Tanya Gilly Khailany, from Iraqi-Kurdistan, is a former member of the Iraqi Parliament (2006 – 2010) and a co-founder of the SEED Foundation, an organization that works with survivors of violence and trafficking in Iraq.
Despite some gains, female politicians face an uphill battle in reaching the country’s 30% quota.
Gender quotas should be introduced next year for the local elections, the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) has said.
“When a woman enters politics, it changes her. When many women do, it is politics that changes.” So said Florentina Gómez Miranda, a former Argentine congresswoman.
There is a real risk by political parties to undermine the spirit behind the women's quota system which is provided for in the Constitution aimed at empowering women by reserving 60 National Assembly seats for them.
Maternal mortality, defined as the death of women within 42 days of childbirth, remains a looming global health problem well into the 21st century.
Political parties should be required to publish details of their election candidates by gender to highlight the "shameful" gap in numbers between men and women, campaigners are arguing.
The rapid expansion of electoral gender quotas in the past few decades has been met with considerable scholarly and public attention.
