Women in Leadership Positions:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/claire-charamnac/women-leadership_b_2246001.html

Claire Charamnac Co-founder and executive director, US of Women LEAD Posted: 12/05/2012 3:00 pm EST Updated: 10/24/2013 9:36 am EDT

Only 20 percent of political leaders in the world are women.

I strongly believe that the lack of female leaders is one of the most enduring forms of inequality in the 21st century.

Women are absent in corporate boardrooms, parliaments, peace negotiating tables and almost all major institutions around the world. For every Hillary Clinton and Marissa Mayer, there are thousands of women who do not break the glass ceiling.

When women are shut out of the institutions of power they face the brunt of poverty and violence. In Nepal, 1/3 of girls aged 15 to 19 are married and 57 percent of women are illiterate. The solutions to these problems are within communities, and often in the hands of young women. They have the vision and creativity to solve the issues plaguing their communities, but they lack the necessary resources and tools.

Leadership development is a critical step in female empowerment. They need to be mentored, to have their opinions valued, to be told that they can become leaders.

Eight is the peak age for girls' leadership ambitions. We cannot expect young women to face the pressures of the media, gender stereotypes and societal expectations alone.