Why women need to be in Politics?

There is growing recognition of the untapped capacity and talents of women and women leadership. Over the last decade, the rate of women representation in national parliaments globally has incrementally increased from 15 percent in 2002 to 19.8 percent in 2012. Some regions have seen particularly dramatic increases, such as Sub-Saharan Africa, where the number of women in parliaments has risen from 13.7 to 19.8 percent, and the Arab States region, which has seen an increase from 6.1 to 14.7 percent. This is still well below the 30 percent benchmark often identified as the necessary level of representation to achieve a critical mass  not to mention falling short of women representation as half of the worlds population.

Some of the prominent women leaders who gained  respect as well as peer recognition:-  

1. Jacinda Ardern

Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern is a New Zealand politician who has served as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party since 2017. She has been the member of Parliament for Mount Albert since March 2017, having first been elected to the House of Representatives as a list MP in 2008. 

In March 2019, she led the country through the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque shootings, rapidly introducing strict gun laws in response. She has been praised for her handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand.

 She has revealed the government is spending $150m on the purchase of PPE, with a focus on supplying frontline border and isolation facility workers.

2. Indira Gandhi

Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was the first and, to date, only female Prime Minister of India. Indira Gandhi was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India.

Her biggest achievement following the 1971 election came in December 1971 with India's decisive victory over Pakistan in the Indo-Pakistani War that occurred in the last two weeks of the Bangladesh Liberation War, which led to the formation of independent Bangladesh.

3. Phoolan Devi ( Bandit Queen)

Phoolan Devi, popularly known as "Bandit Queen", was an Indian bandit and later a member of parliament. Born into a poor family in rural Uttar Pradesh, Phoolan endured poverty, child marriage and had an abusive marriage before taking to a life of crime. 

The victorious rival faction, who were Rajputs, took Phoolan to their village of Behmai, confined her in a room, and took turns to rape her repeatedly over several weeks. 

She was charged with 48 crimes, including multiple murders, and kidnapping.

In 1994, the state government headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party summarily withdrew all charges against her, and Phoolan was released. She then stood for election to parliament as a candidate of the Samajwadi Party and was twice elected to the Lok Sabha as the member for Mirzapur. 

The film Bandit Queen 1994, is loosely based oh her life until that point..

4. H.E. Ellon Johnson Sirleaf

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is a Liberian politician who served as the 24th President of Liberia from 2006 to 2018. Sirleaf was the first elected female head of state in Africa. Ellen Eugenia Johnson was born in Monrovia to a Gola father and Kru-German mother. She was educated at the College of West Africa. 

Sirleaf continued to be involved in politics. She finished in second place at the 1997 presidential election, which was won by Charles Taylor.

She won the 2005 presidential election and took office on 16 January 2006. She was re-elected in 2011.

She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011, in recognition of her efforts to bring women into the peacekeeping process. 

In June 2016, She was elected as the Chair of the Economic Community of West African States, making her the first woman to hold the position since it was created.

History has witnessed , when a woman has raised her voice then only humans have been benefited. History has changed when women have taken over power. As once said by Margaret Thatcher that "If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman". So what are you waiting for intelligent ladies....go and change the world....

By Mohit Verma