Political Parties

MALAYSIA must urgently increase women’s participation in Parliament after falling behind several Middle Eastern and African countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Rwanda, the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat has said.

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul noted that women currently make up only about 13 per cent of Malaysia’s Members of Parliament, well below the national target of 30 per cent and far behind international benchmarks.

“Today, the percentage of women Members of Parliament in Malaysia is only around 13 per cent,” he said.

He contrasted this with other countries, pointing out that “the UAE exceeds 30 per cent, Rwanda has reached 50 per cent, and Saudi Arabia has achieved 30 per cent representation in the Shura Council”.

Johari said the shortfall could not be separated from the hostile political environment faced by women, particularly in the age of social media.

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Six political parties in The Gambia have pledged to enhance women’s representation in the country’s political landscape.

The commitment was made during a panel discussion on Tuesday at the SDJK Conference Center, organized by International IDEA in collaboration with political parties. The discussion focused on the low representation of women within political party structures and the need for a quota system.

Essa Faal, Party Leader of the Alliance for Patriotic Progress (APP), emphasized the importance of translating commitments into action. “Our commitments should not just be empty rhetoric. Since the inception of our party in 2021, we have maintained a principled decision to have a 50-50 cabinet, ensuring equal representation of men and women if elected. We also aim for a balance between youth and middle-aged members,” he said.

Faal added that inclusiveness is essential for addressing issues affecting women and youth effectively.

A representative of the Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC) highlighted that the party’s 2017 constitution includes a code of conduct promoting gender inclusion in all aspects of political participation. He noted that women play a pivotal role in national development and called for their empowerment.

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Across Europe, cases of alleged sexual harassment and assault involving individuals of migrant background have, in recent years, moved beyond the realm of criminal justice alone. They have evolved into a broad debate affecting politics, social cohesion, public order, and security. From the United Kingdom to Denmark, from Germany to Turkey, these discussions place women’s and children’s safety at the center, while simultaneously fueling a sharper and more polarized anti-immigrant discourse.

Experts warn that the issue is increasingly trapped between two dangerous extremes: on the one hand, the risk of downplaying or concealing real crimes; on the other, the danger of collectively criminalizing entire social groups.

United Kingdom: The “Pink Ladies” Protests

In the UK, a women’s group organized under the name “Pink Ladies” has drawn public attention by staging protests in front of hotels temporarily housing asylum seekers and migrants. Citing allegations of harassment and sexual assault against women and teenage girls, the group is calling for the closure of these facilities. Demonstrations held in cities such as London and Falkirk emphasize what protesters describe as the systematic neglect of women’s safety¹.

However, a number of women’s rights advocates argue that such protests risk instrumentalizing the fight against sexual violence and inadvertently reinforcing xenophobia². The controversy has once again brought to the forefront the fragile balance between protecting women’s safety and avoiding racist or exclusionary narratives.

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BEIJING/HONG KONG, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday called for greater representation for women in politics and government at a global women's summit in Beijing, a move he said would ensure that gender equality is "truly internalised" within society. 

The two-day "Global leaders meeting on women", held in conjunction with UN Women, seeks to further advance women's development globally, gender equality and the well-rounded development of women, authorities said.

Leaders from Iceland, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Dominica and Mozambique are attending, state media reported.

Xi said that countries needed to "broaden channels for women to participate in political and decision-making, and promote women's broad participation in national and social governance."

Peace and stability are prerequisites for women's all-round development, Xi said.

The summit comes as China has made great strides in educating women, who account for around 50% of students in higher education and around 43% of the total employed population.

However, the lack of senior female politicians appears to be at odds with a broad push by the Communist Party to increase female representation.

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Canada's international ranking on gender parity in politics has plummeted over the past 25 years, and advocates say Canada must do better.

"What we want to see are concrete actions, not vague promises," Shari Graydon of the group Informed Perspectives told a Monday news conference on Parliament Hill.

"We're not the leader on gender equality we think we are when women hold less than a third of the seats in Parliament."

The Inter-Parliamentary Union, a global organization that includes nearly 200 national parliaments, now ranks Canada 71st in percentage of women in the legislature — a steep drop from its 28th-place ranking in 2000. Women made up 30 per cent of the Commons and 55 per cent of the Senate as of August.

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