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Women comprise most of South Africa’s population and almost 55% of registered voters for next week’s watershed general elections. Historically they have been discriminated against and remain at the bottom of society’s food chain.
TimesLIVE asked a few political parties why women should vote for them. [...]
'You can't see women in this election'
According to Nomboniso Gasa, a feminist researcher, one of the important things in judging where a party stands is where women feature in leadership positions.
“That’s more like a mechanical thing, and I think a lot of specially new political parties are not having women headlining, not just the ballot but a lot of issues.
“We are not seeing a lot of young women in particular who are articulating party positions.”
Read here the full article published by Times Live on 24 May 2024.
Image by Times Live
What you need to know:
While political parties have met the legal requirements for nominating women for special seats, concerns linger about the parties’ internal commitment to advancing women’s political participation.
Tanzania, in keeping with global political trends, reserves 30 percent of seats in parliament for women.
These so-called special seats were introduced with multiparty politics in 1992, in response to the low numbers of women elected to positions of power.
There were only eight elected female parliamentarians after the first multiparty elections in 1995.
Ten years later, 17 women were elected to parliament, representing 7 percent of legislative seats. Fast forward to the 2020 general elections: women make up 37.4 percent of parliament.
However, only 27 women (10.2 percent) were elected directly from the 264 constituencies.
Special seats are credited for increasing women’s representation. This has enabled the passing of a couple of “gender sensitive” laws.
Read here the full article published by The Citizen on 14 May 2024.
Image by The Citizen
Tanzania, in keeping with global political trends, reserves 30 percent of seats in parliament for women. These so-called special seats were introduced with multiparty politics in 1992, in response to the low numbers of women elected to positions of power.
There were only eight elected female parliamentarians after the first multiparty elections in 1995. Ten years later, 17 women were elected to parliament, representing 7 percent of legislative seats. Fast forward to the 2020 general elections: women make up 37.4 percent of parliament.
However, only 27 women (10.2 percent) were elected directly from the 264 constituencies.
Special seats are credited for increasing women’s representation. This has enabled the passing of a couple of “gender sensitive” laws.
However, the special seats system is not the magic bullet for achieving gender equality in political representation across the board.
Read here the full article published by The East African
Image by The East African
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Political party representatives were put in the hot seat during IOL’s Elections Panel Discussion on Wednesday at the Radisson Blu Hotel in uMhlanga when asked why there are fewer women in politics, especially in leadership positions.
The question was posed by an audience member who was clad in an African National Congress (ANC) scarf after the panellists had finished with their statements.
This elicited various responses from the politicians. Here is what they had to say:
Chris Pappas
Strange question to come from a person whose provincial and national leaders are men, but nonetheless. All political parties have the obligation to ensure that we have diversity across all categories, whether it be gender, religion, education status, race or whatever it may be.
Thami Ntuli – Inkatha Freedom Party premier candidate:
As the IFP we are striving to empower women. We have women in the party who participate in Parliament and the local government. The mayor of uMlalazi is a woman. They are empowered through these positions. We believe in them.
Read here the full article published by IOL News on 25 April 2024.
Image by IOL News
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The Japanese Communist Party (JCP) chose Tomoko Tamura as its first-ever female leader Thursday, apparently in the hope of broadening its support base and attracting a wider array of voters.
Upper House member Tamura, 58, takes over the chair of the 102-year-old political party — Japan’s oldest — from 69-year-old Kazuo Shii, who had served in the position since 2000 and was the longest-serving head of a major Japanese political party. The decision was made on the final day of the party’s congress in the city of Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture.
Also Thursday, Shii was appointed chair of the JCP’s central committee, a key policy-making body, where he will continue to have a strong influence over the party’s direction.
Click here to read the full article published by The Japan Times on 18 January 2024.
Image by The Japan Times
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The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday presented its slate of 18 female legislator-at-large nominees and outlined its policies on gender equality.
The DPP has marked several milestones when it comes to women’s participation in Taiwanese politics, DPP Department of Gender Equality division director Lee Yen-jong (李晏榕) told a news conference at party headquarters in Taipei.
It was the first party in Taiwan to have a female vice president in Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), who assumed office in 2000, Lee said, adding that Lu also became the first female commissioner for then-Taoyuan County in 1997.
Click here to read the full article published by the Taipei Times on 1 December 2023.
Image by The Taipei Times
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