International Women's Day: Inspiring Inclusion by Supporting Women’s Political Participation and Leadership

Today is International Women’s Day (IWD), and the 2024 campaign theme is “Inspire Inclusion.” IWD is a global celebration of the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. Each year, it serves as a powerful reminder of the progress made towards gender equality while also highlighting the critical work that still needs to be done.?

For example, despite the importance of women’s equal participation in public life and leadership in political roles, women continue to be underrepresented at all levels of political decision-making around the world. As UN Women notes, “achieving gender parity in political life is far off.”

Cloudburst’s Global Development practice area has been engaged in assessments of women’s political participation and leadership (WPPL) that explore this issue in eight USAID partner countries: Colombia, C?te d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Honduras, Kenya, the Kyrgyz Republic, Nigeria, and Tanzania, through the ongoing Learning, Evaluation, and Research (LER) task order with the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (USAID/DRG).?

Using data gathered from these country assessments, local and national leaders, lawmakers, the media, and civil society can work to prioritize and target efforts toward improving women’s equal participation in public life and to expand women’s political leadership. By including women’s voices in the political and public sphere we can continue to make tangible progress towards gender equality. May we all continue to work to inspire inclusion and gender equality around the globe!?

Resources:?

International Women’s Day: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Missions/20202/What-does-it-mean-to-truly-inspire-inclusion?

To learn more about Cloudburst’s global development work: https://cloudburstgroup.com/services/global-development/