Democracy and the equal participation of men and women in the political arena are closely intertwined. No parliament or any decision-making body can claim to be representative without the participation of both men and women. As stated in the Universal Declaration on Democracy adopted by the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s Member Parliaments in 1997, "The achievement of democracy presupposes a genuine partnership between men and women in the conduct of the affairs of society in which they work in equality and complementarity, drawing mutual enrichment from their differences."
Recent years have seen a steady increase in the number of women in parliament, though the world average of less than 22 percent remains far from the goal of parity between women and men. The election of women to the highest positions of state and government in several countries has also contributed to the changing face of politics.
While the road to election is a difficult one, the challenges for women do not stop there. Once women enter parliament or other bodies, they are faced with many new challenges. Parliament is traditionally a male-oriented domain where the rules and practices have been written by men. It is, therefore, an ongoing challenge to transform parliament into a gender-sensitive environment, to ensure that actions are gender-sensitive and to guarantee that gender is mainstreamed throughout the legislature.
Sharda Devi, the first woman state president of the ruling BJP in Manipur, wants the party to put up a sizeable number of women candidates for the Assembly elections
Alexa McDonough, whose leadership of the Nova Scotia NDP in 1980 made her the first woman to lead a major political party in Canada, has died at the age of 77.
Women politicians in the country, on Monday in Abuja, unveiled an online resource portal for women seeking elective positions in the 2023 general elections.
Dozens of women held a protest in the Afghan capital on Sunday demanding the release of a female military officer who was taken prisoner by the Taliban four months ago, and also against the arbitrary killing of a young Hazara woman by the Taliban two days ago.
An actress jailed for protesting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s controversial citizenship law, the mother of a rape survivor, and a beauty pageant winner.
Following the publication of the IPU’s regional study on Sexism, harassment and violence against women in parliaments in Africa, many African parliaments accepted the IPU’s call to amplify the findings of the study and talk about sexism with the following local i
Congress is sprinting to get through a lengthy and challenging legislative to-do list before the end of the year, including passage of President Biden's $1.85 trillion social services package that will provide child care subsidies, free pre-K, paid family leave and an
Congress is sprinting to get through a lengthy and challenging legislative to-do list before the end of the year, including passage of President Biden's $1.85 trillion social services package that will provide child care subsidies, free pre-K, paid family leave and an
Centre-right Maltese lawmaker Roberta Metsola, chosen Tuesday as only the third woman to head the European Parliament, is viewed as a political moderate despite controversy over her anti-abortion stance.
By Mohamad Ika Danial Abdullah
By Mohamad Ika Danial Abdullah