Women in Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Women in Politics - Essay Example The main reason behind the empowerment and awareness of women is the rate at which they are embracing education. Today women are holding senior government positions in many countries across the world especially in the developed world where gender issues are more flexible. Three out of the top ten most powerful women globally, according to the Forbes Magazine, are political leaders. The most powerful woman according to Forbes is the chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel. Leading the fifth biggest economy in the world, Merkel is the most powerful political figure in the European Union. This paper seeks to explain the participation of women in politics today, and the factors contributing to the situation. Hillary Clinton, the state secretary of the U.S, once said that true democracy could only be found if the world was willing to listen to the voice of women. This statement has been interpreted differently by different political analysts. While some have seen it as a wake-up call to the women to start taking part in a people’s democratic processes, others have interpreted it as a cry to the developing countries to encourage female participation in decision making (Zergaw, 2011). In the contemporary world, women are going to school and pursuing careers that were associated with men in the past. They are empowering themselves and establishing high ambitions. Educating the girl child has been the theme and goal of many campaigns especially in the developing nations. Such knowledge is intended to provide the girls and women with necessary professional and academic qualifications that can let them go into such fields as politics. Today, the there are eight female heads of state across the world. The most fascinating thing about the participation of women in politics is that most of the female heads of state are presidents in third world nations. The fact that such African countries as Malawi and Liberia have women presidents indicates how aggressive women have be come in seeking to manage their nations. Such women as Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who is the Liberian president, and Joyce Banda, the popular head of state of Malawi are evidences of the revolution in the world of governance and politics. Third world nations have always been associated with male chauvinism and gender discrimination (Karin, 1999). However, with the current legislative reforms, women are gaining some bargaining power in socio-political dealings. Some of the most significant legislative reforms that have highly empowered women include the prohibition of gender violence and justice in inheritance of property. Unlike in the past century, most states now advocate for equal consideration in the distribution of family wealth. This has made women gain a wealth of knowledge in relation to their rights, privileges and responsibilities. The high rate, at which women are getting involved in politics, can be attributed to the awareness that the girl child has equal rights to educatio n as the boy child. In the past two decades, women got enlightened and went for such courses as law and political science. Typically, most influential women politicians are those that have taken legal courses and professions (Zergaw, 2011). Janet Reno is one of the most prominent women in the history of the United States. Having studied law at the university, Reno became the first female attorney general in the United States in the year 1993. She held the position for the second longest period in the history of the United States. This was after having been in the position for eight years. Reno had an enormous influence on all legal reforms in the