Political Parties

Like many Australian women, Nicola Quin has become disillusioned with the number of women in parliament, both at the Federal level and in her home state of Victoria where women hold just 30% of parliamentary positions.

Black female politicians have made history in the state of Georgia. For the first time ever, not just in the state but the nation, five African-American women will be on a statewide ballot.

These candidates are:  Doreen Carter for secretary of state, Liz Johnson for insurance commissioner, Robbin Shipp for labor commissioner, Connie Stokes for lieutenant governor and Valarie Wilson for school superintendent.  So far, Wilson grabbed the Democratic nomination in a recent runoff against another black woman, Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan of Austell.

With just 99 days to go until election day in November, political parties and candidates are all hard at work, looking for votes.

Democrats want to make sure they get as many women's votes as they can. So they brought national Democratic Party Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida) to Maine for a fundraiser on Monday. She also joined First District Rep. Chellie Pingree and Second District Congressional candidate Emily Cain at a pre-lunch rally.

The Chairman of the opposition Liberty Party, Atty. Fonati Koffa, said the Liberty is in the lead pushing the gender parity. Speaking at a fundraising dinner organized by Senator Nyonblee Karngar Lawrence and held at the Cape Hotel on Friday July 25, 2014, Atty. Koffa said the party will support women candidates to ensure success in politics.

Women make up just one third of members of State boards and have been "consistently under-represented in economic portfolios," according to a report submitted to Cabinet on gender equality in decision-making roles.

It says that the figures have remained “fairly static” for some time, despite a 40% target set by consecutive administrations.

Politics will continue to be an exclusive and largely male pursuit until political parties take a serious look at a more representative system, two female councillors with a strong family background in Fianna Fáil have said.

Following David Cameron’s cabinet reshuffle, the UK government has moved from having three women in the cabinet to five: and these two new members are working mothers, a presence not there before.

This still fails to improve the overall gender equity: according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union the UK currently ranks 65th globally for women parliamentary membership. Women comprise 22.6 per cen of the total UK parliament, compared to 51 per cent of the population.

Women in Politics, a brand-new organisation for New Zealand women in political office, was met with overwhelming support at the 2014 Local Government New Zealand Conference held this weekend in Nelson.

The networking opportunities at the conference meant that the group’s new Chair Angela O’Leary - also a Hamilton City Councillor - was able to introduce the group to Elected Members from around the country.

Political parties that have less than 30 percent female representation in their lists of candidates for the general and regional elections may get less money from the state per mandate gained, according to a draft amendment to the election law, which daily Právo writes about today.

The provision was initiated by Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier (Social Democrats, ČSSD).