“What’s dangerous is not to evolve” — Jeff Bezos, owner Amazon

WOMEN are in a constant state of evolution, hold up half of the world, yet their yeoman efforts are hardly ever reflected in their pay cheques. On a local to global level, women’s leadership and political participation are compromised, as they are still under-represented as voters, as well as in leading positions, whether in electoral offices, civil service, or the private sector or academia.

The status quo of ‘inferiority’ remains despite women being change gaugers, proving their leadership abilities and their right to participate equally in democratic governance.

Their obstacle course has inherent barriers, but two predominate: structural barriers through discriminatory laws and institutionalisation still limit women’s options to vote or run for office; and capacity gaps, example, women were less likely than men to have education, contacts or training to be effective leaders.

However, despite global wealth and millions of women still relegated to being the Second Sex as described by Simone de Beauvoir in her seminal thesis, women still, circa 2016, find themselves universally, inter alia, trapped in low-paid, poor-quality jobs, deprived in some instances of the basic levels of heath care, water and sanitation and less likely to participate politically.

Women are generally marginalised from the political sphere as a result of discriminatory laws, practices, attitudes and gender stereotypes, low levels of education, lack of access to health care and disproportionate effects of poverty.

Imagine this, although the percentage of women in politics has doubled in the last 20 years, post-Beijing it has only translated into 22 per cent of women in Parliament today. As of 2015, 11 women served as heads of state and 10 served as a number of government. Rwanda has the highest number of women in Parliament with 63.8 per cent in the lower house.

Post-Beijing and the rise of Hillary and BeyoncÃ&Copy;

The UN has organised four World Conferences on women . They took place respectively in Mexico City, 1975; Copenhagen 1980; Nairobi, 1985; and Beijing, 1995.

That last one, Beijing, I attended and was electrified by Hillary, now former US Secretary of State, Democratic front-runner, on the precipice of history. If she wins the democratic nomination and the American general election in November 2016, she would become the most powerful woman in the world.

She has written about the vagaries of power in her tome,

Hard Choices. There she wrote, on seeing women as agents of change, in September, 1995, “ I wanted to use my voice to tell the stories not only of the women I had met, but also of the millions of others whose stories would not be heard unless I and the others told them. If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights, once and for all. I offered a list of abuses, including domestic violence, forced prostitution, rape as a tactic or prize of war, genital mutilation and bride burnings, all violations of women’s rights and also human rights and went on to urge that the world should condemn them with one voice.”

Her 21-minute speech met with a roaring standing ovation. Everyone was fired up and ready to go.

But despite the many inroads, women and girls still comprise the majority of the world’s unhealthy, unfed and unpaid. At the end of 2013, women held less than 22 per cent of all seats in parliaments and legislatures around the world. In some places women cannot open a bank account or sign a contract. More than 100 countries still have laws that limit or prohibit women’s participation in the economy. Twenty years ago, American women made 72 cents on the dollar. Today, it’s still not equal. Women also hold a majority of lower wage jobs in America and really three quarters of all jobs in fields that rely on tips like waiters, bartenders and hairstylists — which pay even less than average hourly work. Meanwhile, only a small percentage of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. In short, the journey toward full participation for women and girls is far from over.

Clinton calls it “unfinished business”. Perhaps that’s why she is presently vying for her country’s top job. She understands the currency of these P words very well…POWER AND PRIDE…YES WE CAN.

In the May 2016 issue of

Elle, BeyoncÃ&Copy;, Queen Bey, sounded off:

“To me power is making things happen without asking for permission. It’s affecting the way people perceive themselves and the world around them. It’s making people stand up with pride. Feminist: it’s someone who believes in equal rights for men and women. I don’t understand the negative connotation of the word, or why it should exclude the opposite sex.

“If you’re a man who believes your daughter should have the same opportunities and rights as your son, then you’re a feminist. We need men and women to understand the double standards that still exist in this world, and we need to have a real conversation so we can begin to make changes. Ask anyone, man or woman, do you want your daughter to have 75 cents when she deserves a dollar?”

Gina Morley, an attorney-at-law, was the founding editor of All Woman.