- 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
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Source: VOA
Tunisian President Kais Saied surprised many Wednesday with his appointment of Najla Bouden Romdhane, a 63-year-old professor at a prestigious engineering school, as the country’s first female prime minister.
SOURCE: THISDAY
Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, has said there is need to pave the path for a more equal, safer and inclusive Nigeria where women can optimally and effectively contribute their own quota to leadership at every level. Gbajabiamila, in his remarks yesterday at an intergenerational consultative and strategic dialogue titled, “Paving the Path: Forum for Women’s Participation in Political Leadership in Nigeria; Past, Present and Future, organised by the House Committee on Women’s Affairs in collaboration. She is doing it at the ElectHER, National Institute for Legislative & Democratic Studies (NILDS), with support from the Office of the Speaker, Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO), Global Affairs Canada, USAID, and UN Women, who charged women to come out to seek political offices as power is never served a la carte, said.”
Source: Daily News Tanzania
PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan has appointed Dr Stergomena Tax to be the Minister for Defence and National Service. She becomes the first woman to hold the title since the country's independence.
Source: Zambia Daily Mail
FOR Vice-President-elect Mutale Nalumango, assuming public office is about providing services to better people’s lives, as opposed to amassing wealth. This is the motivation that Mrs Nalumango, 66, a teacher-turned politician comes with as she takes office as Vice-President of Zambia tomorrow.
Source: Namibia Economist
The African Energy Week (AEW) which will take place from 9 to 12 November in Cape Town, aims to put women in a fundamental role to drive the future of Africa's energy.
AEW 2021 considers women to be the key drivers of Africa's energy revolution and should therefore, comprise notable participants in the workforce. They added that despite making up 50% of the population, women continue to represent a minimal role in the African energy industry, accounting for merely 21% of the overall workforce in energy utilities.
Source: The East African
When Somalia's former Foreign Affairs minister Fawzia Yusuf Haji Adam announced her candidacy for president in the next elections, the reaction in Mogadishu was mostly muted.
Yet Ms Adam, from a prominent family of scholars, is not just testing the waters. She may well be testing the rigidity of an age-old culture.
Source: Citizen
The swearing-in and subsequent release of the official portrait of our first female president wrote a great story both in our hearts and "herstory" books. Fate had it in store for Tanzanians that the country's very first female vice president would also become its first female president.
When images of the first Cabinet meeting circulated on social media, many women's rights advocates, myself included, felt that a female president wouldn't be happy with a male-dominated cabinet. Expectations were high that changes were in store, especially after some women's rights were trampled on in the past six years.
Source: Botswana Daily News
Gaborone — There is need to change strategies aimed at improving women's representation in decision making as current ones are not yielding desired results, says Minister of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs Ms Annah Mokgethi.
She said this at the recent launch of a Democracy Works Foundation Capacity Enhancement for Political Advancement of Women (CEPAW) project in Gaborone.
Source: The Conversation Africa
President Yoweri Museveni, who has led Uganda since 1986, has appointed a woman, Jessica Alupo, as vice-president and another woman, Robinah Nabbanja, as prime minister. He has also increased the percentage of women in the cabinet from 27% to 43%. This is the second time Museveni has appointed a woman as vice-president. Specioza Wandira Kazibwe served as vice-president from 1994 to 2003.
These appointments have provoked considerable debate in Uganda, reflecting both the constraints and the possibilities of women's rights reform in an authoritarian country. Freedom House ranks Uganda as a "Not Free" country. This is due to election violence and limits on political rights and civil liberties.
Source: Daily News
PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan yesterday reaffirmed Tanzania's commitment in striking gender parity, saying the country was on track to meet the 50/50 threshold in leadership.
Source: The East African
The political agreement signed in Somalia this past heralds not just a new democratic dawn but also one of equity and inclusivity by raising the quota of women in the formal political space to at least a third of the bicameral federal legislature.