Women's Leadership
Main navigation
India, the world’s largest democracy, has made significant strides in women’s political participation since its independence in 1947. However, a substantial gender gap persists in Indian politics, reflecting deeper societal inequalities and cultural barriers. This article examines the current state of women’s representation in Indian politics, the progress made so far, and the challenges that continue to hinder gender parity in the political sphere.
Current State of Women’s Representation:
While women constitute nearly 50% of India’s population, their representation in political bodies falls far short of this proportion. As of 2024, women make up approximately 15% of the Lok Sabha (the lower house of parliament) and 14% of the Rajya Sabha (the upper house). At the state level, women’s representation in legislative assemblies averages around 9%. These figures, though gradually improving, highlight the significant underrepresentation of women in Indian politics.
Read here the full article published by Odishabarta on 27 June 2024.
Image by Odishabarta
Mongolians go to the polls in parliamentary elections on Friday, with the ruling Mongolian People's Party widely expected to retain a majority it has held for eight years.
But for the first time in almost a decade, parties are required by law to ensure that 30 percent of their candidates are women, in a country where politics is overwhelmingly dominated by men.
As a result, more women than ever before are running this year, in a new voting system that balances proportional lists with district candidates elected directly by the people.
"The era we are living in demands the quota," Dorjzodov Enkhtuya, a 51-year-old former TV anchor running for the main opposition Democratic Party, told AFP in capital city Ulaanbaatar.
"There are almost no women in decision-making positions," she said.
"We are changing the game."
Read here the full article published by France 24 on 27 June 2024.
Image by France 24
A lack of women at decision-making tables around the world is hindering progress when it comes to tackling conflicts or improving health and standard of living, the highest ranking woman in the UN has said.
“We’re half the population. And what we bring to the table is incredibly important and it’s missing,” said Amina Mohammed, the United Nations deputy secretary general. “I think it’s why mostly our human development indices are so bad, why we have so many conflicts and we’re unable to come out of the conflicts.”
Since her appointment in 2017, Mohammed has been a constant voice in pushing back against the under-representation of women in politics, diplomacy and even the UN general assembly. Her efforts have helped cast a spotlight on the fact that women remain relegated to the margins of power around the world; last year the global proportion of female lawmakers stood at 26.9%, according to Switzerland’s Inter-Parliamentary Union.
Speaking to the Guardian, Mohammed said “flexing muscle and testosterone” often dominated at tables of power around the world.
“This win, win, win at all costs – I think that would change if women were at the table,” she said.
Read here the full article published by The Guardian on 19 June 2024.
Image by The Guardian
¨Global comparable data on women in cabinet positions, in the latest Global Gender Gap Report 2024, shows limited gains towards equal participation.
¨Most countries are far from reaching gender parity in cabinet positions, but global trends towards more inclusive cabinets can be accelerated.
¨Women ministers are leading in areas like human rights and gender equality, but remain a minority in areas such as defence, justice and home affairs.
Global data gaps on women in political decision-making positions are being closed, providing much needed evidence to assess countries’ progress toward gender equality. Most recently, the measurement of women’s representation in cabinet positions was strengthened by UN Women by defining clear and transparent criteria for global comparisons, based on agreed concepts, mapping of legislative frameworks on cabinet compositions in all countries, and expert technical meetings. These criteria are practical to implement and reduce the space for interpretation of what needs to be measured, thus ensuring feasibility, reliability, comparability and quality of the global data.
Read here the full article published by the World Economic Forum on 24 June 2024.
Image by WEF
This poster presents global data on women in executive positions as Heads of State, Heads of Government, and Cabinet members heading Ministries. Data indicate that women are underrepresented at all levels of executive decision-making worldwide, and achieving gender parity in political life remains a distant goal.
Only 26 countries are led by a woman, a modest increase from just 18 countries a decade ago. Women represent 23.3 per cent of Cabinet members heading Ministries in 2024—a less than 0.5 percentage point increase from 2023—and continue to primarily lead portfolios related to women and gender equality, family and children affairs, social affairs, and indigenous and minority affairs. Policy domains such as economic affairs, defence, justice, and home affairs, continue to be dominated by men.
Click here to see the full poster published by UN Women on June 2024.
India recently concluded its 2024 general elections, which took place in seven phases—from April 19 to June 1—to elect all 543 members of the Lok Sabha (lower house). While the results have taken many by surprise, what has been even more astonishing is the fact that for a country that has rigorously been trying to establish a more progressive front on women’s rights and gender equality over the past few years, the new Indian parliament has failed to showcase a notable uptick in the representation of women after the latest elections.
Making just 13.63 per cent of the elected strength, the 18th Lok Sabha will comprise only 74 women compared to 469 men. This share is not only abysmally skewed but also lower than the 14.4 per cent share of female representation during the 2019 election, where 78 women were elected as MPs.
The irony here is that just last year, India—during its G20 presidency—brought about a paradigm shift in gender-based policymaking by challenging the status quo and with the innovative idea of women-led development in order to ensure women’s inclusion and representation at all levels of decision-making.
Even at the domestic level, India—after many deliberations—finally passed the historic Women’s Reservation Bill in 2023, which seeks to reserve one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies for women.
Read here the full article published by the First Post on 20 June 2024.
Image by First Post