the role of women in society

Last May, Afghanistan’s upper house of parliament quietly removed an electoral law that stipulated that a quarter of all provincial council seats should be allotted to women. When women politicians found out nearly a month later, they fought to have the bill recalled. In July, the lower house reinstated the law, but lowered the allotment to 20 percent.

We invite our users to read the full article published September 18 2013

The Lib Dems could introduce positive discrimination to redress the party's gender and ethnic imbalance, one of its cabinet ministers has said.

Seven of the the Lib Dems' 57 MPs are women - numerically and proportionally the fewest of the three major Westminster parties. All of the party's MPs are white.

We invite our users to read the full article published September 19 2013

High-profile mayoral elections this year have already proved that the steps to City Hall remain steep for female candidates.

Only one of the nation's 10 largest cities is run by a woman: Annise Parker of Houston, who faces re-election in November. Just 12 of the 100 largest cities have women in the top job, including Fort Worth, Baltimore and Las Vegas.

We invite our users to read the full article published September 19 2013

The National Party Women’s Caucus paid tribute to New Zealand’s first National Party Member of Parliament, Dame Hilda Ross, at an event held last night in her honour. The Party also holds a Memorial Fund in her name.

“It is timely that we celebrate Dame Hilda’s life as we reach the 120th anniversary of women’s suffrage in New Zealand,” says Hon Hekia Parata, Chair of the Fund.

Why are there so few female elected officials in the second largest city in the country? Of 18 elected positions in City Hall, only one is held by a woman — Nury Martinez, who joined the council in July.

By comparison, at least 36 percent of the New York City Council is female (at least, there are 18 members of the women’s caucus, and with 50 council members, do the math) as is the speaker, Christine Quinn.

Most American media coverage of the Middle East paints a bleak picture of the status of women. There certainly is reason for pessimism given the perpetuation of honor killings and child marriages and, more generally, the exclusion of women from economic and political life. However, it’s not all gloomy.

We invite our users to read the full article published September 18 2013

Women make up 34% of the 8th Parliament of Zimbabwe, with 32% in the National Assembly and 48% of Senate. Although the quota for women in parliament led to the dramatic increase from 19% in 2008 to 34%, the number of women who actually won, fell from 34 to 26. The cabinet appointments were the country's last opportunity to bolster the numbers of women in power.

We invite our users to read the full article published September 18 2013