Women's political participation

Keynote Speech by Helen Clark on
The Effect of the Global Financial Crisis on Women
At the International Conference
Celebrating the Centenary of Women’s Right to Vote in Norway
Oslo, Norway

We invite you to read the full speech published November 15, 2013 by our partner, UNDP

What, I wonder, explains the gender gap in political corruption?

Women make up almost 20 percent of the current Congress, according to the Center for American Women and Politics, but they don’t come anywhere near that proportion when we are talking about scandals on Capitol Hill.

Will it take breaking news of a female lawmaker doing something truly stupid like former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s tweeting self-portraits of his private parts to strangers to know we are beginning to achieve gender equality?

Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State John Kerry and former First Lady Laura Bush on Friday said that as elections near in Afghanistan and U.S. troops continue to draw down, America must remain committed to the country during what they called a critical juncture.

Egyptian women were at the heart of the revolution that toppled president Hosni Mubarak. Their contribution ranged from work in the labour movement to a female journalist breaking taboos by suing the government for harassment. They walked shoulder to shoulder with men as the Egyptian population demanded the fall of the regime, as did the people of Tunisia, Libya and Yemen. Yet nearly three years later, a poll from the Thomson Reuters Foundation has declared Egypt the worst country for women in the Arab world.

Hillary Clinton on Thursday stressed the importance of advancing women around the world, nodding to those seeking office as she also made the case for robust American leadership on the global stage.

Clinton’s remarks came at a gala hosted by the National Defense University Foundation, held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington.

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 in the country are likely to win overwhelming voters' confidence in the coming General Elections if the findings of a recent survey are anything to go by.