political participation of women

With the role of women in British politics again coming under the spotlight this week, MPs and former ministers have warned that there is a “real problem” with the issue of gender in Westminster.

David Cameron is expected to reveal a major Cabinet reshuffle tomorrow with younger women promoted to senior roles in place of aging men, but Labour says it is an effort that comes so late as to seem like a “last-minute worry about votes”.

The heady days when Sydney women looked up to a female prime minister, female premier, governor and governor-general are long gone.

There is just one female cabinet minister in Canberra. And now the NSW parliament is likely to emerge from the next election with its worst result for women’s representation in the upper house in decades.

NSW Labor has ignored Labor’s rule that 40 per cent of candidates pre-selected for winnable seats must be women. The Nationals and Liberals' merit-based promotion of female candidates has similarly failed.

The likely victory of Michelle Bachelet in Chile’s presidential elections will strengthen women’s political power in Latin America, a region where while progressing, still sees millions of women as the victims of discrimination and violence.

Despite women’s success in top positions in politics, a Latin American woman with thirteen or more years of schooling still earns 37% less than men with the same education, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA).