iKnow Politics

With constitutional quotas for interest group seats in their favour and all political parties legally bound to respect women's quota of at least 30 per cent of their parliamentary nominees, women may retain or even widen their majority in the Chamber of Deputies after the upcoming September elections.

Before Anthony Weiner cannonballed into the 2013 New York City mayoral race, the storyline of the election had been whether mayoral frontrunner and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn would become the city's first female mayor (and its first openly gay mayor to boot).

Canada's premiers are backing a call by aboriginal leaders to launch a national public inquiry into the case of missing or murdered aboriginal women, CBC News has learned.

"The premiers at the table agreed to support the call of the Native Women's Association of Canada for a national public inquiry on this very, very important issue," Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said.

Michelle Nunn has electrified Georgia Democrats by announcing she will run for the U.S. Senate in 2014. Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis (D) has electrified Texas Democrats with her standup leadership in the Texas Senate. Hillary Clinton inspires Democrats everywhere with her prospects for the presidency in 2016. 

When Canada’s premiers sit down next July 25 for their semi-annual summit, they’ll be making history by changing the face of provincial and territorial leadership.

For the first time, there will be six women at the meeting in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., representing about 85 per cent of the country’s population. And at the head of the table will be Kathleen Wynne, who was sworn in as Ontario’s first woman premier just six months ago.

US Ambassador Peter W. Bodde today called for increased participation of women in the upcoming elections and announced that his government would work with the government of Nepal and civil society to encourage women and underrepresented groups to participate in politics. 

At a summer lunch with reporters in her Capitol conference room, Rep. Nancy Pelosi rolled out an ambitious economic agenda for women with next year’s congressional elections in mind.

The Somali Ministry of Development and Social Affairs is drafting a bill that outlines a new gender policy for the country and safeguards women's rights, particularly in politics and education.

The proposed legislation is part of a wide-ranging government programme that aims to promote women's rights and support their access to education, health services and participation in governance.

While 30% of parliament is supposed to be reserved for women, women make up less than 16% of the current parliament.