Kosovo’s first woman mayor, Mimoza Kusari-Lila of Gjakova, thinks that politics is a bit like riding a bicycle. You shouldn’t look down, but concentrate on the road ahead. “When you run for office, you shouldn’t focus on bumps and obstacles in the road,” she said, “but bear in mind the reason you entered politics.”

She knows the value of perseverance, having run for office twice in four years, finally succeeding last November. Her success, she said, “was the success of all women that helped me in this process.”

In Sub-Saharan Africa, where women hold just 23 percent of the seats in national parliaments and there are only three women heads of state, Catherine Samba-Panza, president of the Central African Republic (CAR), is an inspirational figure. Her position as the first female president of a Francophone country is a powerful symbol for African women, showing they can succeed even in countries where armed conflict, corruption and inequality have been the norm.

In early February in Bamako, Mali, a group of local gender and legal experts, including a member of the Supreme Court and a former member of parliament, came together to draft a law aimed at improving the representation of women in Mali’s government. The proposed statute included a quota requirement that at least 30 percent of each political party’s candidates in national and local elections be women. The 30 percent provision would also apply to nominations for government positions.