Elections

The Foundation for Security and Development in Africa (FOSDA), on Thursday urged more women to contest the forthcoming district assemblies’ elections to enable them to participate actively in policy formulation and decision-making processes.

Mrs Theodora Williams Anti, FOSDA Programme Officer said the participation of more women in politics and the decision-making process with their male counter parts would provide a balance that more accurately reflects the composition of society and is needed in order to strengthen democracy and promote its proper functioning.

Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

A national meeting of Labor women has been told the government is making gender equality a tougher battle in Australia.

Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek told the convention on Saturday that a range of budget measures announced in May will work against women and used as an example the story of a single mum living in her Sydney electorate.

The top candidates for Toronto’s mayoral race and where they stand on key issues are well known, but the odds are that few people know who is running for city council in their ward.

A non-partisan group of approximately 15 youth is looking to change this lack of knowledge among Toronto voters. Most of them are under 35 years old and call themselves Women in Toronto Politics or WiTOpoli for short.

Black female politicians have made history in the state of Georgia. For the first time ever, not just in the state but the nation, five African-American women will be on a statewide ballot.

These candidates are:  Doreen Carter for secretary of state, Liz Johnson for insurance commissioner, Robbin Shipp for labor commissioner, Connie Stokes for lieutenant governor and Valarie Wilson for school superintendent.  So far, Wilson grabbed the Democratic nomination in a recent runoff against another black woman, Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan of Austell.

With just 99 days to go until election day in November, political parties and candidates are all hard at work, looking for votes.

Democrats want to make sure they get as many women's votes as they can. So they brought national Democratic Party Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida) to Maine for a fundraiser on Monday. She also joined First District Rep. Chellie Pingree and Second District Congressional candidate Emily Cain at a pre-lunch rally.

The Chairman of the opposition Liberty Party, Atty. Fonati Koffa, said the Liberty is in the lead pushing the gender parity. Speaking at a fundraising dinner organized by Senator Nyonblee Karngar Lawrence and held at the Cape Hotel on Friday July 25, 2014, Atty. Koffa said the party will support women candidates to ensure success in politics.

Politics will continue to be an exclusive and largely male pursuit until political parties take a serious look at a more representative system, two female councillors with a strong family background in Fianna Fáil have said.

Following David Cameron’s cabinet reshuffle, the UK government has moved from having three women in the cabinet to five: and these two new members are working mothers, a presence not there before.

This still fails to improve the overall gender equity: according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union the UK currently ranks 65th globally for women parliamentary membership. Women comprise 22.6 per cen of the total UK parliament, compared to 51 per cent of the population.

The Public Defender’s Office has expressed its concerns over the declining rate of women's participation in the country’s political life experiences and there is no progress observed on the horizon. 

According to Ombudsmen Ucha Nanuashvili, the deterioration in this regard was revealed after the 2014 local elections in which women's representation met only 11.1%. Also, changes were made in the cabinet of ministers without the consideration of female participation.