women's representation

Two senators from Palau say the women in politics they met during a recent visit to Australia have inspired them to be better politicians.

Jerilin Senior and Rukebai Inabo spent time in the Australian capital, Canberra, and visiting the constituencies of Australian senators and MPs, as part of the Pacific Women's Parliamentary Partnership Program.

A flicker of hope for women across Egypt may have been sparked on Friday, after the first female to head a political party in the country was elected.

Breaking through Egypt's political glass ceiling, Hala Shukrallah succeeded former Egyptian Vice President Mohammad ElBaradei to become the Constitution Party’s president.

And her win not only represents women, who are a minority in Egyptian politics; she is also a Coptic Christian, a community that makes up 10 around percent of the country’s population.

In anticipation of local government elections, much of the discourse in recent months has challenged the laws put forward by provincial governments under judiciary-induced deadlines, including lukewarm lobbying for the greater inclusion of women at the grass-roots level.

At a seminar hosted by Oxfam, in collaboration with several rights and women advocacy groups, party representatives expressed ambivalence over seats allotted to women in the Punjab, Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

The political parties may be wooing women with their electoral promises; the latest voters' list shows a slide in the sex ratio in the enrolments done in the district. The sex ratio in the electoral rolls has declined from 913 females per 1,000 males in 2009 to 886 females in 2014.

We invite our users to read the complete article published February 19 2014

Saudi women will have the chance for the first time next year to vote and run in the municipal elections, but they are possibly facing an uneven playing field.

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).