Women in parliament

Thirty representatives will take part in Tonga's first “Practice Parliament for Women” on April 10-11 in Nuku'alofa, a two-day event that aims to encourage women to run for parliament in the upcoming 2014 General Election in November.

Lord Fakafanua the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly last week announced the names of 28 candidates picked from a pool of applicants. They include nine “noble's representatives”, 17 “people's representatives” and two representatives elected by the Prime Minister from outside.

As the May 23 local and European elections draw nearer, the National Woman's Council of Ireland (NWCI) has formulated six key questions to tease out the ways in which potential candidates are committed to promoting gender equality in political arenas and across all aspects of Irish life.

Louise Glennon of NWCI said that “for far too long Ireland has been known for the lack of gender equality in its political decision making...there is no time for lengthy solutions. We need change now.”

Women make up just 9 per cent of Hungarian members of parliament. In this regard Hungary ranks 122nd out of 140 countries. Upcoming parliamentary elections have sparked public discussion of the role of women in politics, family life, and in the country as a whole.

We invite you to read the full article published March 27, 2014

The meaningful role women should play in parliament is to have an impact in changing the nature of politics and to create more honest government.

In a bid to achieve gender equality and promote womens rights in Indonesia, the country needs to put more women in parliament, which is responsible for legislating laws that are critical to changing the situation of women.

We invite you to read the full article published March 24, 2014

The passage of a draft law seeking to provide 30 percent women participation in all political parties was stalled recently by a motion for reconsideration made by Nimba County Senator Thomas Grupee.

Senator Grupee's motion for reconsideration angered several women leaders who have expressed disappointment in the senator's action.

Some of them told a local radio station that Senator Grupee is against women leadership.

Solomon Islands Member of Parliament Hon. Milner Tozaka says he supports reserved seats for women in the national parliament and calls on the government to legislate the proposal before parliament dissolves in September 2014.

Mr Tozaka made these remarks at a recent three-day regional consultation on human rights for members of parliament in Auckland, New Zealand on 15–17 January 2014 organised by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community Regional Rights Resource Team (SPC RRRT).

Today’s Cape Cod Times noted the imminent retirement of Senate President Therese Murray and listed two of the leading candidates for her seat, Plymouth state representative Vinnie deMacedo and former Falmouth state representative Matt Patrick.

deMacedo, a Republican, said that “I would like to think that the district wants balance, and I think this is an opportunity to bring some balance to the Senate.”

Both houses of the Afghan Parliament have voted to pass an act that would prohibit relatives from testifying against a criminal defendant in a judicial proceeding. If signed by President Hamid Karzai, the proposed change to the Afghan criminal code would prevent family members from testifying as victims or witnesses in all criminal cases, including domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual assault cases. The act would also ban children and doctors – including those who may have examined victims – from testifying against the accused.