Parliaments & Representatives
Women in Nigeria have called for more opportunities to encourage their active participation in policymaking and to support female candidates during elections.
In a survey conducted in Oyo, Ogun, and Kwara, the women also unanimously supported the call for a Bill for Special Legislative Seats for Women in Parliament.
Folasade Aladeniyi, a former chairwoman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ibadan branch, said women’s participation in politics was not only a matter of equality but a necessity for balanced and effective governance.
Dina Boluarte, the president of Peru, was removed from office on Thursday after a late-night congressional vote in which parties across the political spectrum called for her ouster.
Boluarte has been under investigation for months over various allegations including bribery and involvement in a deadly crackdown on protesters in 2022.
She has denied all allegations and refused to attend the vote on Thursday, where Congress approved her removal, citing “permanent moral incapacity” to face the onslaught of organized crime in the country.
The president of Congress, 38-year-old José Jerí Oré, will act as interim president and must now call elections, under the constitution.
Boluarte becomes the latest in a long line of disgraced Peruvian leaders. Since the turn of the millennium, no fewer than seven presidents have been brought to trial or faced legal challenges relating to allegations of corruption or human rights abuses. An eighth shot himself dead when police were closing in.
Mass mobilizations have been a feature of Claudia Sheinbaum’s first year presiding over Mexico, and to finish her first “accountability” tour of Mexico and mark one year of governance, she had her biggest yet. More than 400,000 people came out to watch her speak for nearly an hour on Sunday, October 5, reflecting on her and the party’s achievements in the first year of her term, and the continued “fourth transformation” of Mexico.
In recent weeks, Sheinbaum has visited all 31 states of Mexico, outlining her administration’s current projects, plans and results in each state.
The communication strategy of MORENA, the governing party, is very front-facing, with both Sheinbaum and her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador hosting daily press conferences from Monday to Friday, and then generally traveling to one or two parts of Mexico over the weekend. This has proven extremely effective in countering the narratives from the large press corporations that own and operate the majority of Mexican media outlets, as well as of course maintaining closer communication and accountability with the people of Mexico.
Sheinbaum has faced significant challenges in her first year, most notably due to relations with the administration of US President Donald Trump, with problems ranging from tariff threats even to members of his administration suggesting unilateral military intervention against Mexico. While Trump has threatened Mexico with tariffs at every turn, Sheinbaum’s firm but open stance has proved effective in negotiations with Trump and today the country has managed to achieve important exceptions to the aggressive tariff regime.
Sheinbaum arrives at one year in charge with historic levels of approval, depending on the poll you choose your approval rate is somewhere between 72% and 79%. While other countries around the world aren’t as comprehensive in approval polls as Mexico, this likely makes Sheinbaum the most popular leader in the world.
Full article here.
As Jammu and Kashmir gears up for another round of Rajya Sabha nominations, a familiar question returns, and once again, it risks being ignored: will a woman finally find a place at the table? For more than seventy years, the answer has been an unbroken no. Not a single woman from Jammu and Kashmir has ever been nominated to the Rajya Sabha. It is a silence that stretches across decades and governments, across promises and slogans and it reveals something far deeper than administrative neglect. It reflects how power in J&K, despite moments of progress, continues to exclude women from its highest echelons.
The story of women’s political participation in Jammu and Kashmir is one of paradoxes. At the grassroots, women have been the backbone of community resilience, leading self-help groups, panchayats, and local welfare initiatives, often in the most trying conditions. They have mediated between conflict and community, kept families and neighbourhoods together when institutions faltered, and quietly shouldered the work of peacebuilding.
Yet, when it comes to formal political representation to the spaces where laws are written and policies debated, their presence vanishes.
Even at the national level, the record is bleak. The only woman from Jammu and Kashmir to enter Parliament was Krishna Mehta, nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1962 for her humanitarian work. Her selection symbolised hope, a gesture that recognised women’s role in rebuilding society. But in the six decades since, not one woman from the region has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha. The silence speaks for itself.
Full article here.
Sanae Takaichi just broke Japan’s highest glass ceiling.
The country’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Saturday voted Takaichi to be the party’s next leader, which is also effectively Japan’s next Prime Minister, setting her up to be the first woman to lead the country.
According to public broadcaster NHK, Takaichi, 64, secured 185 of 341 votes cast from the party’s sitting parliamentarians and current members. The race, much like last year’s party leadership contest that Takaichi initially led but ultimately lost to Shigeru Ishiba, went to a run-off vote between Takaichi and the would-be youngest-ever Prime Minister, 44-year-old Shinjiro Koizumi.
“Instead of just celebrating, I know the real challenge starts now,” Takaichi said. “I believe there is a mountain of work ahead and we must tackle it together with everyone's support. With all of you, I will strive to fire up the LDP and make it a positive party, which turns people's anxieties into hope.”
Following a premiership vote in Japan’s parliament, Takaichi will presumably take over from Ishiba, who resigned last month after the LDP suffered two election defeats since he took office in 2024. The party and its coalition partner lost majorities in both chambers of parliament for the first time since 1955, and are now operating under a minority government. The LDP’s successive election failures were in part caused by several political scandals that have in recent years tarnished the party’s reputation.
Takaichi, a more far-right pick for the typically center-conservative party, takes charge amid growing calls for the party to reform itself as Japanese voters have increasingly gravitated toward right-wing political movements.
Full article here.
NEW DELHI: India’s Muslim women politicians have been chief ministers, constituency managers, party faithfuls, party hoppers, managers of important ministries– in short, capable of every quality shown by men to be go-getters and parliamentarians. Missing from the House (Juggernaut), a new book by journalists Rasheed Kidwai and Ambar Kumar Ghosh, however, has come up with a shocker.
Since the first general elections of 1951-52, there have been, until 2024, only 690 women MPs. Of this only 18 have been Muslim women. Out of the 18 Lok Sabhas constituted till 2025, there were five that did not have a single Muslim woman member.
“Equally shocking is the fact that the number of Muslim women elected to Parliament in one tenure, never crossed a mark of four in the 543-seat Lower House of Parliament,” they write in the book.
Speaking at the book launch organised by Juggernaut Books and the Prabha Khaitan Foundation at Delhi’s India Islamic Cultural Centre on Wednesday, Iqra Hasan, Samajwadi Party’s Kairana MP, spoke of “having to play by the rules set”, but underlined the “need for reservations within the party’s workforce” for an organic leadership to emerge so that there are enough women around to benefit from the 33 per cent reservation in Lok Sabha that the Women’s Reservation Bill 2023 promises.
Full article here.
Women are voluntarily leaving politics not because of sexism, double standards or work-life balance, but because they feel under-utilised, according to a new study.
Historian Alexandre Dumas was commissioned to conduct the study titled “Why do women leave politics?” by the women's committee of the Cercle des ex-parlementaires de l'Assemblée Nationale after a wave of departures in 2022.
According to his interviews with 21 former elected women, they had the impression of playing the “office plant”, he explained in parliament, borrowing the famous expression of former CAQ MNA turned Conservative Claire Samson.
At her last press briefing in June 2022, Samson shocked many by declaring that MNAs were treated "like plants" in the Salon bleu and that she had personally toiled harder as a 17-year-old at Da Giovanni.
According to Dumas, Samson — who was outraged at having to ask pre-scripted questions in parliamentary committee — “perfectly illustrates the frustration provoked by the feeling of playing a ceremonial role.”
“Women who leave politics ... feel that their skills are not recognised and that they have no other use than to be present in the House to ensure a quorum, ... in other words, to play the role of 'office plant'”, Dumas wrote.
Read here the full article published by CTV News on 11 October 2024.
Image credits: CTV News
Abstract:
The media significantly influences the formation of public opinion as well as the development and maintenance of gendered stereotypes of men and women. Given this impact, understanding gender representation is crucial for evaluating news credibility and addressing gender stereotypes. In addition, media plays a key factor in the development of democratic societies. Apparently, women are underrepresented in the news, which suggests that although they make up about half of the world's population, they are not equally represented in the reality that the news generates. Thus, this study aims to investigate factors that might influence news reporting, especially about female politicians. Adopting a qualitative approach, 11 Malaysian journalists were interviewed on their journalism practices.
Read here the full article published by the Taylor's University on 6 September 2024.
Image credits: Taylor's University
In Ghana, the recent push for a gender equality bill is a crucial step toward enhancing women’s political representation. However, its effectiveness hinges on overcoming entrenched gender biases and ensuring robust implementation to truly transform the political landscape.
On 30 July, Ghana’s parliament passed the Affirmative Action (Gender Equality) Bill, ending a process that began in 1998. Despite women constituting the majority of Ghana’s population, they hold less than 15 percent of parliamentary seats and remain underrepresented in managerial roles, even though they represent a majority in the service sector. The passage of the bill represents remarkable progress towards enhancing gender equality and inclusivity in the country and thus rightfully deserves all the attention it has garnered.
Additionally, this legislative milestone is especially significant for a country that has consistently ranked low on the Global Gender Gap Index in recent times. For example, in 2021, Ghana ranked 117 out of 156 countries; in 2022, 108 out of 146 countries; and in 2023, 100 out of 146 countries. What are the potential challenges that could impede the successful implementation of the bill (when it becomes law), and what are the prospects for this legislation in advancing gender equality and inclusivity in Ghana?
Read here the full article published by the Australian Institute of International Affairs on 20 August 2024.
Image by Australian Institute of International Affairs
How Instagram is failing women and public officials
New research by CCDH shows that Instagram failed to act on 93% of the abusive comments targeting high-profile US women politicians we reported, including death and rape threats.
Meta’s Instagram is becoming a weapon in this assault, failing to step up to make its platform safer as the US election approaches.
CCDH reported 1,000 abusive comments targeting women politicians running for office in 2024 including:
Democrat: VP Kamala Harris, Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jasmine Crockett, Nancy Pelosi and Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Republican: Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene, Maria Elvira Salazar, Anna Paulina Luna, Lauren Boebert and Senator Marsha Blackburn.
A week later, Instagram had taken no action against 926 of these hateful comments, which contained sexist and racist abuse, and death and rape threats.
An intro from CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed
Online spaces are now the primary places where societal norms and values are negotiated and normalized, and where we learn about and discuss current events, social issues, and politics. In 2024, with democracy hanging in the balance, social media platforms are under heightened scrutiny for their role in rising polarization, stoking division, and our increasingly toxic political environment. So how are they doing? In the case of Instagram, this report finds that they may as well not be trying at all. Abuse is endemic, and there is evidence they fail to act in over 9 in 10 instances even when alerted...
Read here the full report published by the Center for Countering Digital Hate on 14 August 2024.
Image by Center for Countering Digital Hate
The underrepresentation of Nigerian women in governance and politics has been a longstanding issue in political discourse.
Currently, women occupy only a small fraction of the seats in Nigeria’s National Assembly, with 3 out of 109 senators and 15 out of 360 members of the House of Representatives being female while, there are five appointed women ministers out of 45. Since gaining independence in 1960, Nigeria is yet to have a female president.
On the 9th of July the House of Representatives advanced a bill to its second reading, aiming to create 74 seats for women in the National Assembly.
The bill, sponsored by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu and 12 others, proposes amendments to Sections 48, 49, 71, and 117 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to establish “Special seat reserved exclusively for women in the Senate and House of Representatives for each state of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).”
The news stirred mixed emotions as the 9th National Assembly dismissed all 5 gender bills, leaving women perplexed about the obstacles they face in achieving equal representation to contribute their share to national development, akin to their male counterparts.
Read here the full article published by Radio Nigeria on 19 July 2024.
Image by Radio Nigeria
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, the first woman to lead Japan's capital, clinched a third term on Sunday to extend her time in office running one of the populous cities in the world.
Dozens of candidates were competing to unseat her, with female opposition lawmaker Renho Murata one of the main challengers — a rarity in Japan's male-dominated political scene.
In the country's 47 prefectures, only two governors are women. At the national level, the ratio is similar — only about 11% of members in the lower house of parliament are female. Japan does not currently have mandated gender quotas for politicians.
According to Mikiko Eto, a political science professor at Hosei University, such law would be "the most important point" to address the disbalance.
Have gender quotas worked?
Unlike Japan, many political systems around the world have implemented gender quotas to increase the number of women in politics.
In Taiwan, where there are reserved seats for women and candidate quotas in place, women now make up 41.6% of parliament — the highest percentage of female lawmakers in Asia.
In Indonesia, women's representation in parliament was quite low before the 30% candidate gender quota was introduced. In 1999, fewer than one in 10 lawmakers was female. Two decades later, that number had risen to one in five.
"In countries where women's descriptive representation is still very low, affirmative actions like gender quotas seem to be the first step to take," Nankyung Choi, a scholar who specializes in women and politics in Southeast Asia, told DW.
Read here the full article published by DW News on 10 July 2024.
Image by DW News