Finance and Budgeting

South Asia Partnership (SAP) Pakistan and Aurat Foundation held a convention on women’s political participation in Pakistan on Saturday. The focus was on women in local government.

Cheri Beasley is well aware of the challenges facing Black women who run for statewide office. “I know what it's like to hear the doubters and those who are skeptical that people of color can't win, because it's not what we're used to or who we envision in positions of power,” she said in an interview with NBC News.

The former judge has made two successful runs for statewide judicial positions, and this year she is running for North Carolina’s open Senate seat, joining a cohort of Black women looking to make history.

Zimbabwe is scheduled to hold elections in 18 months’ time, but women are reluctant to have their faces appear on ballot papers.

Women here know only too well that in politics, sticks and stones literally break bones, and name-calling is part of the gladiatorial politics in a country where each election cycle is greeted with violence. From party primaries to national elections, the violent nature of the contests is the history of Zimbabwe, with little being done to provide safe spaces for women candidates.

Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organisation now wants the government and political parties to recognise its members by ensuring that more women acquire elective positions ahead of the next General election.

The women’s organisation currently has more than four million members. The organisation's leadership wants the State to create an enabling environment for women eyeing elective posts.

Somalia is halving the registration fees for women candidates to encourage more participation in the upcoming elections.

Last week, the National Consultative Council, an organ created with representation from the Prime Minister and five federal states, finally fixed a definite timeline for elections that will culminate in presidential polls on October 10.

By Rachel Brule and Nikhar Gaikwad

By Yukihiko Hamada and Khushbu Agrawal