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The Office of International IDEA to the European Union organized on 7 December 2018, a Roundtable discussion on ”Political empowerment of women through ICTs”, with the support of the Canadian Mission to the European Union. The aim of the event was to share experiences and views on the availability and use of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) tools to advance the political empowerment of women.

By Adam Taylor,

The United States has never had more women in Congress than it does now. As of last week, when the 116th Congress was sworn in, 23.7 percent of the 535 members of Congress are women — roughly a quarter of the Senate and 23.4 percent of the House of Representatives.

The UK Gender Sensitive Parliament Audit, published today, finds that steady progress has been made in increasing the representation of women in both Houses of Parliament, but there are still too many barriers to women standing as MPs or putting themselves forward to the House of Lords Appointments Commission.

The President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Gabriela Cuevas Barron praised Qatari legislation that ensures the rights of Qatari women and enables them to reach leading posts in all fields.

Women representation in Indian politics has always been a cause of concern. Despite being accountable for 49% of the country’s population, their representation in political participation is extremely poor. The representation of women in Parliament and in decision making roles in public sphere is one of the key indicators of empowerment.

51 women from different political parties and civil society organizations in Adana, southern Turkey, made a joint statement calling for more gender equality in politics at workshop organized by UN Women.

The global proportion of MPs under 30 has increased in two years from 1.9 per cent to 2.2 per cent according to the IPU’s biannual report on Youth Participation in National Parliaments published today. Despite this increase, when compared with the half of the world’s population that is under 30, the report reveals a sizeable deficit in the political representation of youth worldwide. Europe performs best in the share of young MPs, followed by the Americas.

Money is a necessary component of the democratic process, enabling the expression of political support as well as competition in elections. At the same time, if the funding of political parties and election campaigns are not effectively regulated, money could also undermine the integrity of processes and institutions of political participation and representation.

Women MPs discuss bullying, harassment and other misconduct during a public panel discussion to mark 125 years of suffrage.

Labour’s Ruth Dyson spoke about receiving death threats, as did the Greens’ Golriz Ghahraman, who remembered someone saying: “It’s time to load our shotguns.” New Zealand First’s Jenny Marcroft was at a politicians’ dinner where she was told to take her top off.