- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf – President of the Republic of Liberia
- Joyce Banda – President of the Republic of Malawi
- Catherine Samba-Panza – Interim President of the Central African Republic
There is progress here and there on the continent regarding women's rights . We must go much further to ensure greater gender equality in Africa. It is not just a matter of justice....When women take their rightful place at the negotiating table, in the parliament and in leadership positions across society, we can unleash Africa’s enormous potential..." UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
To learn more about women's political participation, please visit the following websites:
Source: Voice of America
South Sudanese women leaders are calling on the president to give 35 percent of executive appointments to women, as agreed to in the recently revitalized peace deal.
On Tuesday, President Salva Kiir appointed 10 people to a committee tasked with starting the process to create South Sudan's envisioned transitional government. Only one of the 10 are women.
Source: Daily Monitor
Rwandan opposition politician Victoire Umuhoza Ingabire has vowed to push for the opening up of the political space days after she was released from prison following a presidential pardon.
Ms Ingabire was freed on Saturday September 15 after serving eight of her 15-year sentence.She had been arrested in 2010 soon after returning from exile in the Netherlands seeking to contest for the presidency.She was charged with inciting revolt against the government, forming armed groups to destabilise the country, and minimising the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
Source: The Jordan Times
ZOMBA, MALAWI — When I was eight years old, a family friend told my father that he thought I was destined for leadership. My dad never let me forget that heady observation, and as a result of his constant encouragement, I took every opportunity I had to pursue our friend’s prophecy. Today, I owe much of my success to my late father, whose belief in me was unwavering.
Source: Face2FaceAfrica
Recently- re-elected president of Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita named 35-year-old Kamissa Camara as the minister for foreign affairs in his recent cabinet reshuffle. With a rich background in foreign affairs and policies, Camara becomes the first woman to hold this post in the history of Mali.
Before her appointment as the minister, she served as the diplomatic advisor to President Keita. She is also the founder and co-chair of the Sahel Strategy Forum, which provides a platform to stakeholders to promote peace, security and development across the Sahel.
Source: BBC Africa
If you are a man and mulling over the idea of running for president in 2019 for one of Nigeria's main parties then deep pockets are required.
Campaigning, of course, is going to cost money, but both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People's Democratic Party (PDP) charge presidential hopefuls who want to run in the party primaries tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege. The APC, the party of President Muhammadu Buhari, wants $125,000 (£97,000) for a nomination form. An opposition PDP presidential nomination is cheap by comparison - just $33,000.
Women, on the other hand, get a discount - half price for the APC or totally free if you want to try your luck with PDP. But neither party has ever nominated a woman since the return of democracy in 1999 and only one woman, Sarah Jibril, has run in the primaries.
She gained just one vote in the 2011 contest.
Source: The Standard
Joana Mamombe stood out as the youngest MP in the new Parliament when Zimbabwe’s newest crop of legislators took their oaths last week following the controversial July 30 elections.
Mamombe of the MDC Alliance replaced Jessie Majome as the Harare West representative.
The 25-year-old legislator, a molecular biologist, says one of her major priorities in the next five years is to fight cancer.
Mamombe (JM) told our senior parliamentary reporter Veneranda Langa (VL) that she also wants to use her five-year term in the legislature to advance the interests of youths.
Source: New Times Rwanda
Women will take 67.5 per cent of seats in the next Lower House going by the latest results from the just-concluded parliamentary elections.
The National Electoral Commission (NEC) Tuesday released provisional results from legislative elections, which saw the governing RPF-Inkotanyi take most seats out of the 53 that are openly contested for.
RPF won 40 seats in the house after garnering 74 per cent of the votes cast by 6.6 million Rwandans who turned out for the direct vote on Sunday and Monday.
Source: UNIOGBIS News
The law was unanimously voted by the 81 MPs present. The National Assembly (ANP) thus concluded two days of discussion under the leadership of the chairman of the Specialized Commission for Women and Children, Ms. Martina Moniz.
Source: Ghana Web
Research by the International Republican Institute (IRI) on females’ participation in politics in Ghana has shown that most women refuse to contest political positions for fear of being insulted and tagged as prostitutes.
Source: The Economist
Diane Rwigara and the perils of dissent in Rwanda
Source: Voice of America
Born into slavery and kept as a servant for 30 years, Haby Mint Rabah is now running for parliament in Mauritania to fight for freedom in a nation with one of the world's worst slavery rates.Rabah's candidacy is a first for the West African country, where more than two in every 100 people — 90,000 in total — live as slaves, according to the 2018 Global Slavery Index.