Data Story: Women in the Western Equatoria State Government
The Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan demands that there is 35% women representation in all levels of government. In this short article we look at the statistics of women in ministerial positions, members of state independent commissions and county commissioners in Western Equatoria State.
Out of the seventeen (17) state ministries, only four (04) female ministers were appointed by the various parties to the R-ARCSS in Western Equatoria State.
As per the power-sharing agreement, Western Equatoria State has ten counties in which only two (02) females were appointed as the County commissioners.
No Female advisors have been appointed out of the five.
In the six (06) state independent commissions that brought 30 individuals only nine (09) are females.
Gender | State Ministers | Independent Commissions | County Commissioners |
| Male | 13 | 24 | 08 |
| Female | 04 | 09 | 02 |
| Total | 17 | 30 | 10 |
| % of Women | 23.5% | 30% | 20% |
This brings the total number of female executives in the Western Equatoria State government to 13.
Statistics of women representation in Western Equatoria State Executive | |||
| S/N | Name of candidate | Post | Party |
| 1 | Female | Ministry of Animal Resources, Fisheries and Tourism | IG |
| 2 | Female | Ministry of Roads and Bridges | IG |
| 3 | Female | Ministry of General Education and Instruction | IG |
| 4 | Female | Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare | IO |
| 5 | Female | Member, Anti-Corruption Commission | IG |
| 6 | Female | Member, Employee Justice Chamber | SSOA |
| 7 | Female | Member, HIV/AIDS Commission | IG |
| 8 | Female | Member, RRC | IO |
| 9 | Female | Member, Human Rights Commission | IG |
| 10 | Female | Chairperson, Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation Commission | SSOA |
| 11 | Female | Member, Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation Commission | IG |
| 12 | Female | Commissioner, Mundri West County | SSOA |
| 13 | Female | Commissioner, Mundri East County | IG |
| 1 | SPLM-IG | 8 | |
| 2 | SPLM-IO | 2 | |
| 3 | SSOA | 3 | |
| 4 | OPP | 0 |
About the Authors:
Justin Anthony, a Data Speaks Fellow at #defyhatenow South Sudan, wrote this data story, which was edited by 211 Check Editor Emmanuel Bida Thomas and approved for publication by Steve Topua, Data Analyst and Trainer. It’s part of the ongoing #defyhatenow South Sudan Data Speaks Fellowship program with funding from the European Union Delegation to South Sudan.
About South Sudan Data Speaks Fellowship:
This is a three months data journalism fellowship for South Sudanese content creators with an aim of educating participants on the fundamentals of data journalism through in-depth training facilitated by experienced data analysts.
The fellows have been selected from across South Sudan and they are trained in data sourcing/mining, data analysis, and data visualisation for three months (October to December)
