Author: Patricia Cepeda

For the past 10 years, WPL has emerged as a global force in increasing the number and influence of women in political leadership positions. WPL efforts have been supported by partnerships and contributions of many outstanding leaders. In recognition of the many achievements of the past decade, WPL invites members and partners to mark WPL’s […]

Iceland, 16 March 2022 – Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Prime Minister, Birgir Ármannsson, Speaker of Parliament, and Silvana Koch-Mehrin, Founder and President of Women Political Leaders (WPL) signed an agreement in the Prime Minister’s Office today. The agreement entails the continuation of the cooperation between the Government of Iceland, Parliament, and Women Political Leaders which will see […]

Brussels, March 2022 – Women Political Leaders (WPL) is honoured to welcome Delphine O as WPL Special Envoy for Generation Equality. Delphine O has served as a Member of the French National Assembly from 2017 to 2019 and has recently been appointed as the Secretary-General of the Generation Equality Forum in 2021. As a […]

Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Minister Þórdís Kolbrún R. Gylfadóttir, Mayor Dagur Bergþóruson Eggertsson, Iceland is the country of peace, and Iceland is the world champion of women in leadership. WPL as the global non-partisan network of women politicians appeals to you as the leaders of Iceland to immediately offer an invitation to the President […]

Brussels, January 2022 – Women Political Leaders (WPL) is honoured to welcome Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka as WPL Global Ambassador for Generation Equality. Mlambo-Ngcuka, who was appointed as the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women from 2013 until 2021, will also serve as a member of the WPL Global Advisory Board. Having led the United Nations […]

Developed by the Reykjavík Global Forum – Women Leaders and powered by McKinsey & Company, the Women’s World Atlas 2021 (WWA) is a striking graphic illustration of the progression (if any) toward achieving parity between women and men in leadership across a variety of sectors. While inequality is gradually being reduced in politics, countries have moved […]

23 November 2021, Brussels – Women Political Leaders (WPL) is pleased to announce the appointment of Olena Malynska as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for WPL. Since its inception, Women Political Leaders (WPL) strives to increase the number and influence of women in political leadership positions. In the past few years, the organisation has grown […]

10 November 2021 – REYKJAVÍK, ICELAND – At the conclusion of the Reykjavik Global Forum, the 2021 Women Political Leaders Trailblazer Award was given to Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, Prime Minister of Iceland (2009-2013) and the world’s first openly LGBT head of government. The WPL Trailblazer Award recognises women Presidents and Prime Ministers, who by reaching the […]

Women Political Leaders (WPL) has been closely monitoring the developments in Afghanistan since the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces – which was completed at the end of August. Despite the Taliban’s repeated assurances to the international community about establishing an inclusive government that represents all parts of society, Afghan women politicians are not only […]

9 July 2021, Brussels – Women Political Leaders (WPL) is pleased to announce the appointment of Bogolo Joy Kenewendo as WPL Special Envoy to G7 & G20, and Nurhayati Ali Assegaf as WPL Global Ambassador for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Expanding its secretariat, WPL has also appointed Jennifer Blanke as a Senior Adviser. As part […]

The Leadership Campaign aims to highlight the commitment of male Presidents and Prime Ministers around the world to increase the number of women in politics. Parity between women and men in politics mirrors our societies. Greater balance in political representation is essential to inclusiveness. For this to happen, men are as much part of that […]

Women represent more than half of the world’s representation. Yet, they remain highly underrepresented within the political and business realms. The Women World’s Atlas, a project by the Reykjavík Global Forum – Women Leaders and powered by McKinsey & Company, illustrates the unequal distribution of women and men in leadership positions across different societal sectors. […]

The Covid-19 pandemic has deepened the already existing prejudices on society’s views on leadership suitability between women and men. The Reykjavík Index for Leadership, a joint project by Women Political Leaders and Kantar, reveals that the public is still not predisposed to women in leadership positions and holds prejudices regarding women’s suitability for leadership compared […]

“Time for a check-up: the state of mental healthcare in Europe” Health has been the world’s overriding concern for more than a year, and the ongoing pandemic has assaulted not only the physical well-being of people, but their mental health as well. Undiagnosed anxiety, depression, and other mental health disorders are all perceived as being […]

Höfði House will forever hold a place in history as the location of the 1986 Reykjavík Summit talks. Now, some 35 years later, it has become the site of the annual Power Together: Reykjavík Summit, a distinguished roundtable discussion among women leaders to advance progress on the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda. Held in tandem […]

Women Political Leaders sits down with Sandie Okoro, Senior Vice President and General Counsel for the World Bank Group, to hear about the latest findings on violence against women. What are the most recent findings concerning GBV in the context of COVID-19? One out of three women is subjected to physical and sexual violence by […]

The prescriptions on global immunisation are out, and the world is their patient. A digital conversation held on 9 March was powered and organised by Women Political Leaders (WPL) and saw the participation of three former heads of state, WPL Global Ambassadors for Vaccination Aminata Touré and Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, and José Manuel Barroso, Chair of […]

On the 16th of March, 2021, the Canadian Association of Feminist Parliamentarians organised a webinar aligned with the sixty-fifth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. Entitled Why Violence Against Women Should Concern Us All, the webinar convened women leaders to discuss the main causes of violence against women and to seek approaches […]