Women in parliament

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. 

Women should have at least 100 of the 444 seats in the next parliament, the National Council for Women said in a statement Thursday.

Representation of women should be proportionate to their weight in society and their wide-scale participation in the constitutional referendum, NCW said, adding that an opportunity should be given to women to change the stereotypical idea of their role.

Regardless of the role or industry in question, networking is often an essential part of the modern day-to-day job. We all build up an array of contacts during our professional lives and we learn from the people we meet and work with. As a professional political consultant, I can vouch for this being as true in Westminster as anywhere else; and I believe that building on these networks is the key to making Parliament a more female-friendly workplace.

Across the world, female political representation continues to be an issue.

Most recently, it’s become a significant issue in Jamaica, where the 51 Percent Coalition has been pushing for more women in Parliament (and in boardrooms) in the country.

So we decided to take a look at the Parliaments in the Caribbean that have the most female members.

PARLIAMENT needs to reflect the society it represents, says Fiji Women's Rights Movement's executive director Virisila Buadromo.

Explaining why it was important to support temporary special measures for women in Parliament, she said: "It is not about giving women special privileges but it is about narrowing the gap and addressing the historical discrimination women have faced in politics."

The Egyptian Feminist Union (EFU) announced Sunday the initiation of a 16 week campaign to raise EGP 30m to support female candidates running for the 2014 House of Representatives elections.

The campaign’s aim is to help 100 female candidates. The House of Representatives is expected to be formed in April 2014.

We invite you to read the full article published November 24, 2013

Following the elections and recent government appointments made by King Mswati and members of parliament (MPs), Swaziland has hit rock bottom in women's representation in government, just at the time when the country should be giving its last push for gender equality before 2015.

There is no hope that Swaziland will reach the SADC Gender Protocol target of 50% women in all areas of decision-making by 2015.

The Pacific region has the lowest level of representation of women in national legislatures, a tag that it would like to shake off.

But one woman who has made it into her national parliament is Charmaine Scotty.

She recently became only the second woman to win a seat in Nauru's assembly since independence in 1968.

We invite our users to read the full article published October 24, 2013