Constituency Outreach

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Parliamentarians must develop a strong network and maintain close contact with their constituencies in order to represent their interests at the national level. Collectively, women can raise gender equality issues in public debates and help forge national consensus on women’s rights. Constituency outreach relies on close ties, regular meetings and contact with the people, civil society organizations and women’s groups and associations. Collaboration with the media is also important to ensure adequate dissemination of news related to parliamentary action, including gender issues and women’s concerns.

From the Library

Mauritius: The Women in the Shadows

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Fri, 2010-03-05 09:07
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The paltry participation of women in politics is but an extension of their limited bearing on meaningful decision- making in general. To improve that, the condition of the ordinary woman has to be improved first. Also, empowering women means giving them the opportunity to take their lives into their own hands. This is not possible for as long as our archaic mentalities, fuelled by the intervention of religious and socio-cultural groups, keep pushing them down.

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To read the complete story please visit AllAfrica.com.


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Cambodia: Crusader Rowing Upstream in Cambodia

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Wed, 2010-03-03 12:24
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Ms. Mu Sochua is a member of a new generation of women who are working their way into the political systems of countries across Asia and elsewhere, from local councils to national assemblies and cabinet positions.

A former minister of women’s affairs, she did as much as anyone to put women’s issues on the agenda of Cambodia as it emerged in the 1990s from decades of war and mass killings. But she lost her public platform in 2004 when she broke with the government, and she is now finding it as difficult to promote her ideas as it is to simply gain attention as a candidate.

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To read the complete story please visit NY Times.


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Chile: First Woman President Scores Points on Gender Front

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Tue, 2010-03-02 08:36
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At the end of her term on Mar. 11, Michelle Bachelet will be stepping down with a tremendous level of popularity: 83 percent, a record in her country, and almost unheard of in the rest of the world.

The inauguration of rightwing President-elect Sebastián Piñera that day will close a chapter in the history of this South American country of 17 million people, governed by the centre-left coalition Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia since the return to democracy in 1990.

As a result of the gender equity policies implemented by the Bachelet administration, Chile will be the Latin American country with the most gains to show at the Mar. 1-12 meeting of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, in which governments will gather in New York for the 15-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action adopted in 1995 at the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in the Chinese capital.

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To read the complete story please visit IPS News.


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Canada: Councillors hold seminar for women

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Fri, 2010-02-26 14:17
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Councillors Jan Harder and Marianne Wilkinson are teaming up to offer encouragement and advice by hosting a Women in Politics Campaign School on Feb. 27, aimed at providing information on how to budget, develop a platform and deliver a strong campaign message.

"I was thinking back to when I first ran for election in 1997 and I knew nothing about campaigns, the rules and asking for money," said Coun. Harder. "Women are still challenged today with being the main caretaker of the family and have also been involved extensively in the community and want to make a difference. We want to reach out to them with information that allows them to make that giant leap."

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To read the complete news story please visit EMC Ottawa South.


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Nigeria: Women need co-operation to do better in politics – Dukku

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Tue, 2010-02-16 10:21
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Minister of State for Education, Hajiya Aishatu Jibril Dukku who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education from Bayero Universityia a professional educationist. "I believe gradually even for the elective posts that women are gradually coming up, we only need to showcase ourselves better. We also need to cooperate so that we justify the saying that whatever a man can do a woman can do even better. We need the support of the men, we need to be more confident and we need to show that we are better managers of anything be at an organization or in the private or public sector."

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To read the complete news story please visit Daily Sun.


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Nigeria: Why Women Are Harmstrung in Politics

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Fri, 2010-01-22 08:42
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The former Deputy Governor of Lagos State Senator Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele has said the reason why women in Africa do not get equal chance as men in politics is that political parties are dominated by men. She said women have in the last 50 years failed to achieve equality with men because the African society still believes that a woman still lacks the financial capability to run political campaign and political parties are dominated by men. She said men are reluctant to back women for elective positions and that women have been brainwashed into supporting men rather than their own gender.

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To read the complete story please visit AllAfrica.com.


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Pakistan: Women in Pakistan forge ahead against bias in politics

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Mon, 2010-01-18 14:23
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Pakistani women are forging ahead in the political platform against the traditional discrimination facing their approach to politics as other basic rights of life varies considerably across classes and regions in the Muslim country.

Presenting the key findings of a Baseline Study on Presence and Status of Women in Political Parties across Pakistan, PATTAN National Coordinator Sarwar Bari said the political parties are backbone of democracy and without involving half of Pakistan's population in political processes the country can't move forward in any field.

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To read the complete story please visit China View.


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Nigeria: Why Women Shun Politics, By Minister

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Mon, 2010-01-18 14:15
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Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Salamatu Hussaini Suleiman has observed that violence in the nation’s body polity was responsible for limited number of women participation in politics in the country.
Making this observation during advocacy visits to Yobe and Borno States capital, she said the challenge of getting women to take 30 percent slot in both elective and appointive political office by 2011 at all tiers of government remains that of all Nigerians.

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To read the complete story please visit This Day: African Views on Global News.


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Online Discussion "Women in power and decision making"

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Fri, 2010-01-15 17:36
2010-01-20
2010-02-18
Etc/GMT
Click here
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Online
Venue: 
http://www.unifem.org/forums/governance/index.php
Description: 

UNIFEM would like to invite you to an online discussion Women in Power and Decision-Making, one of the Critical Areas of Concern as identified in the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995. Promoting women's role and participation in decision making and politics is a key priority for UNIFEM, and we are pleased to facilitate this important discussion. The purpose is to draw on the collective experiences since Beijing and to identify what has worked well and what hasn’t in increasing the number and effectiveness of women in power and positions of decision making around the world.

This thematic discussion on Women in Power and Decision Making is part of a series of United Nations online discussions dedicated to the fifteen-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly (2000); and is hosted by WomenWatch (http://www.un.org/womenwatch), an inter-agency project of the United Nations Inter-agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE). WomenWatch is a unique electronic gateway to web-based information on all United Nations entities’ work and the outcomes of the United Nations’ intergovernmental processes for the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment. These discussions will be a contribution to the 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, which will take place March 1-12, 2010.

The 1995 Beijing Platform for Action notes, “Despite the widespread movement towards democratization in most countries, women are largely under represented at most levels of government, especially in ministerial and other executive bodies, and have made little progress in attaining political power in legislative bodies or in achieving the target endorsed by the Economic and Social Council of having 30% women in positions at the decision-making levels by 1995".

Section G of the Beijing Platform for Action presents 2 strategic objectives for Women in Power and Decision Making:

· Women's Take measures to ensure women's equal access to and full participation in power structures and decision-making.

· Increase women's capacity to participate in decision-making and leadership.

Key achievements and challenges were identified in the five and ten-year reviews of the Beijing Platform for Action. Since then, there has been much progress, but there are still many serious challenges. The current discussion on Women in Power and Decision Making provides an opportunity to share views on achievements, gaps, and challenges, and to propose future action.
The discussion will run for four weeks and address the following issues:

· January 20-27: Achievements

· January 28-04 February: Gaps and Challenges

· February 5-12: Future Actions

· February 13-18: Summary of the Discussions

The online discussion on Women in Power and Decision Making will be moderated by Piyoo Kochar (piyoo.kochar@unifem.org), Network Facilitator, International Knowledge Network of Women in Politics – iKNOW Politics (http://iknowpolitics.org) on behalf of UNIFEM. iKNOW Politics is a partnership project of UNIFEM with International IDEA, InterParliamentary Union, NDI and UNDP.

You will need to sign up in order to participate, at UNIFEM’s Online Forums page on Power and Decision Making (http://www.unifem.org/forums/governance/)


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Cybele

Submitted by Cybele on Tue, 2009-12-08 03:57

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