Women's Leadership

Almost every council in Australia has a gallery of “dead men”, says Licia Heath. In the Cairns regional council, the gallery of past mayors – overwhelmingly white and male – is in the civic reception room.

Despite being once heralded for becoming the first African country to elect a woman president, Liberia’s political landscape is sorely lacking in its representation of women.

There is a pervasive narrative “that women are running for office in record numbers,” says Erin Loos Cutraro. “People hold onto that. They think it’s still true today.”

Except it’s not.

Calls for peace filled the air as representatives from over 20 existing and newly emerging women’s anti-war initiatives from various civic and political backgrounds and geographical locations within Sudan gathered in Cairo, Egypt.

Despite lacking ties to this city and being described as a poor public speaker, a former social worker won an election here to become the youngest female mayor in Japan.

Shoko Kawata, 33, bested two other candidates on Nov. 12 to win the mayoral election in Yawata, a city of about 70,000 residents south of the ancient capital of Kyoto.

A group of civil society organisations and gender activists has called for more women representation in Nigeria’s political leadership space.

ElectHER, a civil society organisation (CSO), says without women in politics, Nigeria is limiting the extent to which it can develop.