Quotas

Iraqi political blocs and parliamentary committees announced that they will boycott parliament sessions in protest of “the marginalization of the role of women in political life, since no seats were allocated to women in the

The number of women standing in local elections in Armenia has barely changed from four years ago, despite government pledges to increase participation. Activists are now saying it might be is time for local polls to be subject to the same gender quotas as national elections.

A number of community organisations in Solomon Islands met with Government officials this week to try and advance their plans to have more women in Parliament.

The head of the United Nations Development Programme says her organisation will happily support MPs who want to re-introduce legislation to increase women’s political representation.

Across the Pacific, only about 5 percent of parliamentarians are women.

Advocacy groups for women and minorities in Somaliland have raised concerns about their political role in government after members of the lower house voted down a provision that would have established a quota for their representation in parliament.

Six women from the Aizawl Municipal Council (AMC) staged a walk out on Saturday soon after the council passed a resolution not to create reservation of seats for the fairer sex  in the local council.

The DA will not accept amendments to the Electoral Act to provide for party gender quotas. This would be as constitutionally problematic as basing representation in Parliament on race or any other demographic variable.

The Forum 50%, promoting equal representation of women and men in influential positions, has launched a campaign in support of the introduction of quotas for women in politics, its representatives told reporters yesterday.