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.
Women’s activists in Bali expect that female representation in the Provincial and Regional Councils could go up to 15 percent next year from its current 7.5 percent, which is the lowest in the country.
The leader of Germany's Social Democrats on Sunday pledged a 50-50 male-female split of the party's cabinet posts in a planned new 'grand coalition' with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, according to a newspaper interview.
It's time to stop considering parliament's failure to represent society as a problem for women, and see it for what it is – a problem for everyone.
Women MPs have urged political parties to commit to gender equality as an inherent political objective and assume their role as key entry points to women’s political participation at an IPU-organized event during the Women in Parliaments G
As yet another female Tory MP announces she is to stand down, the soul-searching has begun about why women still find life in the Commons so unbearable. Laura Sandys says she is
If women are to achieve equality, they need a voice and a seat at the table. It's time to set measurable goals to affect change.
The Egyptian Feminist Union (EFU) announced Sunday the initiation of a 16 week campaign to raise EGP 30m to support female candidates running for the 2014 House of Representatives elections.
Fifteen years after the assassination of Russian MP and human rights activist Galina Starovoitova, those who masterminded her death are yet to be brought to justice. Starovoitova was shot to death in the lobby of her apartment in St. Petersburg on 20th November 1998.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said she has been granted permission by the president to lead the polls-time government. President Hamid has granted her the permission, she said on Wednesday evening during the 19th session of 9th Parliament.