Hodan Ahmed and her family were forced to flee Somalia in 1991. The civil war that drove them from their home would go on for two decades. Ahmed live abroad in India and then in Kenya, where she got her education and began her career, but her dream was to return to Somalia to give her children the chance to grow up where she could not.

Urging women to concentrate on moving forward rather than “up,” Ping Fu, chief strategy officer for 3D Systems, described life as a mountain range that needs to be scaled. “Forget about this glass ceiling stuff,” she said at a May 29 Washington, D.C., panel discussion on women, democracy and technology.

When Ilirjana Gafurri, a political party activist in Peja, Kosovo, won a seat on her local council six years ago, she became an advocate for issues such as better health care and women’s equality in her community. But Gafurri had to struggle to make her voice heard in the predominantly male body, where women are often perceived as being passive or not as qualified.

In Kenya’s male-dominated political landscape, women face many barriers to political participation, especially when seeking elective office. Aspiring women politicians often struggle with discrimination and lack of coverage by top media outlets, which makes it difficult for them to gain public exposure and support.