Democratic Republic of the Congo - April 2024

On 1 April, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s President, Félix Tshisekedi, appointed Judith Suminwa Tuluka as the country’s first female prime minister. Tuluka is a member of Tshisekedi’s party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress, and formerly served as the DRC’s planning minister. The appointment was hailed by the President’s office as reinforcing ‘the positive masculinity advocated by …Tshisekedi’ and was reported by the media as fulfilling his campaign promise to achieve greater gender equality. It comes four months after the country’s December general elections, which were marked by the underrepresentation of women among the candidates and saw just 61 women win seats in the National Assembly (approximately 13 per cent of the 477 elected members).      

Sources: Jeune Afrique, The Africa Report, Reuters, Associated Press News, International IDEA, Inter-Parliamentary Union