Political Participation & Leadership

It has been argued that where women are fully represented, societies are more peaceful and stable. Women's political participation is fundamental for gender equality and their representation in positions of leadership must be a priority for all African governments. Women are largely under-represented in decision-making and leadership positions in Africa.

Over the last years, there has been more women in parliaments and decision-making positions than before. In the parliamentary elections of Rwanda in September 2013 women obtained 64 percent of the seats, which is the highest number in the world. However, women's participation in governmance and decision-making remain very limited. They are outnumbered by men in all decision-making and leadership positions.

In the history of Africa, there are now three women who have been elected president:

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: All Africa
A socio-political pressure group known as Parliamentary Civil Society Partnership Initiative, (PCSPI) has described the recent election of principal officers of the House of Representatives as a blatant display of gender discrimination and

Nigeria

Source:All Africa
Increasing the number of women representation in legislative bodies within the African Commonwealth region is on the agenda of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) as they meet in Kigali.

Source: All Africa
A lot has been said about President Museveni's new Cabinet choices. Some names have attracted criticism while others have been praised. In explaining his choices, the President made mention of a "cross-generation" Cabinet that was picked on the basis of unity, mobilisation ability and expertise.

Uganda

Source: All Africa
Is it possible for a female to become president of our nation now or in the near future? In the whole of Africa, there is only one woman sitting president in the person of Madam Sirleaf Johnson of Liberia.

Ghana

Source: All Africa
The struggle has indeed been a long one. We have fought for more than ten years. We went to nearly every village in Mauritius using the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development as a tool to tell men and women about the importance of having women in politics.

Mauritius

Source: All Africa
Female parliamentarians have met with women representatives from districts to discuss how to improve the welfare of women.

Rwanda

Source: All Africa
Women in southern Africa will soon move a step closer to having equal rights and opportunities with men when a regional gender protocol is ratified in the coming weeks.

South Africa

Source: allAfrica
Albertina Sisulu, who died in Johannesburg on Thursday at the age of 92, had little interest in politics when she met Walter Sisulu, future general secretary of the ANC. But she plunged wholeheartedly into the liberation struggle and emerged from years of detention, bannings and arrests as a major political figure in her own right.

South Africa

Source: All Africa
The hullabaloo about councillors with challenges in taking oaths of office in English reminds me of Mr Adeel, a technician I met in Khartoum 29 years ago.

Uganda

Uganda

Source: All Africa
WOMEN are big winners in the cabinet appointed on Friday. The number of women ministers rose from 16 in the last cabinet to 22 in the new one.