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.
FEMALE lawmakers are pushing for the tabling of a Sexual Harassment Bill to protect women in politics against persecution by their male counterparts.
The UN envoy to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, met with a delegation from the “High National Council for Libyan Women,” as part of the consultations he is conducting with a number of components of Libyan society, in addition to what he described as his quest to bridge the ga
The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) has prompted many experts to warn about its impacts on democracy. To explore this issue further, the IPU is preparing a series of articles on the topic.
One of the first few countries to introduce suffrage for women and their election to office, Türkiye marks the 89th anniversary of the constitutional amendment, with more women in political offices though they are still outnumbered by men.
Udora Orizu chronicles the noteworthy strides being made by the 10th House of Representatives towards improving women’s political representation and end gender based violence in the country.
Belfast, Northern Ireland – Northern Irish academic and activist Monica McWilliams says it has taken 25 years for
There is increase in politically motivated violence against women in Zimbabwe, manifesting as rape and sexual assault, direct violence and hate speech, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (The Forum) has said.
Previous work suggests that observing women officeholders increases women’s political ambition.