Africa: Women from P♂lls to P♀lls

KENYA: Senior Women Editors Campaign For Peace

By IPS Correspondents
The story of a 12-year-old girl stabbed by her 14-year-old neighbour just because their parents supported different presidential candidates in the Dec. 27 elections will hardly make headlines here. Neither will the story of a woman in President Mwai Kibaki’s backyard sheltering about 100 workers who have fled the post-election violence.

POLITICS-SOUTH AFRICA: A Trying Passage for Women in the Ruling Party

By Stephanie Nieuwoudt
The past weeks have been tumultuous for women in South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC).

CHALLENGES 2007-2008: Support Pledged for Women in S. Leone&#39s Local Elections

By IPS Correspondents
Sierra Leoneans will doubtless celebrate the past year as one in which their country distanced itself still further from a war-torn past, by holding general elections in August that were broadly viewed as free and fair.

POLITICS-KENYA: For Women, Elections May Be the Milestone That Wasn&#39t

By IPS Correspondents
General elections are underway in Kenya, marking the end of a titanic struggle between incumbent President Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga, heading the Party of National Unity and the Orange Democratic Movement, respectively.

POLITICS-KENYA: NGOs Bolster Women Candidates&#39 Media and Voter Savvy

By IPS Correspondents
A number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have come to the assistance of female candidates ahead of Kenya's general elections, scheduled for Thursday, in the hope of giving them a fair shot at the polls - this in a country where lack of funds, resistance to women in leadership positions and various other factors tend to undermine women's electoral performance.

Q&A: "For Me, Money Has Been the Real Issue"

By IPS Correspondents
As IPS reported earlier this year, the financial cost of campaigning has weighed heavily on certain women candidates in Kenya's general elections, set to take place Dec. 27. With just hours remaining before the polls, we caught up with one of these candidates - Pamela Mburia - to find out how she'd managed to press ahead with her bid for office in the face of such difficulties.

KENYA: Women Parliamentary Candidates on the Ballot, But Not in the Race?

By IPS Correspondents
At first glance, it seems like a good news story. When Kenya goes to the polls next week for general elections, it will do so with record numbers of women on the ballot.
Families displaced by election violence in the Rift Valley province. Credit: Julius Mwelu/IRIN

POLITICS-KENYA: A Call to Arm Women Candidates With More Than Speeches

By IPS Correspondents
Last Friday, Margaret Wanjiru - a parliamentary candidate in Kenya's Dec. 27 general elections - was reportedly attacked while campaigning in her Starehe constituency in the capital, Nairobi. While she escaped injury, her supporters are said to have been hurt and her campaign van extensively damaged by stoning...Still, those targeted in this incident were probably luckier than Martha Kibwana.
Nazlin Umar, presidential candidate of the Workers Congress Party. Credit: Kwamboka Oyaro

Q&A: "Slash the Salaries of the President, Ministers and Members of Parliament"

By IPS Correspondents
The sole female presidential candidate in Kenya's Dec. 27 general elections will launch her party's manifesto on Sunday. Nazlin Umar, one of nine contenders, is running on the ticket of the Workers Congress Party under the slogan "President wa mtaa" ("Street President", in Swahili), as part of a campaign to convince voters that she is able to address everyday concerns.
Law Reform Commission Chairman Peter Tucker. Credit: Mohamed Fofana

POLITICS-SIERRA LEONE: Whose Quota, Exactly?

By IPS Correspondents
A campaign to bring about greater gender balance in Sierra Leone's government has sparked debate on issues of class, with some fearing that a proposed quota for women could be monopolised by candidates who are unrepresentative of Sierra Leonean women overall.

AFRICA: Money, Media and Tradition Complicate Women&#39s Political Aspirations

By IPS Correspondents
The challenges confronting women politicians in Africa were given an airing recently during a press conference in South Africa's commercial hub, Johannesburg.
Zipporah Musau of &#39The Standard&#39, working towards fair coverage for women candidates. Credit:

MEDIA-KENYA: For a Woman Candidate, It&#39s Good To Be a Man

By IPS Correspondents
As with political candidates everywhere, women running in this month's general elections in Kenya are doubtless keeping a close eye on the media to see how they are being portrayed by news outlets. Then again, these women may simply be concerned about whether they are portrayed at all.
Honorine Attikpa champions the effort to put more women in local government. Credit: Gontran Hounsounou

Q&A: "The Presence of Women in Local Councils Is in Itself a Revolution"

By IPS Correspondents
As local elections in Benin draw closer, activists are pushing ahead with efforts to have more women voted into local government. Just 45 of the 1,189 councilors currently in office are women.
Haïdara Ichata Cissé, in office as an independent. Credit: Almahady Cissé

Q&A: "The Advice I Give Women Is to Leave Hang-Ups Behind"

By IPS Correspondents
For women politicians in Mali, winning a seat in parliament is a tall order - difficult enough with party backing, and possibly harder still without it. But, this didn't stop Haïdara Ichata Cissé from taking her chances as an independent earlier this year.

MOROCCO: Polls Largely Maintain the Status Quo for Women in Parliament

By Amina Barakat
This month's parliamentary elections in Morocco have seen the number of women legislators decline from 35 to 34 in the 325 member body. With 30 of the female representatives elected under a quota, the results would seem to indicate that women face challenges in making their presence felt in the lower house - even though a proportional representation system is used for polls.
Ballot papers being dispensed during Sierra Leone&#39s Aug. 11 general elections. Credit: Tugela Ridley/IRIN

POLITICS-SIERRA LEONE: A Sea of Challenges for the New Government

By IPS Correspondents
A voting process that has stretched over more than a month came to an end this week with the announcement that Ernest Bai Koroma of the All People's Congress (APC) had won the presidency in Sierra Leone's general elections.

POLITICS-MOROCCO: Quotas Overpowered by Machismo

By Amina Barakat
When Morocco held legislative polls a decade ago, just two women were elected to the lower house of parliament in this North African country. Legal reforms enacted since have ensured that women will fare better when the latest parliamentary ballot gets underway Friday. But for activists, there is still a long way to go in bringing gender parity to the Chamber of Representatives.

POLITICS-KENYA: “I Almost Have No Fare to Come Back to Nairobi”

By IPS Correspondents
Posters, campaign appearances, radio spots and television adverts: all are essential for winning office in Kenya's general elections, set for December, and all cost money that parliamentary candidates are responsible for raising in this East African country.
Marie-Hélène Ngoa, mayor of Akono in central Cameroon. Credit: Raphaël Mvogo

Q&A: “I Have Ideas for Things That Need To Be Done in All Social Sectors”

By IPS Correspondents
It's a long way from the north of France to West Africa - and from studying mathematics at the University of Lille to becoming a mayor in central Cameroon. But Marie-Hélène Ngoa has successfully undertaken both these journeys.
Ida Odinga: co-convenor of the National Women Leaders Negotiating Committee. Credit: African Woman and Child Feature Service

KENYA: Legislation to Get More Women in Parliament – the Next Chapter…

By IPS Correspondents
Activists in Kenya have resumed efforts to legislate an increase in the number of women occupying seats in the East African country's parliament, this after a constitutional amendment bill that would have created 50 special seats for women was thrown out by the governing body.

POLITICS-MALI: Worst Expectations Confounded

By Almahady Cissé
As former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson once remarked, "A week is a long time in politics." By this token, a political landscape can alter even more in a month, recent developments in Mali being a case in point.
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