Asia and the Pacific

Women voters are particularly affected. The latest electoral rolls count 47.77 million men, compared with 36.59 million women — a significant discrepancy given that Pakistan’s male-to-female ratio is 1.06. Although it is skewed in men’s favor, the ratio alone does not account for the gender difference in the electoral rolls (especially because there are even fewer girls than boys under voting age: the male-to-female ratio is 1.07 for Pakistanis between the ages of 15 and 64). As it is, almost 10 million Pakistani women eligible to vote remain unaccounted for.

The Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Youth wing said it would welcome a woman candidate from the party’s Women’s wing in the 13th general election.

Its chief Datuk Fadillah Yusof noted that during the last state election, PPB which formed the backbone of the state Barisan Nasional (BN), fielded 10 candidates, mostly from the Youth wing.

Across Asia, women are climbing the ranks, whether it be through business or politics. Asia’s high-powered business women have been on FORBES’s radar, with the list of Asia’s 50 Power Business Women in February. However while CEOs like Zhang Xin of Soho China and Chua Sock Koong of SingTel are making waves with their business skills, Asian women shouldn’t be boxed into one base of power.

The entrance marked the official opening of the Pacific Islands Forum, Ms Gillard the last of the 14 Pacific leaders to parade amid the dancers spinning an island-style greeting.

''It's not the way I normally begin multilateral meetings, but I was happy to participate with all of the other leaders in the Cook Islands custom,'' Ms Gillard said later.

THE women of Vitogo Village and surrounding settlements have called on the Constitution Commission to ensure there is equal representation of women and men in a new parliament.

Making submissions on behalf of the women of Vitogo yesterday, Adi Paulini Delai suggested that 50 per cent of the parliamentarians be women.

Adi Paulini said there needed to be a law that also allow women to be represented at all provincial and district councils and government departments.

The arrival of US secretary of state Hillary Clinton at the post-forum meetings of this week's Pacific Islands Forum will put a focus on what's seen as a competitive diplomatic tussle by the United States and China for influence in the Asia-Pacific region. Fiji's continuing exclusion from the forum is also likely to be high on the agenda, while Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard will be focused on gender equity issues in the Pacific.

A prominent women's leader in Solomon Islands says there has been a mixed reaction to the election of only the second woman MP in the country's history and the current parliament's sole woman representative.

Vika Lusibaea, who is from Fiji, achieved a substantial victory over her nine male rivals in the North Malaita by-election.

Mrs Lusibaea is the wife of the former North Malaita MP Jimmy Lusibaea, who lost the seat after an unlawful wounding conviction.

The government might be finding it difficult to garner support for reserving 33% seat for women in Parliament but it seems it is doing its bit to empower women in municipalities.

The Union cabinet is likely to clear a proposal on Tuesday reserving 50% of the elected seats for women in urban local bodies (ULBs) across the country. At present, only one-third of the seats in the local bodies are reserved for women. 

Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Kerala, Karnataka, Orissa and Chhattisgarh have already reserved 50% seats in their ULBs for women.

While the arrest of Mongolia’s former president Nambaryn Enkhbayar on corruption charges has been dominating headlines, another quieter, but very significant event took place earlier this summer on June 28, when nine women won seats in the country’s parliamentary elections. This is triple the number of women elected just four years ago.