Youth
Good morning.
Youth culture has long been associated with liberal or progressive thinking, protest and resistance. But the idea that the young are a homogenous group of lefty radicals has been challenged in a new study from King’s College London that suggests there is “an emerging gender divide” between young men and women.
The research is based on a representative survey of 3,716 people over the age of 16 and has revealed some stark differences on gender issues like the impact of feminism, terms like “toxic masculinity” and has even found that, in some cases, young men are no more supportive of gender equality than men in their 50s and 60s.
This report is part of a wider trend suggesting that gen Z (those born roughly between 1997 and 2012) are not necessarily as left leaning as many may assume. A survey conducted last year by Change Research found that young women in the US lean more politically left than young men, with 41% of women identifying as progressive in comparison to 24% of men.
Click here to read the full article published by The Guardian on 2 February 2023.
Image source: The Guardian
The training brought together 40 participants from various media houses, including female politicians, FAWE, International IDEA, FEMNET, and The Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK) personnel. The main objective of the training was to establish a pool of journalists and social media influencers who are gender-responsive in their reporting and who will objectively report stories of women in politics.
Women in politics have been on the receiving end regarding media framing and agenda setting in the political arena because leadership is often believed to be a male function in the world today. The narrative is, however, changing with more women in Kenyacoming forth to vie for leadership positions.
Click here to read the full article published by International IDEA on 19 January 2024.
A major shift in India's electoral landscape is anticipated by the end of this decade. A report by the SBI has claimed that women voters in India will surpass male voters from 2029 onwards.
In the upcoming general election in 2024, the SBI report has projected a total voter turnout of around 68 crores, of which women voters could be at 33 crore (49%). From 2029 onwards, the women voters at 37 crores could be outstripping registered men voters at 36 crores, the SBI report said.
Click here to read the full article published by Mint on 14 December 2023.
Kenya has tried to bridge the gender divide in appointive and elective positions through legislation such as the two-thirds gender bill now failed several times. But there’s a new pandemic for young women in power, designated to scare them from rising, voicing their opinion and leading as per their constitutional mandate: Patriarchy.
However, patriarchy is not new and plagues even the mature democracies. Today, a woman would be sitting at the apex of power of a superpower but for patriarchy.
Granted, there are many reasons why a woman running for political office might not win an election. But patriarchy tops the list.
Click here to read the full article published by The Nation on 24 November 2023.
Despite lacking ties to this city and being described as a poor public speaker, a former social worker won an election here to become the youngest female mayor in Japan.
Shoko Kawata, 33, bested two other candidates on Nov. 12 to win the mayoral election in Yawata, a city of about 70,000 residents south of the ancient capital of Kyoto.
Kawata was backed by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, junior coalition partner Komeito and the main opposition party Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.
Click here to read the full article published by Asahi Shimbun AJW on 13 November 2023.
GENDER equality remains the fulcrum for good governance and a strong foundation for economic growth. Therefore, women’s inclusion will positively enhance Africa’s political, social and economic development. We must therefore create strong institutional policies, invest in education, technology, mathematics, as well as other soft skill to create solutions for future emerging challenges. Women have decided to push for the inclusion of African women and girls economically, socially and politically.
Click here to read the full article published by the Nigerian Tribune on 2 November 2023.
Summary of facts and figures on the participation of young people in politics based on 2020 figures.
Click here to access the infographic.
This Discussion Paper puts together relevant data on the inclusion of young people and women in European Parliament elections.
It is focused on two pitfalls of EU electoral democracy: voter absenteeism on the part of young people, and the under-representation of women in the European Parliament. Data have been combined from the European Election Studies (EES), the European Parliament, the Gender Statistics Database of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), face-to-face and telephone interviews, and semi-structured questionnaires. Additionally, policy papers and other relevant texts (authored by organizations dedicated to young people, women and think tanks, as well as Europarties and groups in the European Parliament) have been considered. The scope of the paper is European, although data at a national level from France, Poland and Spain (a founding EU country, an Eastern European country and a Southern European country) are introduced in different sections to shed light on national differences. With the purpose of enriching and making EU electoral democracy stronger, the author presents, as food for thought, some evidence on key elements to foster participation in European Parliament elections, as well as to reach a more balanced composition of the European Parliament in terms of age and gender.
Click here to see the academic article.
The Second Annual Summer School for Young Leaders from African Political Parties took place in Kigali, Rwanda, on 6–8 June 2018. The overall theme was ‘Youth participation in political processes: emerging trends of the negative aspects of money in politics’.
The Summer School unfolded in a context that recognized that youth participation in politics, especially by young women, either in the form of direct representation in political structures or within less formal modes of political engagement, remains limited across Africa.
These low levels of active participation and influence by young people unfold in a situation where young people constitute a very large and growing proportion of the general population.
Click here to see the report.
The Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU) has cited violence as a leading factor discouraging young women from actively participating in politics.
Zimbabwe will hold general elections next year, and women participation is pivotal as they constitute 52% of the population.
In a recent report titled “Do middle class women defend democracy?” RAU noted that young women shied away from politics mainly because of violence, polarization, corruption and nepotism.
“The general consensus was that political participation is risky and violence is too frequently a part of the contest; and politics are strongly associated with corruption and nepotism,” read part of the report.
Other reasons given for poor participation of young women in politics were difficulties encountered in registering to vote.
“The young women want to participate but are failing to find spaces they are comfortable in to express themselves politically, and it is important for them to see that sitting out is also a political statement.
Click here to read the report.
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, or CEDAW, is an international legal instrument that requires countries to eliminate discrimination against women in all areas and promotes women’s equal rights. CEDAW is often described as the international bill of rights for women.
Engaging young people in politics is an important pillar to strengthening democracies. With an estimated 1.2 billion people aged from 15 to 24 worldwide, justice and democratic legitimacy demand more than a token youth presence in parliament. People between the ages of 20 and 44 represent 57 per cent of the world’s voting age population but only 26 per cent of the world’s MPs.
The new IPU report Youth participation in national parliaments 2016 was launched on March 16, 2016 during the IPU Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians in Zambia. The report reveals that only 1.9 per cent of the world’s 45,000 parliamentarians are under 30. The level shows almost no improvement on figures from a previous IPU study conducted in 2014.
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Nearly a third of single or lower houses of parliament and nearly 80 per cent of upper houses surveyed do not have a single Member of Parliament (MP) below the age of 30. Only four countries - Sweden, Ecuador, Finland and Norway – have 10 per cent or more MPs under 30. The overall figures for young MPs rise to 14.2 per cent for those under 40, and 26 per cent for those under 45. In all age groups, the figures fall far short of the corresponding numbers for their share of the population. People aged 20-44 make up 57 per cent of the world’s voters, according to UN figures.
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Click here to know more and to download the report.