quotas

Reminding political parties of their responsibility to ensure that women's rights as outlined in the Constitution are upheld, several women groups today gathered here demanding the passage of the pending Women's Reservation Bill in the ongoing session of parliament. 

The bill seeks to reserve 33 per cent of seats for women at all levels of legislature to ensure that their right to participate in politics is upheld. 

A number of Latin American countries are preparing for congressional elections in 2014, and gender quotas will play a role in the number of women vying for legislative seats. In the region, 16 countries have quota systems for lawmakers, while one in four Latin American legislators are women.

ISLAMABAD: To add to the hype surrounding local bodies elections, non-government organisation and human rights groups have urged the election commission to prepare and release gender disaggregated data. 

Addressed to the Prime Minister, Senate chairman and chief ministers, the letter demands categorised data to strengthen democratic culture.

New laws designed to increase the number of elected women in Kenyan politics had no effect on the 2013 elections because those concerned failed to implement them, the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) said.

“We have good laws that we are not using,” said Mariam Kamunyu, the lead author of ‘Key Gains and Challenges: A Gender Audit of Kenya’s 2013 Election Process’, a report on how women fared in the polls,

A revision to Nicaragua’s law on municipal elections last year required political parties to put up equal numbers of women and men as candidates for mayor and city council. It also increased the number of city council seats in each municipality. The result has been more women than ever winning races for mayor and city council.

One of them was Antonia Rizo, a city councilor in San Sebastian de Yal. “When I arrived at my position, I was afraid to speak,” she said, because of lack of familiarity with the city’s legal system.

The percentage of women in Singapore's Parliament is better compared to a decade ago and it is more important to anchor political representation on meritocracy rather than impose gender quotas, Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Social and Family Development Low Yen Ling said on Tuesday.

Out of 99 seats in the House, 25 are currently occupied by women.

A little while back a lawsuit was filed with the Supreme Court to disallow funding of political parties that do not include women in the party list.

I do not know what happened with that suit - I have not yet heard that it has been discussed or decided upon, so I assume it is still an open case.

Some lawmakers have decided not to wait for the Supreme Court decision, and are taking the same idea via a different route - legislation in the Knesset.

Women Affairs Minister Hajiya Zainab Maina has called for the adoption of special measures to entrench affirmative action-certain percentage of women- in both elective and appointive positions at all levels in the 2015 elections.

She made the during her key-note address at a 2-day for female parliamentarians on state legislatures on affir-mative action and the quota implementation guideline.

We invite you to read the full article published October 30, 2013

IF elected, Chief Willie Obiano of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has promised to ensure that women constitute at least 35 per cent of all his appointments.

In an interview with reporters shortly after attending the sensitisation workshop for political parties and stakeholders in Awka, Obiano also promised to establish more vocational and skills acquisition centres in the state.

We invite you to read the full article published October 29, 2013