Twenty-eighth November 2013 marked the 120th anniversary of women’s suffrage in New Zealand, the first country in the world to give women the vote. A historic milestone highlighting the progress made on gender equality since 1893, the anniversary nevertheless underscored how much still needed doing to achieve gender equality in all spheres of life. Although gender discrimination on suffrage will come to an end with women in Saudi Arabia due to vote for the first time in local elections in 2015, women’s representation in parliament is far from matching progress on universal suffrage. Women represent more than half of the world’s population, but represent just 21.4 per cent of all parliamentarians in the world.
Twenty-eighth November 2013 marked the 120th anniversary of women’s suffrage in New Zealand, the first country in the world to give women the vote. A historic milestone highlighting the progress made on gender equality since 1893, the anniversary nevertheless underscored how much still needed doing to achieve gender equality in all spheres of life. Although gender discrimination on suffrage will come to an end with women in Saudi Arabia due to vote for the first time in local elections in 2015, women’s representation in parliament is far from matching progress on universal suffrage. Women represent more than half of the world’s population, but represent just 21.4 per cent of all parliamentarians in the world.