- 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: Aswat Masriya
Cairo — The National Council for Human Rights reported on Monday a high turnout of voters during the early hours of the first voting day, with a particularly impressive turnout for women at poll stations.
Source: allAfrica
THIS WEEK thousands of decision makers have gathered in Kigali to join the African Development Bank in discussing the future we want for Africa.
Source: VibeGhana
Ms Dorcas Coker-Appiah, gender advocate, has expressed disappointment over the strikingly missing women leadership role persistent in the Ghanaian society in spite of numerous policies and actions to bridge the gap.
Nearly 20 years ago, the world came together in Beijing for the Fourth World Conference on Women. There, 189 governments adopted a visionary roadmap for gender equality: the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
Source: Awareness Times Women across the country, who assembled on 13th and 14th May 2014 in Magburaka Town to draft the Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Bill and domestication of CEDAW in a consultative forum, have expressed their disappointment over what they described as bad customs and tradition which do not allow them in certain parts of the country to sit on the Paramount ChieftaincyThrone.
Leaders have opposed attempts to amend the law to reduce the number of women representation in Parliament and in county assemblies. Senate Speaker Ekwe Ethuro admitted that the country was agonising over how to achieve the two-third gender rule by 2015, but said women’s rights must be protected.
Source: The Point
The first Gambian female governor in the history of the country, Siffai Hydara, has reaffirmed her allegiance and loyalty to the APRC party under the leadership of President Yahya Jammeh, adding that she would do her utmost best to live up to expectations in raising the flag of the Gambian women.
Source: NPR
As Rwanda began to rebuild itself from the ashes of the 1994 genocide, something unexpected happened: Women began playing a much more influential role on many fronts, including politics.
Source: The New Times
INTERVIEW
Jeni Klugman is the Director of Gender and Development at the World Bank. Last week she was in Rwanda to attend the Oxford Human Rights Conference on Women and Poverty. She also visited adolescent girls and women empowerment projects around Kigali.
Source: Daily News Egypt
Four political parties and seven civil society organisations strongly criticised the passage of laws dealing with upcoming parliamentary elections without consultation with women’s groups and organisations.
Source: This Day Live
A former member of the House of Representative, Hon. Binta Masi Garba, has emerged the Chairman of the Adamawa State All Progressives Congress (APC).