2025 has not only been a year of power for women in global politics, but also a year of symbolic protest, putting personal life on the public stage and challenging the traditional language of power. This year, some such moments of women leaders came to the fore that stirred thoughts.
In February 2025, Australian Senator Lydia Thorpe created a ruckus by entering a pro-nuclear press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. The senator who forcefully entered here shouted – “You have no permission for nuclear energy in Australia. You are poisoning your children’s children!”
He described nuclear energy as a threat to tribal lands and the environment, especially in the context of the ‘AUKUS’ deal and nuclear waste. The commotion happened just before the press conference was to begin, and the video went viral. Opponents called it a publicity stunt.
The ‘We Are All Natasha’ campaign caught everyone’s attention in Nigeria this year. MP Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has made serious allegations of sexual harassment against Senate President Godswill Akpabio, sparking protests and debate across the country.
On 28 February 2025, Natasha revealed this in a TV interview. Then in March 2025, Natasha submitted a petition to the Senate, but the Ethics Committee rejected it. The next day, the Senate suspended Natasha for 6 months (salary, security, office access closed). The official reason given was his ‘rude behaviour’. Natasha called it revenge. After this, women’s rights groups, civil society and women protested strongly and launched the ‘We are all Natasha’ campaign.
On 24 November 2025, Australia’s far-right senator Pauline Hanson entered Parliament wearing a burqa. This was his stunt, because Parliament had refused to table the bill being introduced to make wearing of burqa and full face covering in public places.
Hanson said that if burqas are not to be banned then they should be allowed to wear them – it is a symbol of oppression and security risk on women. There was a lot of uproar in the Parliament regarding this. The session was suspended for one and a half hours as Hanson refused to take off the burqa.
Muslim senators such as Fatima Paiman (the first MP to wear a hijab) and Mehreen Faruqi called it “racist,” “Islamophobic,” and “an insult to Muslims.” On 25 November 2025, Parliament suspended Hanson for 7 days (with 2025 being the last session, the suspension would last until 2026). Hanson did the same in 2017.
At the same time, in the high-level meeting at the United Nations General Assembly on 22 September 2025, Nadia Murad gave a powerful speech on the right to equality and sexual violence in violence-hit areas. He said that mere remembering is not enough, action is required. The next generation should get not just promises, but the reality of justice, equality and dignity.
The speech focused on atrocities against women (such as the Yazidi Genocide). Nadia Murad is a Yazidi human rights activist, Nobel Peace Prize (2018) winner, and a victim of sexual assault by ISIS.
In December 2025, Venezuelan pro-democracy leader María Corina Machado received the Nobel Peace Prize, and this was also much talked about. After receiving the award, he thanked Trump and said that it was dedicated to him.
He was honored for promoting democratic rights and peaceful transition against dictatorship in Venezuela. His award was announced by the Norwegian Nobel Committee on October 10, 2025.
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