Parliaments & Representatives
There are some jobs that only particular people can do, or at least do well. It takes a certain patience and temperament to be a good teacher. You can’t be a surgeon with nervous jitters. And unfortunately for those with poor eyesight, flying planes is out of the picture. But in a capitalist world it’s understood that everyone who can, should work, and therefore everyone should be equally able to do most jobs.
But that’s just not true.
There are whole industries built around the assumption that workers will have no other pressures on their time and energy (not to mention assumptions of wealth and access). Work is life, and so on. Those who succeed will be able to commit fully to the job because they’ll have wives to care for their children, won’t be fearful of public perception around looks and tone, and won’t waste (read: spend) time concerned about societal injustices because they won’t be personally impacted by them. With those boxes ticked, the sky’s the limit.
Click here to read the full article published by The Spinoff on 17 January 2024.
Image source: The Spinoff
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Half of Korea's population are women, yet in the realm of politics, women are a minority group.
In the current 21st session of parliament, the representation of female lawmakers stands at 57 out of the total 300 members -- only 19.1 percent. This percentage places South Korea significantly below average in terms of gender diversity in politics compared to other nations.
The average among the 38 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member nations is 33.8 percent, while the global average is 25.6 percent. Even the average among Asian nations is higher than that of Korea at 20.8 percent.
In the global ranking for gender equality in politics, South Korea occupies the 121st position out of 193 countries, according to a report by the Korea Women Parliamentarian Network.
Click here to read the full article published by The Korea Herald on 21 January 2024.
Image source: The Korea Herald
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In November 2023, an online video showed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Medina, Saudi Arabia, being greeted with slogans of "Bhua, bhua." The original footage of the prime minister's Medina visit had no such sounds in the background, and the audio was found to have been added from a different, unrelated incident. In October 2023, a picture of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia showing a child through the letters of the Bangla alphabet that "movements were useless" (in the context of the BNP's movement against the national elections) made the rounds on social media. The original photograph, from 1993, was of Khaleda's visit to a school where she was teaching a child the alphabet.
Click here to read the full article published by The Daily Star on 10 January 2024.
Image by The Daily Star
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A Qualitative Study on Violence against Women in Politics in Türkiye, prepared in cooperation with UN Women and Terra Development Cooperative, was introduced at an event organized in Ankara. A qualitative study, which provides important findings on the causes, occurrence, and consequences of violence against women in politics, was presented to the representatives from civil society organizations, public institutions, local governments, and political parties.
The Study on Violence against Women in Politics in Türkiye, which was started to be prepared by Prof. Dr. İknur Yüksel Kaptanoğlu, Project Coordinator of Terra Development Cooperative, together with her study team in 2022, was carried out within the scope of the project "Advancing Gender Equality and Women's Leadership in Political and Business Life” implemented by UN Women and financially supported by the Sweden through Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). In her opening speech, Swedish Ambassador to Ankara Malena Mård emphasized the importance of a political environment free from all forms of violence, especially for young people.
Click here to read the full report published by UN Women on 10 January 2024.
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“I PROMISE IT won’t be victim porn.”
That’s what I tell Calgary Nose Hill Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner as we end our chat on what it’s like to be a female politician in the face of an increasingly toxic political atmosphere in Canada. The 43-year-old has been a federal politician since 2011. My interview with her about experiencing online threats, hate and abuse is certainly not her first, and she is determined not to be framed as a victim.
“I have had this interview probably 150 times in 12 years. Why aren’t we evaluating solutions after all of that time?” Rempel Garner asks. “It’s not like people haven’t raised them…It’s just that shit doesn’t change.”
Click here to read the full article published by the Chatelaine on 03 January 2024.
Image by The Chatelaine
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A Glimpse into the Life of a Women in Politics: CEMR Unveils First Data Coming from 31 Countries
The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) has released the first infographics showcasing critical insights from their latest report, "Women in Politics."
The data offer a visual snapshot of the representation of women in elected roles across various subnational levels. Additionally, a detailed breakdown of their portfolios at the local level is provided. The second slide of the infographics unveils the results of an anonymous CEMR survey involving 2,424 participants from 31 countries. Focused on elected women in local and regional European roles, the survey explores their experiences of violence in the political realm.
Click here to see the infographic published by the Council of European Municipalities and Regions on 14 December 2023.
Image by Council of European Municipalities and Regions
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The Study "Violence Against Women in Politics" is commissioned by the UNDP Albania, in partnership with the People's Advocate and the Commissioner for Protection from Discrimination and it is conducted in the context of the UN Joint Programme "Ending Violence Against Women" in Albania"funded by the Government of Sweden.
The study shows the known trend: women politicians, compared to men, are more likely to experience violence that is not visible.
Click here to access the report.
This document presents the result of a series of surveys conducted by Abacus Data in January 2022, about women in politics and the future of women in politics.
Click here to access the report.
Data provided by the Center for American Women and Politics and KnowWho Data Services. Numbers include members and officers of the municipal legislative branch of incorporated cities and towns with populations over 10,000 as per the U.S. Census. These bodies vary by municipality, but include city councils, boards of alderman, city commissions, among others. Mayors and other officials who perform mayoral functions are included in these counts. Data is as of March 2022 and will be updated annually.
Click here to access the data.
A survey on politicians in Japan has shown that many former and current female national legislators and local assembly members have been subject to sexual harassment.
"I was threatened that if I did not kiss them, they would not vote for me," and "I was told that young women win elections even if they are not qualified," are examples of some of the responses.
Released in February, the results were a part of a "politician harassment white paper" containing the results of a survey carried out by Tokyo-based Woman Shift, a network of young female lawmakers and assembly members, as well as Polilion, a Gifu Prefecture-based organization that conducts harassment training for legislatures and assemblies. The survey was carried out between August and October 2021, and 200 people (100 men, 98 women and 2 others) responded.
Click here to read the full article published by The Mainichi on 29 March 2022.
Recent conversations prompted by the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements have put issues of workplace sexism, sexual harassment and sexual assault into the global spotlight. This paper examines how members of the Australian Liberal Party made sense of, and responded to, accusations by female Liberal MPs of bullying and intimidation in their party. Transcripts of media interviews identified by searching the ParlInfo database (between August and September 2018) were analysed using a critical discursive psychology approach. Two discursive repertoires were routinely mobilised in Liberal politicians’ accounts: (1) a gender-neutral repertoire whereby reported incidents of bullying were argued to apply equally to men and women, and (2) a ‘politics is tough’ repertoire that served to downplay and legitimise bullying and intimidation as normative and unproblematic. We argues that such repertoires functioned to silence talk about the relevance of gender and the persistence of inequality. The bullying and intimidation experienced by women may continue to be the cost of their political engagement unless systemic change occurs that acknowledges the ongoing relevance of gender in politics.
Click here to access the paper.
In celebration of International Women's Day, we review the history of women in politics in Mexico. Gender parity electoral laws, leaders who value women's inclusion, and fierce women who have propelled Mexico's gender equality movement forward have altogether helped realize the major strides in women's representation, especially since the turn of the century. Women have not only vied for more elected positions; they have also secured a historic number of governorships and legislative seats, effectively reaching gender parity in Congress. President Lopez Obrador has also made a point to promote women to appointed positions, both in his cabinet and in the Supreme Court. While Mexico still has a way to go in reaching full gender equality and equity, gender quotas have had the positive effect of normalizing women's active role in politics and of welcoming them as viable and worthy contenders in the political arena, moving the needle in a necessary and positive direction.
Click here to read the full article published by The Wilson Center on 7 March 2022.