Parliaments & Representatives
The Arab Parliament emphasized that women’s political empowerment, which enhances the roles they can play in the political sphere, contributes significantly to consolidating the process of democratisation and achieving inclusive development, notably in light of women’s assumption of high-ranking positions reaching the presidency of governments in various countries across the world. The Arab Parliament added that strengthening Arab women's political contributions is among the priorities of its work, stressing that there are honorable models of the growing role of Arab women in the political sphere demonstrating that women in Arab societies are capable of giving if they possess the co-factors in this area primarily qualification and equal opportunities.
Click here to read the full article published by the National News Agency on 23 October 2023.
Barrister Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, the Honourable Minister of Women Affairs has lamented the Non-inclusivity of the Nigerian Women in Politics and decision making which has become a barrier to the country’s socio-economic growth.
The Minister who advocated for all hands to be on deck towards breaking those barriers that have impeded our quest for socio-economic advancement as a nation, over the years, appealed that, “We need to break the barrier if we must move forward as a country”.
Click here to read the full article published by Independent Nigeria on 21 October 2023.
Women’s Collective Ireland – Limerick are delighted to launch their new report Addressing Sexism in Politics: Creating Safe, Inclusive and Accessible Political Spaces for Everyday Women, this report is a collaboration between Women’s Collective Ireland – Limerick and TUS research group EDGE.
Since 2019, WCI Limerick has been working specifically to strengthen and increase women’s participation and representation in local politics. In that time, they have worked with over 150 women and were instrumental in the establishment of the Limerick Women’s Caucus, the first of its kind a local level in the country. This work and the feedback they have been receiving from women led them to draft this report.
Click here to read the full report published by the Women's Collective Ireland – Limerick on 17 October 2023.
WOMEN in politics in Ireland face "shocking" levels of sexism from their male colleagues and from the public, a new report has found.
Women’s Collective Ireland - Limerick released their report, Addressing Sexism in Politics: Creating Safe, Inclusive and Accessible Political Spaces for Everyday Women, on October 17.
Click here to read the full article published by Limerick Leader on 19 October 2023.
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Women are not only underrepresented as political candidates across the country, they're also underrepresented as donors.
Driving the news: Women donors made up just 29% to 33% of the contributions to general election candidates at statewide and state legislative levels between 2019 and 2022.
That's according to a new report on the "donor gap" from Rutgers' Center for American Women and Politics using data from OpenSecrets.
Click here to read the full article published by Axios on 17 October 2023.
Despite Philippines’ good standing in terms of gender equality, a deficit in women’s political representation in the country remains observable.
According to Country Program Coordinator of United Nations (UN) Women Rosalyn Mesina on Tuesday, Philippines is always high performing and on the top of the list when it comes to World Economic Forum Gender Equality Index.
Click here to read the full article published by the Inquirer on 18 October 2023.
The second Global Parliamentary Report is jointly produced by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). It focuses on parliament’s role in oversight of government, and parliament’s power to hold government to account for its actions and decisions.
Oversight is a core function of parliament. It is essential for building effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions as envisioned by Agenda 2030 and Sustainable Development Goal 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions). Parliaments’ oversight of government is critical for ensuring that people receive essential services, and is thus critical for building accountability. Parliament, through its representative mandate, is the appropriate entity through which oversight should be led.
The analysis, conclusions and recommendations in the report are grounded in parliamentary practice and experience: 150 national parliaments contributed to the preparation of the report. The report includes numerous examples of how parliaments and Members of Parliament (MPs) carry out oversight in their countries, as well as tips for MPs on ways to approach oversight.
The report is intended to stimulate action to strengthen parliament’s oversight role. The future positive development of parliaments and their ability to contribute to achievement of the SDGs depends, in large part, on what oversight can deliver for the populations they serve. UNDP works to strengthen parliaments to help them become fit for purpose for the delivery of Agenda 2030 in some 70 partner countries, and will implement the lessons learned from the report in this work.
Click here to see the report.
The Sex and Power series was first published by the Equal Opportunities Commission fifteen years ago, then taken over by the Equality and Human Rights Commission for several years, and then for 5 years up to 2015 the ‘Counting Women in Coalition’ collected and collated data on women’s representation across different areas of public life.
In 2018, the centenary year of (some) women first getting the vote in parliamentary elections, and to coincide with the first statue of a woman in Parliament Square, the Fawcett Society has now brought together a new edition of that Sex and Power dataset.
One hundred years on from when the first women gained a say in how the country is run, it is an assessment of where the UK has made progress on representation – and where we have not.
In the report you will find:
- A breakdown of percentages of women in power across politics, business and public life
- Analysis of women's representation in politics, businesses, the arts and more
- Conclusions and recommendations, including a time-limited use of quotas across public bodies and the boards of large corporate organisations.
For further information, please click here.
Download report here.
The annual report on women in parliament by IPU provides an update and analysis of progress made and setbacks encountered by women in parliament further to elections and renewals held over a year. Produced every year on the occasion of International Women's Day (8 March), it presents data on women in national parliaments, regional and world trends, information on women presiding officers and women candidates. It also analyses mechanisms aimed at supporting women's access to parliament. The report is short and easy to read, providing a snapshot on the situation of women in parliaments worldwide.
Click here to access the report.
Caribbean countries face complex development challenges shaped by socio-political, economic and environmental factors. These are experienced differently by women and men due to gender inequalities that intersect with variables like class, age, race and disability. Parliaments are responsible for ensuring that citizen interests are widely represented and for developing and monitoring policies. This includes policies to meet commitments like the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. To fulfill their roles of oversight, representation and lawmaking, parliamentarians require analytical tools that account for gender and other inequalities.
This portal features toolkits that unpack the gender dimensions of development challenges related to climate change, economic and political inequality, and violence. It includes videos, checklists, policy briefings, infographs and campaign ideas to assist you in scrutinizing laws and budgets, promoting women's leadership, and engaging your constituents to achieve development outcomes that are equitable and sustainable.
This portal is a joint initiative of ParlAmericas and the UN Women Multi-Country Office - Caribbean. It is designed for self-guided online learning and additionally includes resources that can be used for in-person trainings. It features toolkits on gender equality issues developed for parliamentarians in the Caribbean.
Click here to visit the portal.
Journeys from Exclusion to Inclusion: Marginalized Women’s Successes in Overcoming Political Exclusion identifies critical factors preventing marginalized women’s inclusion in customary and democratic decision-making structures and describes how women have worked in overcoming barriers to their participation.
The report’s ten case studies gather knowledge and practical experience from around the world, drawing upon reform efforts to identify ways in which women can impact on political processes through their participation in politics. The report details specific strategies marginalized women and their supporters have adopted, ranging from direct action strategies in Somaliland to ‘soft’ advocacy strategies in Cambodia.
Gender quotas aim to increase women’s parliamentary representation. However, the effectiveness of quotas varies. This article explores this issue further by examining the case of Poland, where gender quotas were introduced in 2011. The Polish case presents an interesting puzzle. Although the overall number of women candidates increased almost twofold in comparison with the pre-quota period, this translated into only a slight increase in the number of women deputies in 2011 and 2015. Hence, the impact of quotas was limited. However, the partisan analysis shows that there was a significant variation among individual parties: whereas some parties promoted wholeheartedly women’s access to political office, other parties did not facilitate it. By drawing on rational choice institutionalism, this article shows that institutions and preferences of political parties matter for the effectiveness of gender quotas. In the case of ineffective gender quota policy, political parties have a final say in women’s parliamentary representation.
Click here to access the paper.