Asia and the Pacific

Female leaders in Vanuatu are urging voters to boycott male candidates at the October general elections.

There are currently no female members in the Vanuatu parliament.

Eleven women boycotted a speech this week by senior MP Ralph Regenvanu, who was addressing a women's training workshop.

They say Mr Regenvanu has reneged on a commitment to help women have a greater presence in the parliament.

First of all, I would like to offer my hearty congratulations to the recently elected first women Dzongda [governor] and now the newly appointed woman Justice of the Supreme Court of Bhutan.  I am proud of our country when it comes to gender equality and the performance of the female gender which is looked down on in so many societies around the world. When I say this, I don’t mean to be construed that Bhutan has completely eliminated gender discrimination in its entirety though. There is still a lot to do and miles to go. But the signs are all positive and encouraging.

Park Geun-hye has won her party's nomination to run as presidential candidate for the upcoming elections in December. If elected, Park would become the nation's first female head of state.

Park Geun-hye is the daughter of South Korea's late military dictator Park Chung-hee. Surveys place the conservative lawmaker ahead of all other potential candidates in this December's polls.

"I plan to herald in a new era of unity of all people," Park, 60, said on Monday following her landslide victory at her party's nomination convention.

China said women and young people will be better represented at its Communist Party Congress, widening efforts to bolster the legitimacy of a leadership transition clouded by the ouster of Politburo member Bo Xilai.

Of the 2,270 delegates elected to attend the 18th congress, 521 are women, 76 more than in 2007, Wang Jingqing, Vice Minister of the Organization Department in the party, said at a briefing today in Beijing. There is a 1.9 percentage-point increase in the number of people under the age of 35 who will be attending, Wang said.

The empowerment of young women is key for advancing development around the world, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, adding that it is a priority for the United Nations to encourage their active participation in society.

Speakers at a forum have underlined the need to set up separate polling stations for females, launch voter education programme and stop using financial resources ungrudgingly by candidates to ensure holding free, fair and transparent elections in the country. The event was arranged by Strengthening Democracy through Parliamentary Development SDPD-UNDP at the district headquarters complex Tajazai on Saturday. Office bearers of political and religious parties and civic bodies spoke on the occasion.

Women attending a political workshop in Vanuatu have agreed to pursue a quota system for the 2016 election.

Nearly 20 women, who are intending to stand in the October election, have been attending a workshop organised by the department of women’s affairs into the workings of parliament and being an MP.

Read the complete story at Radio New Zealand, published 9 August 2012.

18 women have shown their interest to run as candidates in Vanuatu's general elections in two months time.

Since independence in 1980, only five women have been elected as members of Vanuatu's parliament.

Read the complete story at Australia News Network, published 9 August 2012.