As of November 2009, women held only 18.8 percent of seats in single/lower chambers of Parliament globally. Although these figures may look like a drop in the ocean, they are seen as modest improvement compared to 1995 when they were at only 11.3 percent.
According to the Secretary General’s report presented at the Beijing +15 meeting in New York to the Economic and Social Council, the increase in women’s parliamentary representation is not evenly distributed across regions even though member states have emphasised that the promotion of full and equal opportunities for women in decision making is a necessary pre-condition for sustainable development, peace and security.
The 30 percent target set by the Beijing Platform for Action has been met only in 24 countries globally. One quarter of all parliamentary chambers having less than 10 percent women members. Nine chambers in the Pacific islands and Arab Gulf states have no women members.
In terms of senior leadership within parliaments, only 35 women preside over one of the houses of the 187 existing parliaments.
Addressing the 54th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, Minister for Gender Ms Esther Murugi said there had been a slight improvement in the number of women ministers which increased from three in 2003 to six in 2009.
“In addition to the ministers, there are six women who head Parliamentary Committees,” Murugi said.
She added: “The Kenya National assembly has a woman MP as a member of the Speaker’s panel who is entitle to exercise all powers vested in the chairperson of committees including powers as Deputy Speaker.”
However, according to the Secretary General’s report, what comes out is that despite increasing numbers of women in public and political life in all regions, women are still underrepresented at senior levels in all areas even though countries recognise the importance of women’s participation in decision making processes to democratic and economic processes.
In many countries, women’s political participation has been instrumental in developing gender sensitive policies and programmes. Member states report that women parliamentarians ensure attention to important gender perspectives in legislative processes.
The report notes that where quotas and other temporary measures such as reserved seats have been taken, there has been a significant increase in the number of women in public life. However, inconsistent implementation of the quota regulations and provisions, including their uneven application across different levels of government and ineffective application of sanctions, have been a stumbling block.
The Secretary General’s report is a review of implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the outcomes of the 23rd special session of the General Assembly and its contribution to shaping gender perspective towards the full realisation of the Millennium Development Goals as mandated in the Economic and Social Council resolution 2009/15.
The report recognises persistence of gender stereotypes and discriminatory attitudes regarding roles of women and men, including women’s ability to lead as another significant barrier to achieving equal participation of women in decision making processes at all levels.
The Beijing Platform for Action elaborated on the purpose of institutional mechanisms for gender equality and gave particular attention to the role of national machinery for “central policy-coordinating unit inside Government”. While institutional mechanisms remain critical drivers for the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women, in most countries these mechanisms lack effective political support and have limited access to key policy and decision making processes; and that even where political support is strong, it is not always matched by resource allocations.
To create an enabling environment for women’s participation in decision making, constitution and legislation must guarantee equal access to public office. Making institutions gender sensitive, through improving working methods and institutional cultures, would increase their ability to address gender equality issues in legislative and policy development.
The Secretary General has been requested by the Economic and Social Council to report, on annual basis, progress in mainstreaming gender perspective in the development, implementation and evaluation of national policies and programmes with a particular focus on priority themes including having women in power and decision making positions.
The latest edition of the Reject Newspaper is out. The Reject is a bi-monthly online newspaper by the Media Diversity Centre, a project of AWCFS.
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