As the world is set to celebrate International Women’s day, Chinese women continue to face political and socio-economic discriminations despite the communist regime’s tall claims of women empowerment. The Covid-19 pandemic has further aggravated the situation.

Advancing gender equality in the context of the climate crisis and disaster risk reduction is one of the greatest global challenges of the 21st century.

A furious crowd gathered in central Seoul last month to protest against the policies of a man who isn't even in power.

Waving signs and wearing white sashes emblazoned with the words "Vote for Women," they accused presidential candidate Yoon Suk Yeol of attempting to appeal to anti-feminists to garner support ahead of the election.

"You don't deserve to be a presidential candidate, Yoon," the mainly female crowd chanted. "Go away."

Action is needed to avoid losing a generation of women and minorities in politics, MPs have argued today.

In a report released today, the women and equalities committee says that just 34 per cent, representation of women in the House of Commons lags behind its devolved counterparts, and falls below that of comparable European nations. Only 5.7 per cent of all 650 MPs are women from minority ethnic backgrounds.

The plan to have five regional seats reserved for women beginning in the general election this year has been shelved, a senior government official told a parliamentary committee yesterday.

Ivan Pomaleu, the secretary to the Department of Prime Minister and National Executive Council, told the committee looking into gender-based violence, that Cabinet on Dec 15 last year directed some State agencies to deliberate on the matter.

The global proportion of women parliamentarians has increased by 0.6 percentage points to reach 26.1 per cent according to the IPU’s latest Women in Parliament in 2021 report. This is in line with progress seen in the past two years. The increase can be largely attributed to the critical role played by well-designed quotas.