In a Women’s Day gift that actually matters, Honduras' president ends ban on emergency contraceptive pills, and other stories
In a Women’s Day gift that actually matters, Honduras' president ends ban on emergency contraceptive pills, and other stories
#WomenLead (Issue 136): Your weekly round-up on women in politics
Hello, and welcome to Issue 136!
We hope you’ve had a wonderful week. It was THE week after all - that time of the year when we get to read, hear, watch, and think of all things about women. Often in good ways, but also the time when the jokes write themselves (as they did for us, with our favourite being this one). 😂
In this week’s edition, we bring you data on women ministers around the world, updates from India and Estonia, and the spotlight is on Honduras. In case you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here.
Quick Updates
📊 DATA CHECK: Over a fifth (22.8 percent) of cabinet ministers around the world were women, as of January 01, 2023, new data from UN Women shows. Not surprisingly, the portfolio where women are most likely to be ministers was that of ‘Women & Gender Equality’ - 84 percent of all such cabinet ministers at the national level were women. Next up were ministries of family and children affairs, where 68 percent of ministers were women. The ministries with the smallest share of women ministers were ministries of religious affairs (7 percent), transport (8 percent) and energy, natural resource, fuels and mining (11 percent).
There are 13 countries that have an equal share or more women among their cabinet ministers - Albania leads the pack with women comprising 66.7 percent of the top posts, followed by Finland and Spain with 64.3 percent and 63.6 percent, respectively. Nine countries had zero women ministers and several had just one.
👍 KUDOS: Talking about ministers, the Indian state of Nagaland which had thus far never had a single woman elected to its legislature, now not only has two women members of its legislative assembly, but also its first ever minister who is a woman. Salhoutuonuo Kruse is now the Minister for Women Resource Development and Horticulture for the state.
💥 HISTORIC POLLS: In Estonia, Kaja Kallas is set to serve her second straight term as Prime Minister after her party won a recent Parliamentary election. The election was notable for many firsts - this was the first time that voters could vote online, allowing Estonians around the world to participate, and also leading to the highest ever turnout in the nation’s history. The elections also saw 30 women getting elected to the country’s 101-seat Parliament, the highest for the country so far.
Spotlight: HONDURAS🇭🇳🇭🇳🇭🇳
Women’s Day turned out to be truly historic for Honduras this year. On March 8, President Xiomara Castro signed an executive order to end the ban on emergency contraceptive pills in the Central American nation.
As we’ve written about this previously, Honduras is one of the few countries with a complete ban on abortion, even when a pregnancy carries a risk to the life of the mother, or is the consequence of rape. In 2009, the country had enforced a ban even on emergency contraception, arguing that it could cause abortions. The ban was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2012.
Human rights experts estimate that anywhere between 51,000 and 82,000 unsafe abortions take place in the country each year because of the bans.
In 2021, Honduras’ national Congress amended its constitution to enshrine the ban on abortion in the Constitution itself, ensuring that relaxing the restrictions on this would not be easy in the future.
Decriminalising abortion was among the many poll promises on which Castro contested the 2021 polls, an election she won to become the country’s first female President. She seems to have taken the first step in that direction with Wednesday’s decision. The pill had been made available for survivors of rape in November 2022.
She shared the news on her Twitter account:
“Today, #8M we commemorate the historical struggle of women, signing with secretary @DrMatheu144 the Executive Agreement for free use and commercialization of the PAE. The World Health Organization (WHO) determined that it is part of the reproductive rights of women and is not abortive.” (translated using Google translate).
(PAE refers to Píldora Anticonceptiva de Emergencia, the emergency contraceptive pill in Honduras).
The joy - rather relief - among the country’s people is palpable on Twitter. Such a small measure, but so critical for healthcare and women’s freedom! As one Twitter user remarked,
“This is one small step for [a] woman, one giant leap for womankind”.
We echo that. Here’s to many more steps, big and small, in the days to come, in Honduras, and everywhere in the world!
Video of the week
“It’s 2023. Why are we [still] celebrating Women’s Day?”, I asked Ashwini Deshpande, rockstar economist who uncovers the economics of discrimination in her work (also the Director at CEDA where I work ☺️). Here’s what she said, and her patient answers to all my curious questions about the day are here. Please watch!
Reflections & Reads
On Satoko Kishimoto, the female mayor in Tokyo, fighting Japan’s sexist attitudes: BBC
“Rwanda shows that it takes more than seats in Parliament to liberate women” via openDemocracy
“With the two top jobs in politics now held by women, Italy just became a real-time case study in female leadership” via The Conversation
That’s a wrap for this week! Liked this edition? Then press the ❤️ button and show us some love! And please, please do share this with a friend or on your social media accounts. There’s frankly nothing quite like reader love and endorsement, so please keep it coming! We’ll see you next weekend with Issue 137!