“A world where half our homes are run by men, and half our institutions are run by women, would be a far better world!”

The first time, I heard Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO, say this was in 2012. I immediately turned to Wikipedia and this is what I saw:

Sirimavo Bandaranaike – Prime Minister, Sri Lanka (1960-65, 1970-77, 1994-2000)
Indira Gandhi – Prime Minister, India (1966-77, 1980-84)
Benazir Bhutto – Prime Minister, Pakistan (1988-90, 1993-96)
Khaleda Zia – Prime Minister, Bangladesh (1991-96, 2001-06)
Chandrika Kumaratunga – Prime Minister, Sri Lanka (1994)
Sheikh Hasina – Prime Minister, Bangladesh (1996-2001, 2008 onwards)

While the United States of America is yet to vote for Hillary Clinton, we, in South Asia have already seen six female heads of government, serving a sum total of 12 terms.

The numbers of women in leadership positions have sparked a global debate, for quite some time now. When in actuality, there are a lot of strong, brilliant women who are leaders, clearly they are not enough, not enough in business, and most certainly not enough in politics.

Studies demonstrate that as gaps are being closed between men and women, in access to education, in healthcare, and even in economic participation, the most difficult gap to close is in political participation.