urban local governance is yet to achieve...

Kuwaiti women still struggle to find ‘rightful place’ in political narrative

Who is Mudhawi? I had asked. Dr AlanoudAl Sharekh, the quiet, unassuming award-winning academic, activist, and founding member of Abolish 153, had quietly explained that Mudhawi is a traditional name from the Arabian Gulf region. It conjures up an image of a wise woman open to embracing all.While...

Summit for Democracy Cohort on Gender Equality as a Prerequisite for Democracy

During the Summit for Democracy Year of Action, the S4D cohort on Gender Equality as a Prerequisite for Democracy identified recommendations for strengthening democracy by promoting gender equality, Statement and Roadmap of recommendations. The co-leads of the gender...

Jacinda Ardern, Sanna Marin and Nicola Sturgeon have all left high office in 2023. Composite: Ken McKay/ITV/Rex/Shutterstock/ Hagen Hopkins/ Getty Images/Kimmo Brandt/ EPA

After Ardern, Marin and Sturgeon, is female representation in politics going backwards?

The growth in the number of female leaders has plateaued around the world, while representation in national parliaments remains staticOn a recent speaking tour in Australia, Barack Obama offered up his idea on how to turn the tide on more than a decade of democratic erosion, to steer the world on...

Addressing violence against women in politics in the OSCE region: Toolkit

Violence against women in all its forms is perceived by the OSCE as one of the most pervasive impediments to women’s full, equal and effective participation in political and public life and as a threat to human security. Yet, it is prevalent across the OSCE region, and it is especially, but not...

Gender inequality in local Irish politics highlighted in new research

Ireland: Women's voices in the Council's Chamber

UCC research, carried out on behalf of Cork City Council’s Women’s Caucus, has recommended that gender quota legislation be introduced before the next local government elections to help increase the number of female councillors around the country. Gender quotas are in place for national...

Quantifying gender biases towards politicians on Reddit

increase gender parity in politics, global efforts have struggled to ensure equal female representation. This is likely tied to implicit gender biases against women in authority. In this work, we present a comprehensive study of gender biases that appear in online political discussion. To this end...

Gender and politics in Portugal

This chapter surveys the literature on gender and politics in Portugal, focusing on explanations for gender differences in political participation and representation. We map trends in women’s inclusion in key areas of political life: from conventional to unconventional political participation, to...

Latinas in U.S. politics 2022

Latinas are serving in record numbers across levels of elective office, but we are still vastly underrepresented when compared to our numbers in the population.Data from the 2020 U.S. Census shows that those identifying as Hispanic or Latino accounted for more than half of the country’s...

Why women earn high marks: Examining the role of partisanship and gender in political evaluations

This article presents the results of a randomized survey experiment demonstrating that the public evaluates women politicians more highly than men across multiple characteristic assessments. This finding is consistent with a recent wave of research indicating greater preference for women...