The objective behind the move in 1972 to have reserved seats for women in parliament was to increase women's representation in the legislative body. Fifty-two years later, the number of these seats has increased to 50, but does that mean women in these seats are politically empowered? That there are more women's voices now and a greater role of women MPs in decision making? We all know the answer. The increase in reserved seats did not translate to an increase in women's political participation and empowerment.
The reason is quite obvious. These seats are used to increase the number of votes for each political party in parliament; the more seats a party has, the more it will benefit as women MPs in reserved seats are bound to show allegiance to the party that has nominated them. Ultimately, the ruling party (which has the majority of seats) benefits from this system.
As a report in this paper has shown, women MPs in these seats are not given the required resources, authority or opportunity to share responsibilities of a constituency. In fact, only the MPs directly elected have the authority over their constituency. Thus, while eligibility and political commitment are prerequisites for anyone to be an MP, being in a reserved seat with no real power serves precious little except to give some privileges to the MP in question. These days, even eligibility is not a criterion, rather it is whether the nominee is related to a politically influential person—that she is chosen. On many occasions, women MPs from reserved seats have expressed their frustration at having no real authority; sometimes they are treated dismissively within the party and outside.
Read here the full article published by The Daily Star on 5 May 2024.
Image by The Daily Star
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As part of the IPU series 'A conversation with...', we interview parliamentarians from all over the world to find out who they represent and what motivates them.
In this edition, we discover Seiko Noda, a parliamentarian from Japan.
Click here to listen the full conversation published by the IPU on 1 May 2024.
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THE HON JULIA GILLARD AC, HOST: Katy, it's not politics that brought you to Canberra, you were born and raised there, like no one's born and raised in Canberra. Can you tell me about that?
SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER, MINISTER FOR WOMEN: Yes, I'm one of those rare species at Parliament House that lives in the, you know, in the place where everyone comes to and then leaves. My parents came to Canberra in the late 60s. My dad had terrible asthma and had been told to leave the UK and he came and joined the parliamentary library actually and so started working there in the late 60s and I was born here in 1970. Yeah, it was a very small place and a place where a lot of people came to live, not where a lot of people had been born to live. But the kids that were born in the early 70s was sort of the first generation that were born and stayed. I mean, many went, but you know there's a good lot of us that were born in the 70s that stayed, and this became our home.
GILLARD: And tell me a little bit more about your mum and your dad. So, your dad's in the parliamentary library and I know that your mum has been honoured in a beautiful mural and through a mental health award that's named after her. Tell me about her story.
GALLAGHER: Yeah, so Mum was like this dynamo. She was born in the UK but I think had lived in a number of countries, so quite a kind of, for that time, probably someone who had you know all those international connections and found herself married with, in the end, four children, quite young, four under four, in the suburbs of Canberra with no car, no family, no friends and a husband that was working all the time. Very isolated. And instead of, I think, succumbing to that isolation, she turned around and started building a lot of connections and building up services and supports and really dedicated her life to that. Which is why, yeah, there's a mural of her close to where I grew up. But I think a lot of people when I'm going around and doing the work I do, always talk to me about how they remember my mum. Particularly services for women and women with children and people with a disability. She was just, she was one of those people that just rolled her sleeves up, got in, cause nobody else was doing it. And yeah, she was definitely a very powerful influence on all of our lives and many other peoples' as well.
Click here to hear the full interview published by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet of Australia on 02 May 2024.
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In recent years, the share of women in public office has surged.
*In 2000, just 65 women served in Congress. Today, the number is 151, more than a quarter of the total 535 voting members.
*Likewise at the state level, women now make up about a third of elected officials.
Yet despite these historic gains, women—who make up roughly half of the population—remain starkly underrepresented in government. And for women of color, the disparity is even greater.
No single factor created this gap, and no single change will fix it. But part of the problem is how campaigns are funded—and changing that will make a significant difference.
It’s expensive to run for office: Political ad spending in the 2024 election cycle is expected to exceed $16 billion. And the price of campaigning is a greater barrier for women, who typically have less access than men to the wealthy donors who provide most of this money.
Enter: public financing, a simple but powerful reform that uses public funds to boost small donations to candidates. It’s a policy that can help any candidate willing to engage with a broad base of voters—but some of its biggest beneficiaries are women, particularly women of color, who make up 25 percent of the country’s population but less than 10 percent of state and federal elected offices.
Read here the full article published by Ms. Magazine on 25 April 2024.
Image by Ms. Magazine
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Vientiane (VNA) – Vietnamese and Lao female lawmakers on April 25 shared their experience in politics at a workshop in the northern Lao province of Luang Prabang.
In her opening remarks, Chairwoman of the Vietnamese National Assembly (NA)’s Social Affairs Committee Nguyen Thuy Anh said the workshop offers an opportunity for them to tighten their bonds.
She said the information, skills, and experience that they share on this occasion will help promote their common voices on issues relating to women, children, and gender equality at domestic and international forums, while building their images before the legislatures and voters of the two countries.
For her part, Chairwoman of the Lao NA's Committee for Cultural and Social Affairs Thummaly Vongphachanh said the workshop contributes to implementing the memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the two NAs, and strengthening the solidarity between the two countries, the legislatures, and the female lawmakers’ groups.
Read here the full article published by Vietnam Plus 25 April 2024.
Image by Vietnam Plus
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As part of the IPU series 'A conversation with...', we interview parliamentarians from all over the world to find out who they represent and what motivates them.
In this edition, we discover Gabriela Morawska-Stanecka, a Senator from Poland and a member of the IPU's Executive Committee.
Click here to listen the full conversation published by the IPU on 25 April 2024.
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Independent states in the Pacific region have the lowest levels of women’s political representation in the world. Fewer than seven percent of Pacific politicians are women, compared to 27 percent globally. The absence of women’s voices in political decision-making has been an issue consistently raised in regional forums, although progress has been slow. Yet in November 2022, a milestone was reached: for the first time, there was at least one elected woman in every Pacific parliament.
Click here to read the full article published by the Australian Institute of International Affairs on 17 October 2023.
The publication represents the findings of a national survey on the violence against women in politics in Georgia, gathering women’s experiences in politics in Georgia. Namely, it examines the factors that facilitate and obstruct women’s engagement in politics, including the forms of violence against women in politics, women’s experiences with seeking support, and the impact of violence on women’s concentration in politics and leadership.
Click here to read the full article published by the EU Neighbours on 4 October 2023.
As women’s representation in U.S. politics has grown, 53% of Americans say there are still too few women in high political office in the United States, and many see significant obstacles for women candidates. Our 2023 report on women leaders in politics explores Americans’ views about gender and political leadership, as well as views about the barriers women face.
Click here to read the full article published by the Pew Research Center on 27 September 2023.
Women and girls constitute more than half of Moldova’s population, yet they are under-represented in the bodies that make key decisions affecting their lives. Although Moldova committed to supporting the increase of women’s political participation by adopting in 2016 the 40% gender quota and by the nationalization of SDGs on gender equality, women remain under-represented in political and public leadership. Specifically, 2019 local elections contributed less to 22% women as mayors, 28.73% women district councilors and 36.5% women local councilors.
Click here to read the full report published by UN Women Moldova on 8 September 2023.
In August 2013, RepresentWomen launched the Gender Parity Index (GPI) to help researchers and advocates track progress toward gender-balanced governance and identify opportunities for increasing women’s political representation in the U.S. Each year, we assign all 50 states a Gender Parity Score, letter grade, and ranking according to their proximity to parity. One of the key takeaways from this exercise is that progress toward gender balance is slower and less stable than it first appears.
Click here to read the full report published by RepresentWomen on 7 August 2023.
