Elections
From a gender perspective, three main lessons can be learnt from the general election. First, gender issues are on the rise, a fact shown not least by the appointment of the first-ever women running mate for one of the two main presidential candidates. Second, although the ratios of women representatives at all levels are slowly but steadily increasing, the gender quota is just window dressing, which the parties blatantly ignore or work around by nominating women candidates to top-up lists. Third, violence against women in politics poses a serious threat to women’s political inclusion and citizenship.
On 9 August, Kenyans headed to the polls to elect the country’s president. In addition to the executive, Kenyans also elected 290 members of parliament, 47 governors, 47 senators, 47 women representatives and 1,450 members of county assemblies in the elections. However, the executive race was the focus of attention. Both online and offline, the two presidential contenders William Ruto and Raila Odinga engaged in rhetoric to disparage the other, a tactic that succeeded because of – and was perpetuated by – the spread of misinformation.
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A nascent body of literature has highlighter the violence (broadly defined) that women sometimes face as they enter politics. Some interpretations depict this violence as primarily gender motivated: women politicians are targeted because they are women. Another interpretation is that violence in some contexts is an everyday political practice targeting men and women alike. However, because we lack large-scale, systematic comparisons of men’s and women’s exposure to election violence, we know little about the extent to which – and how – candidate sex shape this form of violence- We address candidates in the 2018 Sri Lanka local elections. Sri Lanka is a suitable case for analysis because it is a postconflict country in which political violence has been endemic and the number of women candidates has increased rapidly due to gender quota adoption. Overall, we find large similarities in men’s and women’s exposure to violence, suggesting that violence sometimes is part of a larger political practice. However, we find that women are exposed to forms of intimidation of sexual nature more often than men. This finding demonstrated the need for gender-sensitive analyses of election violence.
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Recent Change to Electoral Law Reverses Major Advance for Women’s Rights
A new electoral law introduced by Tunisian President Kais Saied on September 15 eliminated the principle of gender parity in elected assemblies, and could, in turn, result in Tunisia’s parliament being led almost exclusively by men. The country’s next parliamentary elections are set to take place on December 17.
The new law strips gender parity provisions from a previous electoral law that strove to ensure equal representation between men and women in Tunisia’s elected assemblies, although Tunisia’s new constitution explicitly upholds this principle.
Ensuring gender parity in elected assemblies was one of the major accomplishments for women’s rights following Tunisia’s 2011 revolution. After the principle was first enshrined in the 2014 Constitution, the country’s 2014 electoral law required candidate lists to alternate their members between men and women. This led to the election of 68 female parliamentarians in 2014, representing 31 percent of the Assembly of Representatives of the People (ARP).
Click here to read the full article published by Human Rights Watch on 2 November 2022.
Parliamentary elections slated for Dec. 17, women representation stands at 15%
TUNIS – A total of 1,429 candidates have applied to contest Tunisia's parliamentary elections scheduled to be held on Dec. 17, the country's election commission said.
Faroukh Bouasker, head of the Independent High Authority for Elections, said in a televised interview that the deadline for receiving applications from candidates ended on Thursday.
The representation of women candidates stands at 15%, he added.
Click here to read the full article published by Anadolu Agency on 28 October 2022.
A group of researchers and female politicians said Monday that they will start a campaign to help mothers with young children run in next April’s nationwide gubernatorial and municipal assembly elections.
The project, called “Kosodate Senkyo Hack!” (which roughly translates as “tackling elections while child-rearing”), aims to give a greater voice in local politics to the dwindling ranks of families with small children by having mothers become lawmakers, project members told a news conference in Tokyo.
Click here to read the full article published by The Japan Times on 17 October 2022.
Rosie Campbell is professor of politics and Director of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London, where she works with Julia. Rosie has authored research on voting behaviour, public opinion and the politics of diversity and political recruitment.
In this episode, Julia asks Rosie about women’s participation in politics and gendered patterns of support for the populist radical right. Julia and Rosie also discuss the main issues facing women that risk stalling gender equality over the next decade, and how we can accelerate the rate of change and advance women’s access to leadership.
Click here to access the podcast.