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.
The country had elected its most diverse parliament ever under former prime minister Jacinda Ardern in 2020, significantly boosting numbers of female, Māori and LBGTQ+ mem
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Female candidates in the local elections across the country this weekend face one of the world’s toughest glass ceilings
Female candidates in the local elections across the country this weekend face one of the world’s toughest glass ceilings
Even though the Finnish elections were won by a male, women dominated Finland’s general election that took place on Sunday, with the most successful candidates being female.
The proportion of women among the candidates for the 2023 Finnish parliamentary elections is higher than ever before, according to a press release from the Finnish Statistics Centre.
Despite the legal reforms that have been taken by various Arab countries following their ratification of various international agreements guaranteeing women's civil and political rights, women have not been able to achieve equal representation&nbs
No parliament in the world is fully gender-sensitive. Women and gender-diverse people are relatively recent arrivals into political life, so many parliamentary institutions have developed without respect for their needs and experiences.
The Parliament of Zimbabwe has recently launched two initiatives to engage more youth and women in parliament.
At the 146th IPU Assembly in Manama, Bahrain, IPU Members voted in new Presidents of the Bureau of Women Parliamentarians and the Board of the Forum of Young Parliamentarians. Both Presidents were elected for two-year terms.