- 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:
Kenya’s nominees for cabinet secretary positions, who include an unprecedented number of women – six out of 18 – will undergo a gruelling public vetting process by the Parliamentary Committee on Appointments Thursday.
Women must play a greater role in South Sudan’s political life, from drawing up the country’s constitution to translating it into law, a United Nations official has urged, as the African nation prepares to draft its first legal framework.
Source: The Star
On Tuesday evening while giving my daughter a bath, I had the TV on so I could listen to President Kenyatta's Cabinet nominees announcement. I didn't expect him to name four (for chrissake man) but I really didn't expect him to name a woman as amazing as Ambassador Amina Mohammed. In that moment I forgave him everything. The long wait, the four names (four? Nkt) everything.
Source: New Vision
Lately student leadership in the country at universities is taking on a new trend, where female students are being elected to the guild top leadership. Joyce Nyakato explores the reasons behind this changing trend. Iin April last year, Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST), for the first time, had a guild female president. Twenty-one-year-old Sheila Nduhukire polled 885 votes, beating five men. Henry Rugobe her next competitor had 802 votes.
Source: Daily Trust
The President of the National Association of Women Entrepreneurs (NAWE), Chief Adaeze Ozongwu has called for mutual and harmonious collaboration among women in the country in other to successfully champion their course and move the nation forward.
Source: Heritage
A well built feminine structure, with a straightforward posture, in her early 60s but still very nimble and persuasive, Madam Martorma Saryon is Lofa County first female Paramount Chief in the political history of that far northern Liberian county. Lofa County is situated in the northernmost portion of Liberia, with seven political districts, Voinjama serving as the Capital City.
Source: Vanguard
The beauties that have become the cynosure of cameramen covering the weekly meetings of the Federal Executive Council, FEC is one indication of the increasing prominence of the female gender in the polity. Newspaper editors aiming to give their pages some lustiness or fresh air easily resort to the pictures of these radiant women who grace President Goodluck Jonathan's executive chambers every Wednesday.
Source: Sudan Tribune
This policy brief tries to underline the importance of women in our society and in particular their role in the journey of nation building whether in the government or outside. Yet, there are many challenges facing them in their evolution to the surface of nation building specifically the prevailing exclusion or limited participation of women in politics and governance.
Source: Nigeria Daily News
President Goodluck Jonathan has promised to give Nigerian women more than the 35 per cent affirmative action they agitated for, considering their contributions to national development and the transformation agenda.
Source: Daily Trust
First Lady Patience Jonathan has called on the National Assembly to enact a law on 35per cent participation of women in government. The president's wife who also called for a legislation that would guarantee the education of the girl child in Nigeria. Speaking in Lagos yesterday at the national conference on 100 years of the Nigerian woman, she said it was important for lawmakers to make laws that would support the growth of women in the country.
Source: This Day
The First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, has asked the National Assembly to pass into law legislations on affirmative action to empower the Nigerian woman with 30 per cent political participation in the leadership of the country. Mrs Jonathan made this remark in Lagos while speaking during the national conference and dinner to mark the Nigeria centenary celebration of 100 years of the Nigerian woman.