Time to speak up, women

The theme of International Women's Day 2024, to be celebrated later this week - Invest in Women, Accelerate Progress is a reminder that the world needs to change to achieve anything close to gender equality.

- NIVEDITA MOOKERJI

There's no better time than an election for a reality check. In the year of elections (with about 50 of them spread across 2024), when political leaders make their pitch and voters decide, how are women positioned and how central are the issues related to them?

Sheikh Hasina recently won a fourth successive term as Prime Minister of Bangladesh. While she may be the world's longest-serving woman leader, only 5 per cent of the 1,895 candidates fighting for 300 parliamentary seats in the country were women, highlighting a stark gender divide. This stands in contrast to the progress that women have made in education and socio-economic indicators.

During the February elections in Pakistan, according to media reports, more women than ever before contested in the National Assembly and provincial assemblies. Women cut across urban and rural areas campaigned tirelessly, articulating their vision for a better Pakistan, as reported by Forbes.

Mexico, which is headed for an election in June, may have its first woman president. In a recent piece Al Jazeera columnist Belen Fernandez hailed the prospect of a woman leader as a positive milestone, but questioned whether it would help resolve the existential challenges faced by women in Mexico. The writer cited a 137 per cent rise in femicides in Mexico between 2015 and 2020, adding that, on average, 10 women and girls are killed every day in the country, and a large number of femicides go unprosecuted.