Elections
There’s no avoiding it: 2024 is a presidential election year.
President Joe Biden will square off against a Republican challenger (most likely former President Donald Trump, if polls are to be believed). And it’s already shaping up to be a charged race in an already-charged atmosphere. Hot-button issues like abortion, domestic economic woes and foreign wars, which are already inflaming Americans, loom large as part of voters’ calculus as well.
When it comes to women in politics, however, Americans by and large aren’t feeling much of anything. A Pew Research Center poll published last fall revealed that a 64% majority of Americans aren’t concerned about having a woman president, and roughly half are unbothered by the lack of representation for women in elected office overall.
Click here to read the full article published by The Story Exchange on 22 January 2024.
Image source: The Story Exchange
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As part of its commitment to enhancing gender equality and fighting sexism against women candidates and local office holders, the Congress launched, on 18 January 2024, a practical Guide for women and men on preventing and combatting sexism in local politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
More than 30 representatives of local authorities, entity and state-level institutions, and civil society organizations attended the online launch of the Guide, a timely resource in view of the 2024 local elections in the country. Opening the event, the Congress Thematic Spokesperson on Gender Equality, Eirini Dourou (Greece, SOC/G/PD), emphasized that “gender equality and women’s empowerment is needed to build cohesive, resilient communities and promote the respect of fundamental rights at local level”.
The Guide provides insights on how to identify sexism, and details appropriate measures for fostering a more gender-inclusive institutional culture and greater equality at local level. Participants of the launch event also learned about the overall work of the Council of Europe Office in Sarajevo on enhancing gender equality, including through its action on combating digital and sexual violence against women, in implementing the standards set by the Istanbul Convention which Bosnia and Herzegovina ratified in 2013.
Click here to read the full article published by the Council of Europe on 22 January 2024.
Image by The Council of Europe
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In the 2019 general elections, Indonesian voters elected 118 women to the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR). Although an increase from 2014, when just 97 women were elected, women still only account for 21 per cent of the 575-member parliament. That means women’s political representation in Indonesia remains lower than the 30 per cent candidate quota imposed by the Law on Elections No. 10, 2008.
There are several factors frustrating women’s political representation including voter beliefs about women’s leadership, gendered processes of candidate selection in political parties and the low numbers of women holding senior positions in the civil service.
However, the possibility of improving women’s political representation in the upcoming February 2024 elections will also depend on overcoming arguably the biggest impediment to their election: money.
Click here to read the full article published by the University of Melbourne on 16 January 2024.
Image source: University of Melbourne
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In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly 120 million people were pushed into vulnerable situations and we witnessed a great need for more community engagement and participation across the board. Coupled with domestic economic instability, political upheaval, countries in transitional democracies have borne disproportionate burdens. Over the years, there has been a conversation that has been missing from the development space, and especially in women’s development, that has the potential to bridge the gap between scholars and practitioners.
In March of 2023, as a stakeholder at the sixty seventh Commission on the Status of Women in New York City, while negotiating with women advocates from transitional democracies, we highlighted the need to recognise and implement transformative avenues for women to engage in political participation. Taking in consideration Pakistan’s strategic role in international politics, I maintain that it is important to create spaces for women in decision making halls of politics.
Click here to read the full article published by The Friday Times on 14 January 2024.
Image by The Friday Times
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Following President Megawati Soekarnoputri's term, Indonesia, the largest nation in Southeast Asia, has yet to witness a woman at its helm.
It has been 20 years since the country had a female leader. This situation will persist through the upcoming Presidential 2024 election, as female candidates have yet to emerge on the political horizon.
On February 14, Indonesian citizens will vote for one of three presidential candidates to lead Indonesia for five years.
Click here to read the full article published by Fair Planet on 3 January 2024.
Image by Fair Planet
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More than 70 national elections are scheduled for 2024, including in eight of the 10 most populous countries. But one group is likely to be significantly under-represented: women. A major reason is the disproportionate amount of abuse female politicians and candidates receive online, including threats of rape and violence. The rise of artificial intelligence, which can be used to create sexually explicit deepfakes, is only compounding the problem. […]
Online attacks against women in politics are already on the rise. Four out of five female parliamentarians have been subjected to psychological violence such as bullying, intimidation, verbal abuse or harassment, while more than 40% have been threatened with assault, sexual violence or death.
Click here to read the full article published by The Australian Strategic Policy Institute on 8 January 2024.
Image source: The Australian Strategic Policy Institute
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