In an analytical piece for AllAfrica.com, Dele Meiji Fatunla discusses the importance of women breaking into leadership roles in the male-dominated political sphere in Africa. Women have recently been progressing in the field and many now hold prominent positions in various ministries, including Nigerian Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Chairperson of the African Union Commission Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, and central governor of the Bank of Botswana Linah Moholo.
Fatunla writes:
Yet, many challenges remain, not least, the use of rape as a weapon of war, which has been a particularly damaging development in many recent conflicts on the continent.
Despite the challenges, where African governments have made gender parity a priority, there have been significant results – Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, and Mozambique all rank highly for their level of women’s representation parliament. The only country in the world with more than 50% of women in its legislature is Rwanda.
The debate on using quotas to achieve gender parity in politics remains a lively one, in Africa, the UK and elsewhere, yet there is no gainsaying the results. Mozambique, one of the countries where quota systems have been implemented is ranked 5th in the world for female representation in Parliament.
Read more at AllAfrica.com.
This news brief was written by Kaitlin Higgins.
Like The Burton Wire on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @TheBurtonWire.
