FOLLOWING the release of the final list of presidential and national assembly candidates for the 2023 general election, the Women In Politics Forum (WIPF), on Monday, lamented the low number of female candidates contesting the 2023 general election.

The IPU has made bold commitments and taken steps towards ensuring women and girls’ voices are heard in decision-making, and that young women are politically empowered. The IPU collaborates with strong partners such as the Generation Equality Forum (GEF), a civil society-centered global coalition for gender equality launched in 2021.

As a co-leader of GEF’s Action Coalition 6 on Feminist Movements and Leadership, the IPU has committed to the following:

The Zimbabwe Gender Commission (ZGC) is capacitating women across the country to contest in the forthcoming general elections under the programme Women Rise in Politics, with support from United Nations Women. 

Under the programme, the commission is hosting workshops for women interested in participating in politics to provide them with critical information to enable them to contest the male-dominated political space. 

ES Bijimol, a three-time MLA of the Communist Party of India (CPI) has said she suffered moral attacks and degradation from her male colleagues for daring to contest in a male bastion.

The former legislator from Peermade in Kerala’s Idukki district put out a lengthy Facebook post on Thursday to share her bad experience. 

The other day, the CPI elected K Salimkumar as its Idukki district secretary, Bijimol, in her post, said she had also been nominated for the position.

It’s no secret that women have had to put up a tenacious fight to be seen and heard in  politics worldwide. As late as 2005, the number of women in parliament speaker posts stood at just over 8 per cent worldwide, reflecting a considerable lack of female representation. Although that number has increased, women still account for just 23 per cent of parliamentary speakers around the world today according to the latest IPU figures.

Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the United Nations has called on the media to ensure that female politicians are granted the same access as their male counterparts.

This was made known by the representative of the United Nations Women, Ms Beatrice Eyong, at a programme held for media executives in Lagos .