The 8th of March is set aside, annually, for the celebration and commemoration of women across the world, through the International Women’s Day.
This year is no different as activists and organizations are using the hashtag #BalanceforBetter and #IWD2019 to push for access to equal opportunities for women and men in all sectors of the economy.
Half of the people in the world are women, yet, according to statistics provided by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) women only occupy 23% of parliamentary seats in governments worldwide. As we work towards a more inclusive world, here are some countries that have achieved gender parity, or are on their way to, in elected positions:
Africa: Since 2004, the number of women in the Rwandan parliament has increased significantly. The country’s high numbers can be traced back to the Rwandan Genocide where an estimated 800,000 people were killed. Surprisingly, after the genocide, 70% of the country’s population was made up of women.
According to aPolitical, “President Kagame decided women’s labour would be needed to rebuild the shattered country, and promoted many top-down equality initiatives to that effect. As part of his efforts, the constitution of 2003 decreed that women should make up 30% “of posts in decision-making organs”, including the lower and upper legislative houses.
In the House of Deputies, 24 of 80 seats have since been reserved for women. But in that first election, already women won significantly more than their assigned minimum, taking almost half of all seats. This represented a leap in women’s political representation of almost 20% in one year.” Surprisingly, around a third of the top 30 countries in the global rankings are post-conflict states, including Angola, Uganda, Burundi, and Nicaragua.
South (Latin) America: Despite having one of the highest records of female murders across the globe, countries in Latin America have taken giant strides in providing representation for women in parliament.
According to a 2012 Women in Politics survey of the U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Latin America has a higher percentage of female members of parliament (22.5 percent) than any region except Nordic Europe. Also, there have been five female heads of state and heads of government, more than any other area globally.
The New York Times reports: “Female leaders are no novelty in the region. But now, at the same time, there are Dilma Rousseff of Brazil and Laura Chinchilla of Costa Rica, both first-time presidents; Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina, in her second term; and Kamla Persad-Bissessar of Trinidad and Tobago and Portia Simpson-Miller of Jamaica, the first female prime ministers of their island nations. And in Mexico this election season, Josefina Vázquez Mota, an economist, is the first woman to run for president under a major-party banner.”
Also, the region pioneered the widespread use of gender quotas to ensure that women are adequately represented in parliament. “Fourteen countries in Latin America have quotas — Cuba does not. Argentina was something of a trailblazer, the first country in the region to adopt quotas, in 1991. Citing surveys and studies, Ms. Lasagabaster attributed women’s gains to several trends: democratization, post-conflict systems, the role of money and the influence of religion.”
Scandinavian Countries: For countries like Norway, gender parity is not as much of a struggle as it is elsewhere. Since 2000, the nordic region has maintained a steady average of about two-fifths of its legislators as women.
Although many countries in the region do not have gender quotas, the higher numbers of women in nordic politics is due to the fact that women are represented better represented across society.
Apolitical reports: “Higher equality in the region stems from decades of reform. Strong child care provisions, flexible working options for parents, and lengthy paternity leave offerings have led to very high female labour force participation and allowed more women to rise to positions of leadership. While there may not be mandatory quotas for politics, Norway has also been the first of several countries in the region to implement gender quotas for private sector leadership; since 2008, publicly listed companies have been required to have 40% of each sex on their boards.”
What still needs to be done:
Despite the fact that some regions in the world appear to be doing much better than others on the subject of equal representation, many other regions still have a lot to do to achieve this goal. While it may appear difficult, Scandinavian countries have shown that there are many routes to achieving adequate representation for men and women in parliament.
As long as political spheres remain unattractive to women and they are discouraged from foraying into this sector, they will continue to be largely under represented. As proven by the economic progress of nordic countries, if women are included in policy and law making, regions stand to gain more.
