Political Parties
Malawi’s political landscape continues to be marked by a stark gender imbalance in its leadership structures, with men still occupying the majority of top positions across the country’s major political parties. Despite the growing calls for gender equality and the promises of progressive policies, women remain woefully underrepresented in political decision-making roles, with men dominating the ranks of party executives, national governing councils, and key leadership positions ahead of the 2025 general elections.
A recent analysis of political party conventions and executive committee compositions reveals a stagnant gender representation, with women holding only an average of 27 percent of seats in the National Executive Committees (NECs) of Malawi’s largest political parties. This troubling statistic underscores a persistent patriarchal hold over political power and raises serious concerns about the country’s commitment to achieving gender equality in the political sphere.
Read here the full article published by the Nyasa Times on 24 November 2024.
Image by Nyasa Times
Newly inaugurated President Prabowo Subianto unveiled Indonesia's new and enlarged Cabinet last month, naming ministers, deputy ministers and heads of various national agencies.
In total, he appointed 109 members, including a mix of professional and political appointees, with some ministers remaining on the job after serving for Prabowo's predecessor, Joko Widodo.
But only 14 of the appointees are women, and in the 48-member Cabinet, there are only five female ministers.
The low figure has drawn criticism from gender equality campaigners, who have expressed concerns over inadequate representation of women at the top of government.
Widodo, for his part, began his 10-year presidency with nine women in the Cabinet and ended it with four.
According to critics, this imbalance between male and female leaders shows the long road ahead to achieve gender equality in the world's biggest Muslim-majority country.
Read here the full article published by DW News on 17 November 2024.
Image by DW News
WOMEN and youths are an integral part of political parties and must be supported in the country, says political parties registrar Emmanuel Pok.
“In the awareness programmes, emphasis must be given to women, youth and people with disabilities as they can get more information out to people who must know the importance of political parties, their roles and functions in a democracy, why it is important to vote for endorsed candidates and to vote for policies of political parties,” he said.
In the launch of its third cooperate plan, the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates Commission (IPPCC), through the Registry of Political Parties and Candidates aims to continue on the work of strengthening and promoting political parties.
“The key is to identify relevant and practical forms of awareness and the main message is that women are capable as men to encourage and support women in politics,” Pok said.
“They will also be encouraged to be financial members of political parties to allow them to be active members.”
Read here the full article published by The National on 31 October 2024.
Image by The National
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu made headlines in April after coasting to a second term in office by nearly 12 percentage points. Imamoglu, who has served at the city’s helm since 2019, is seen as a major political threat to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP). The latest win in Istanbul cemented Imamoglu’s continued popularity among the Turkish public.
But Imamoglu is only the most prominent face of a broader opposition, led by the Republican People’s Party (CHP). In March’s municipal elections, the CHP secured its most crushing victory over the AKP in decades. Possibly more notable than Imamoglu’s reelection was the newly elected class of women executives of provinces and districts across the country.
One of these women—Sinem Dedetas—may hold the keys to the future of Turkey’s opposition. Imamoglu is currently battling slander charges in the country’s high court, in addition to a slew of other cases that could eventually ban him from politics, even as he is the favorite to run for the CHP in Turkey’s 2028 presidential election. No matter how those fortunes play out, Dedetas promises to be central to the party’s strategy in a post-Erdogan Turkey.
Read here the full article published by Foreign Policy on 23 September 2024.
Image credits: Foreign Policy
This publication explains gender equality in political life in terms of access, voice and transformation and provides guidance on how to conduct a national assessment of gender equality in political life and on how to develop a national action plan based on the findings of the assessment.
The Gender-responsive Governance Toolkit is a series of targeted tools, each with a distinct practical and thematic focus. They introduce or advance institutional and policy solutions and practices for gender-responsive governance. The toolkit is aimed at participating States’ political parties, other democratic institutions and civil society organizations, and complements ODIHR’s existing gender-equality publications.
Read here the full publication posted by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe on 12 September 2024.
Image credits: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
This publication, intended for gender equality and party development experts from political parties across the OSCE region and beyond, complements ODIHR's online gender audit tool and provides practical guidance on how to conduct gender audits and implement gender action plans.
The Gender-responsive Governance Toolkit is a series of targeted tools, each with a distinct practical and thematic focus. They introduce or advance institutional and policy solutions and practices for gender-responsive governance. The toolkit is aimed at participating States’ political parties, other democratic institutions and civil society organizations, and complements ODIHR’s existing gender-equality publications.
Read here the full article published by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe on 8 August 2024.
Image credits: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
This report, published in 2015 by the International Institute for Electoral Assistance and Democracy presents findings from a study on political party financing and equal participation of women in Kenyan electoral politics. It was conducted with the objective to assess the formal and informal barriers that women face in relation to exercising their political rights. The study specifically looks into the role and extent to which access to financial resources determines the success of women running for elective positions in Kenya. It discusses the main findings on financial barriers for women politicians in Kenya, and makes recommendations to facilitate reforms in this area.
This e-book with the title “The Success and the Barriers to Women’s Representation in Southeast Asia: Between State Policies, Political Parties and Women’s Movement” is a result of analysis of four regional researches conducted in a USAID Program called IKAT US Component 1 (“Building Sustainable Partnerships to Promote Women’s Political Representation in SEA”). The goal of the program is to strengthen women’s political rights and democracy, by advocating the promotion of better women’s political representation through regional partnership initiatives. To achieve this goal, the program has been working toward the following objectives: (1) to increase the capacity to conduct and collaborate on activities for the promotion of democracy in Southeast Asia; (2) to advocate policy frameworks towards the progress of achieving a minimum target of 30 percent women’s political representation in Southeast Asia.
This e-publication highlights the significance of women’s representation in the parliament, state’s political system and women’s representation, patriarchal system and barriers to women political participation, women’s movement for political affirmation and challenges to women’s representation.