Australia moves to mend political culture, Instagram’s lax stand on abuse, and more: All you need to know about women in politics from August
#WomenLead (Issue 153): Your monthly round-up on women in politics
Hello, and welcome to the August edition of #WomenLead!
August marked three years since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, marking a pivotal moment in the country’s politics, and changing the lives of its people, especially its women, in a monstrous way. To make things worse, the Taliban announced a new morality law imposing extensive restrictions on women, including banning women’s voices in public.
The world stands complicit. Especially those who’ve long seen the country as a geopolitical playground, and nothing more. And who claimed to be women’s saviours, till it served their interest, of course.
In this month’s edition, we bring you updates from Australia, Bangladesh, Kiribati, Thailand, the United States of America, and a lot more. In case you missed last month’s edition, you can read it here.
Election Watch
Tracking women among candidates and winners
🇰🇮 KIRIBATI: Parliamentary elections in Kiribati were held on Aug 14 and 19. A total of 114 candidates contested for the 44-member house, 18 of whom were women. Five women were eventually elected, comprising 11.4 percent of the house, Inter-Parliamentary Union data shows. Four women had been elected in the previous election.
Leaders
Updates about women leading countries, states and movements
Women are more likely to get appointed to the finance ministry during times of banking (and currency and inflation) crises, a new research study by Brenna Armstrong and others published in the American Political Science Review last month argues. This is their finding from an analysis of data on appointments to finance ministries worldwide between 1972 and 2017. The researchers also examined tenures of nearly 3,000 finance ministers and found that for those in office, crises are more likely to shorten careers of men (and not of women) in the position. Read the full paper here.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra was elected as Thailand’s Prime Minister by the Parliament after the former PM, Srettha Thavisin, was dismissed by a constitutional court. At the age of 37, she becomes the youngest person and the second woman to occupy the position in the country’s history. Paetongtarn is the daughter of former PM Thaksin, and the fourth member of the Shinawatra family to become PM of the country. Read more about her and her election here and here.
On Aug 5, Sheikh Hasina, long serving as Bangladesh’s Prime Minister, resigned from her position and fled the country after weeks of anti-government protests. Initially, the protests were against a job quota in government jobs, but later turned into protests against Hasina’s government. The country is currently headed by an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.
On-the-job Updates
Spotlighting women’s experiences in political office
Instagram is rife with abuse against female politicians, but the platform is doing little about this, finds a new study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). Researchers collected 560,000 comments posted on Instagram between Jan 1 and Jun 7, 2024 on the Instagram posts of 10 women running in the 2024 US election (5 Democrats, 5 Republican, all incumbents), and found that 1 in 25 comments were “toxic”.
The researchers reported 1,000 of the worst of these comments (that included sexist and racist abuse, death and rape threats) to Instgram. The platform allowed 93 percent of them to stay online.
“Instagram’s failure to uphold and enforce its community guidelines means the platform is failing women and, by extension, our society’s desire for equal opportunity and treatment for women”, the report notes.
Policy Watch
Because policy shifts matter
In an attempt to address toxic workplace culture in parliament, Australia is set to introduce new laws that would penalise poorly-behaved politicians. On Aug 21, Katy Gallagher, Minister for The Public Service and for Women, shared the government’s intent to establish the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission (IPSC) to implement the recommendations of “Set the Standard”, the Australian Human Rights Commission’s report into the national parliamentary workplaces.
The Commission would be an independent workplace investigation and sanctions framework that will enforce behaviour codes for Parliamentarians as well as others who work in parliamentary workplaces.
“These codes set out expectations for behaviour, including requirements to foster respectful and inclusive workplaces, and a prohibition on bullying, harassment, sexual harassment and assault, and discrimination.”
Read more here, here and here.
Reading List
The more one learns, there’s only more to learn
“Shattering the political glass ceiling: exploring the rise of women political leaders”: Center for Global Development
“Black female pioneers in politics reflect on Harris’s nomination”: The Washington Post
“Experts warn women’s progress in politics is slowing”: The 19th
“Women are leading the opposition in Venezuela”: Politico
“British MP Naz Shah: We need to amplify minority stories”: OpenDemocracy
PM Lawrence Wong hopes to field more women candidates in Singapore’s coming general election: CNA
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Disclaimer: #WomenLead is a non-partisan newsletter produced in a personal capacity, and does not reflect any institutional affiliation/opinion. In case of any questions, please drop in a message at womenlead.project@gmail.com.