women's representation

Government should support women participation in politics as they can contribute immensely to the development of the country, a senior official with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has said.

ZEC deputy chairperson Mrs Joyce Kazembe said the participation of women in politics had remained low because of several bottlenecks, a development that is likely to hamper the country's quest to have men and women share 50 percent representation in the political landscape by 2015 in line with the Sadc protocol on gender and development.

A former PDP Women Leader, Dr Kema Chikwe, on Friday in Abuja advised women to work hard to secure positions in the party as the special convention gets underway.

She explained that the purpose for the special convention was to elect new National Working Committee (NWC) members to fill vacancies created by the resignation of 16 national officers and their deputies.

“Each position of the NWC is specialised. You must have the prerequisite and be sufficiently prepared to hold these positions.

To many, it may come as no surprise. Politics is a man’s world in the South Caucasus, where women remain a legislative minority, according to recent data from the World Bank.

The study showed that, regionally, Armenia has the lowest share of female parliamentarians, at 11 percent of its 131-seat National Assembly. Georgia comes next on the list with 12 percent, though the 2012 election marked a slight improvement. Azerbaijan is doing the best, though the female presence in its 125-seat Milli Majlis still stands at a modest 16 percent.

NGOs in Serbia fear that in the coming reshuffle, the government will veer from the European standard of having at least 30 percent of women in its ranks.

Belgrade-based daily Danas reports that a letter cautioning that women should make up at least 30 percent the new government was sent on Monday to all members of the national parliament.

Members of the parliamentary Committee on Human and Minority Rights, and Commissioner for Equality Nevena Petrušić also received the letter.

During the country's most recent election, opposition parliamentarian Mu Sochua saw her brave countrywomen standing up to corruption and demanding change.
After intense campaigning throughout Cambodia that took more than 12 months—from the mountains of MondulKiri to the former stronghold of the Khmer Rouge in Samlot—the 2013 general election produced the result we’d all been aiming for: P'dho, Chneas. Change, We Can.

The women's reservation bill which has been pending for over 17 years should be taken up for discussion in the ongoing monsoon session of the Parliament and be passed before the next general election, demanded women's groups across India on Tuesday.

The All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) will observe demonstration and rallies across the city today to press this demand. The basis of the bill lies in the poor representation of women in state legislatures as well as the Parliament.