Youth

Context

Women across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region continue to face underrepresentation in political and economic spheres, which limits their ability to shape important political and economic decisions. Although several countries in the region have introduced rules to increase women’s participation, their perspectives and needs remain largely excluded from both national and regional negotiations. Furthermore, as conflicts in the region persist and escalate, women face additional barriers, which undermine the progress already made towards achieving gender equality.

Approach

The project focuses on increasing women’s political and economic participation in the MENA region through targeted actions and collaborations. To achieve this, it implements the following measures:

• The project provides tailored advice and development opportunities to economic and political change agents, enhancing the impact of their work.

• It shares successful and innovative strategies across the region to encourage adoption in other countries, with the goal of increasing women’s participation.

• The project cooperates with national and regional networks to implement measures that promote women’s involvement in economic and political life.

• It promotes women’s fundamental human rights, ensuring they can influence policies that advance gender equality and inclusion in the MENA region.

• The project raises awareness across various age groups, fostering a more active role for women in political and economic activities.

Read here the full article published by GIZ on 8 November 2024.

Image by GIZ

This scoping study presents an in-depth exploration of youth political participation, focusing on the design and implementation of youth-related policies. The policy tracker study is based on a comprehensive literature and policy review, tracking key developments from 1980 to 2023. It covers three main areas:

•Youth involvement in political affairs,

•Participation in elections,

•And engagement in civil society, with an emphasis on democratic environments.

It is divided into two key parts, examining academic literature and significant policy shifts across four distinct epochs, providing valuable insights for policymakers and programme designers in the field of youth political engagement.

By systemically analysing research and policy documents that have shaped the policy discourse over the last four decades, the study brings a new perspective on the evolution of youth participation in politics across four key epochs. It offers a unique chronological order highlighting key trends and shifts in youth policymaking while situating them within broader democratic practices. By expanding the understanding of youth participation, the study provides insights for future avenues of research and development of more youth-inclusive policies.

Read here the full report published by the Youth Democracy Report on 16 September 2024.

Image credits: Youth Democracy Cohort

Several Indonesian thinktanks have unofficially assessed that female representation in Indonesia’s national parliament (DPR) for the term 2024-2029 would stand at about 19.65 per cent. If this proves correct, the proportion of women legislators in the new government will be lower than in previous years. During the 2019-2024 term, women’s representation in the DPR was at 20.9 per cent, surpassing 17.32 per cent after the 2014 elections, whereas during Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s presidency (2004 and 2009 elections), women legislators accounted for only 11.1 and 17.86 per cent of legislators, respectively.

While improvements in Indonesia’s electoral system and the internal structures of political parties are needed to provide more opportunities for women to participate in politics, the cultural attitudes of young voters (17-40 years old) towards gender roles and female political leadership are also crucial. As the most significant demographic of voters in the recent elections, at 56 per cent of the electorate, Indonesia’s youth wield significant influence. Examining their current attitudes toward gender equality is essential for envisioning the future of women’s political participation and leadership.

Read here the full article published by Fulcrum on 24 April 2024.

Photo by Fulcrum

.

Last week, former prime minister Tony Abbott called for more women to be represented in the Australian parliament. While his comments were focused on the Liberal Party, they did remind us of the consistent gap that remains between the number of men and women in the nation’s parliament.

This is highly problematic, as a lack of women in the national legislature suggests our political system is misfiring.

The inequality of gender representation also undermines the democratic notion of government being for the people, by the people.

This problem isn’t unique to Australia, as many other countries continue to have fewer women than men representing the community in the national parliament.

Australia became a world leader when, in 1902, women gained the power to vote, and also stand for election to the parliament of Australia. But it took more than 40 years until, in 1943, Enid Lyons and Dorothy Tangney became the first women elected to the national parliament.

The situation has changed since the 1940s, but we’re still a long way from enjoying gender parity in parliament. For example, at the start of 2024, Australia was ranked 37th in the world for the percentage of women in its national parliament, with just 38% of seats in the House of Representatives (where governments are formed) being held by women. The story is somewhat better in the upper house, as 57% of seats are occupied by women.

Read here the full article published by the Monash University on 15 April 2024.

Image source: Monash University

Three quarters (77%) of women are not comfortable expressing political opinions online because of fears they will be targeted by harmful online behaviours such as misogyny, trolling, threats and harassment, according to new research published today (Wednesday 20 March) at AI UK, the UK's national showcase of data science and AI hosted by The Alan Turing Institute.

The survey found that while men and women reported seeing harmful content online almost equally overall, women reported being directly targeted by misogyny, cyberstalking, cyberflashing, eating disorder content, and image based sexual abuse to a significantly greater extent than men.  

Women are also significantly more fearful of experiencing every type of harm that they were asked about.

The research also found that women were 96% more likely than men to say they had been left feeling sad or low as a result of an online experience, and 47% more likely than men to say they had been left with physical symptoms such as insomnia or headaches.  

The research also looked at the use of safety tools and across all seven tools surveyed, including disabling location sharing, making accounts private and limiting who can engage with posts, women consistently report using these tools to a greater extent than men. This could suggest that women feel the need to do more to protect themselves from online harms.

Click here to read the full article published by The Alan Turing Institute on 20 March 2024. 

Image source: The Alan Turing Institute

Young people form a large share of the global population, but they make up only a small proportion of members of parliament around the world. This disparity is greatest among younger cohorts: while half of people worldwide are under age 30, and 18% of people are between the ages of 20 and 29, this report finds that only 2.8% of parliamentarians are aged 30 or under. The exclusion of youth from these spaces is not only unjust, but also has important policy implications. By virtue of their age, younger generations will live the longest with the consequences of legislation passed today. If young people’s voices are not heard, these laws are not likely to reflect their political priorities and perspectives, making it less likely that attention will be paid to issues like education, unemployment and climate change.

Click here to read the full report published by the Inter-Parliamentary Union on 19 October 2023.