Photo: Alex Ellinghausen
A national meeting of Labor women has been told the government is making gender equality a tougher battle in Australia.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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’.
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.