Parliaments & Representatives
Women’s political representation in Indonesia may fall for the first time since the 1999 election, even before the voting starts.
The threat arose when Indonesia’s electoral commission tweaked policy around the country’s 30 per cent gender quota on party lists, changing a previous rule that rounded up decimal figures in service of meeting the requirements.
Affirmative action policies that boost the representation of women work, even applied improperly. In Indonesia, affirmative action policies have played a critical role in boosting the electoral fortunes of women.
Without such policies, the challenge to close the political gender gap becomes even harder: it’s tougher to get more women into politics and promote a gender-sensitive environment when one gender has no legal obligation to bring the other into the fold.
Click here to read the full article published by Eco-Business on 18 December 2023.
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The Standing Committee on State Structure of the Parliament, in cooperation with the UN Promoting Gender Equality and Women's Participation in Decision-making project, organized the First Conference of Women Parliamentarians on September 7, 2022.
The Conference of Women Parliamentarians 2023 is to be organized in Chinggis Khaan Hall at the State Palace on December 12, 2023, Montsame notes.
The First Conference of Women Parliamentarians focused on the international legal framework supporting women's political participation and women's political participation in Mongolia.
The participants of the 2023 Conference will discuss the implementation of the Declaration released by the Conference in 2022, ways to improve the results and measures to be taken in the future.
Click here to read the full article published by AKIpress Central Asian News on 12 December 2023.
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Executive director of Baobab for Women Human Rights, Bunmi Dipo-Salami, said the violence against women in politics is rarely reported.
While stressing that the society needs to understand that women are not second-class citizens, she expressed regret that there are still impediments on the paths of women in politics.
The rights group also argued that one of the reasons women are not allowed to be in power is that as leaders they expose the deficiencies of men and men always want to protect themselves.
Click here to read the full article published by Leadership News on 12 December 2023.
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Female politicians have asked their male counterparts to desist from the habit of sexually harassing them, saying the vice is rampant in Uganda’s political corridors.
Speaking during a dialogue organized by the Netherlands Institute for Multi-party Democracy on Thursday (December 7, 2023), female politicians led by former Kumi Woman MP Monica Amoding and Edith Sempala, Uganda’s former Ambassador to the US, said they suffer sexual harassment from male voters, colleagues, technocrats and bosses. We have a report.
Click here to read the full article published by The New Vision on 11 December 2023.
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As the world marks the 16 days of activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV), the resilient voices of women in Mt Elgon and Trans Nzoia have exposed the harsh realities they encounter within the challenging realm of politics.
Jane Chebet, a two-term Cheptais ward representative who vied for the Mt Elgon MP seat and lost, passionately expresses the uphill battle women face in achieving the two-thirds gender rule, attributing it to entrenched male chauvinism.
Chebet vividly recalls a terrifying incident where over 20 hired goons ambushed her after articulating the need for gender mainstreaming, debunking myths about women, advocating against Female Genital Mutilation, and emphasizing the necessity of electing more women into decision-making roles.
Click here to read the full article published by The Standard Digital on 9 December 2023.
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FEMALE lawmakers are pushing for the tabling of a Sexual Harassment Bill to protect women in politics against persecution by their male counterparts.
The calls were made during a recent sensitisation workshop for women leaders by the Women’s Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence.
The women leaders had the opportunity to air out the challenges they encounter while discharging their political duties in their various constituencies.
Budiriro North constituency legislator Susan Matsunga said she hoped that such a Bill would be tabled soon.
“We have come up with a motion that we have moved to debate in Parliament as we find that it is not necessary to commemorate these 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence of which the whole year women will be facing challenges with no one to take care of them. GBV is not only in our communities that we lead, it is everywhere even in Parliament,” she said.
Click here to read the full article published by the NewsDay Zimbabwe on 8 December 2023.
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This is a House of Commons Committee report, with recommendations to government. The Government has two months to respond.
While there is still some way to go to achieve equal representation of women in the House of Commons, and in the wider political and public sphere, in recent decades the focus has broadened to encompass “gender sensitivity” in the House of Commons as a workplace. Steps have been taken to make the House a more welcoming and accommodating place for women. For example, there has been focus on its working hours and practices, and support for MPs who are parents. The planned restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster is an opportunity to design in greater accessibility and inclusion, for women and other underrepresented groups.
Click here to access the report.
Today’s parliament has more female MPs than ever but they remain a minority. What do they think is needed for equality in the corridors of power?
Viscountess Nancy Astor was the first woman to take a seat in parliament, receiving 2,000 letters a week from female voters desperate to finally have their voices heard.
More than 100 years later, women account for just a third of seats in the Commons and only a quarter of sitting peers in the House of Lords.
Click here to read the full article published by The Times on 8 March 2022.
The number of women in parliament is consistently low throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Many factors contribute to this situation, but studies suggest that one major factor relates to the way that women are treated on social media. This report aims to identify how women politicians fare against their male counterparts on social media and to evaluate whether women in politics face a greater challenge than men.
Overall, there were four times as much problematic content related to the Facebook pages of male politicians compared to their female counterparts. It is important to note that the vast majority of the problematic comments aimed at women politicians were in the sexist category. Compared to their male colleagues, female politicians are treated in a less serious manner on Facebook. Comments on their posts touch on their appearance and personal qualities rather than their politics.
Click here to access the report.
The world walked into 2021 with the shadow of COVID-19 looming large over its head. As well as posing a major health risk, the pandemic had also caused economic and social upheaval. Political life had been affected too, from the challenge of holding elections safely to ensuring the smooth working of parliaments. Though many of these difficulties endured in 2021, and in some cases were compounded, there were fewer delays1 in elections when compared with the previous year.
Click here to access the report.
By Akshi Chawla
As women elected officials move from local politics towards the subnational and national levels, they begin to be replaced by more and more men.
Women comprise just over one-third (36 percent) of the over 6 million elected members in deliberative bodies of local governments globally, according to a new working paper released by U.N. Women last month. Although far from parity, this is the best representation women seem to get across levels of government: As they move towards the subnational and national levels, they begin to be replaced by more and more men, data shows.
Click here to read the full article published by Ms Magazine on 15 February 2022.
One potential consequence of increasing women’s numeric representation is that women elected officials will behave differently than their men counterparts and improve women’s substantive representation. This study examines whether electing women to local offices changes how local government expenditures are allocated in ways that benefit women. Using compositional expenditure data from more than 5,400 Brazilian municipalities over eight years, we find significant differences in the ways men and women mayors allocate government expenditures. Our findings indicate that women mayors spend more on traditionally feminine issues, and less on traditionally masculine issues, relative to men mayors. In regard to specific policy areas, we find that women spend more on women’s issues, including education, health care, and social assistance, and less on masculine issues, including transportation and urban development, relative to men mayors. We further find that women’s legislative representation significantly influences the allocation of expenditures as a larger percentage of women councilors increases spending on traditionally feminine issues, as well as education, health care, and social assistance, relative to other policy issues. These findings indicate that women local elected officials improve women’s substantive representation by allocating a larger percentage of expenditures to issues that have historically and continue to concern women in Brazil.
Click here to read the full article published by Sage Journals on 16 May 2018.