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.
When Anna Margareth Abdallah entered the Tanzanian parliament in 1975, she was one of only five female MPs.
Pioneers may be picturesque figures, but they are often rather lonely ones.
A MOCK parliament for women will be conducted at the National Parliament from February 10 to 13.
Both houses of the Afghan Parliament have voted to pass an act that would prohibit relatives from testifying against a criminal defendant in a judicial proceeding.
David Cameron has been accused of running the country like an old boys' network after he turned up to prime minister's questions with an entirely male frontbench.
Sandra Fluke, a women’s rights activist who rose to national prominence after testifying in favor of Obamacare’s birth control provision, is reportedly
With the addition of 2.38 lakh new voters to the electoral list, the district now has a total of 39.84 lakh voters in 12 assembly segments including Phaphamau, Soraon, Phulpur, Pratappur, Handia, Meja, Karchana, City West, City North, City South, Bara, and Koraon.
A group of Pacific women politicians and leaders have met in Fiji to find ways to boost the number of Pacific women in elected positions.
The Pacific has the lowest number of women in government in the world at just 4-point-7 percent.