Women's political participation

Like many Australian women, Nicola Quin has become disillusioned with the number of women in parliament, both at the Federal level and in her home state of Victoria where women hold just 30% of parliamentary positions.

It may be the 21st Century, but many of the barriers that kept women from entering politics over the last 100 years still exist, said 20-year-old university student Supriya Trivedi.

For instance, juggling a career with motherhood remains a significant obstacle for prospective female politicans, Trivedi said.

“I definitely felt that we were past that,” she said.

Sexual harassments and intimidation are two major reasons why women shy away from politics, representative of Ikorodu Constituency 2 at the Lagos State House of Assembly, western Nigeria, Mrs. Adebimpe Akinsola, has said.

Akinsola, a first-term lawmaker at the House, who spoke with newsmen recently, said many women are in tune with the general belief that politics is only meant for men. She also argued that sexual harassment could only be experienced by women who are very desperate to be politically relevant.

Why are so many more men involved in politics than women?

The one-year Head Start for Young Women Program, now wrapping up, aimed to tackle that issue by jumpstarting the conversation with local high school and post-secondary students.

About 15 participants here in Ottawa developed workshops aimed at identifying why females say they don't get involved and come up with ways to overcome those reasons.

Women make up just one third of members of State boards and have been "consistently under-represented in economic portfolios," according to a report submitted to Cabinet on gender equality in decision-making roles.

It says that the figures have remained “fairly static” for some time, despite a 40% target set by consecutive administrations.

Following David Cameron’s cabinet reshuffle, the UK government has moved from having three women in the cabinet to five: and these two new members are working mothers, a presence not there before.

This still fails to improve the overall gender equity: according to theInter-Parliamentary Union the UK currently ranks 65th globally for women parliamentary membership. Women comprise 22.6 per cen of the total UK parliament, compared to 51 per cent of the population.

Women in politics is high on the agenda this week after David Cameron's reshuffle which his own spin doctors rather unfortunately dubbed a ‘catwalk reshuffle’.

More women ministers is a welcome development but with just half as many women in his cabinet as Tony Blair did seven years ago, the PM still has some catching up to do.

Somali women leaders met in Mogadishu on Sunday (July 20th) to demand greater representation in national politics and clear constitutional provisions protecting their participation, Somalia's Hiiraan Online reported.

Chair of the Somali National Women's Association Batulo Sheikh Ahmed Gaballe and several of Somalia's women lawmakers attended the meeting.

From time being, sex stereotyping has always been an issue in contemporary setting. It assumes that masculine and feminine traits are intertwined with leadership. Due to the aggressive and competitive nature of politics, the belief is that participation in elected office requires masculine traits.