A free press, crucial to any democracy, plays a significant role in shaping public attitudes.  It can reinforce voter stereotypes about certain types of candidates, or it can help dispel the kinds of opinions that for many years in many places have hampered efforts by women to become full partners in the political process.

They were speaking at an interactive session on Impact of Women Emancipation in Politics, organised by South Asian Women in Media (SAWM) on Tuesday at South Asian Free Media Association (Safma).

The data been compiled by the Inter-Parliamentary Union on the basis of information provided by National Parliaments by 1st July 2013.189 countries are classified by descending order of the percentage of women in the lower or single House.

The Democratic Party of Indonesia (DPI) is seeking to attract more women to participate in the upcoming presidential candidate convention.

Nova Riyanti Yusuf, member of the DPI, said: “Personally, I would like women to come forward at the convention especially to compete with other candidates, [so that] our politics will be more exciting"

“We once had a female president, Megawati Sukarnoputri. The names of female figures should be raised. If there are women who would like to participate, don’t be shy.”

Fatma Bostan Unsal, one of the founders of the Turkish ruling party Justice and Development Party, asserted that over 13 million women wearing hijab are barred from contesting the parliamentary elections. 

A group of 57 women including journalists, academicians, politicians and artists called last week for the end of all restrictions regarding dress codes.