Electoral maths, Türkiye polls and a sassy response to trolls: Everything you need to know about women in politics from May
#WomenLead (Issue 139): Your monthly round-up on women in politics
Hello, and welcome to the May 2023 edition of #WomenLead!
This packed edition brings you election updates from Bhutan and Türkiye, news about women’s experience in office from India, UK and Uganda, a policy update from Indonesia along with reading recommendations from so many other parts of the world.
In case you missed last month’s edition, you can read it here.
Election Watch
Tracking women among candidates and winners
🇧🇹 Bhutan: In April, Bhutan elected 20 members to its National Council, the highest legislative and policy-making body in the country, Himal reported. There was only one woman among those who got elected. Only nine women had put up their names for the elections, and five of them had their candidature accepted (as compared to 84 male candidates). Read a deep dive into the path to women’s political participation in the Himalayan Kingdom here.
🇹🇷 Türkiye: Women’s representation is set to be at its highest in Türkiye after the recent Parliamentary polls. Preliminary estimates suggest that 121 women are set to be part of the Turkish Parliament, and will together comprise 20.1 percent of the House, up from 17.1 percent previously.
On-the-job Updates
Spotlighting women’s experiences in political office
In India, legislative Assembly elections were held in the state of Karnataka. Only 10 women were elected to the state’s Assembly, making up a paltry 4.5 percent of the total members. Nayana Motamma is one of these 10 women. Close to the polling day and immediately after, Nayana’s personal pictures were being circulated by groups associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party, which was in power before the polls (Motamma is a member of the Congress party), The News Minute reported. The pictures being circulated were those where she was wearing dresses/athleisure clothes - and the intent was to paint her in poor light - that while she wore a traditional dress (the saree) while campaigning, her real self was different and wore non-traditional clothes.
Nayana responded back by sharing a video compilation bringing together photos/clips where she can be seen running, dancing, having fun, along with photos of her political work. She shared the video with the caption: “Don't let the frustration of defeat haunt you further. Yes...politics, me, myself, my personal life is the answer for those idiots who don't know the difference.”
“Many feel advocating for equity and equality is an abuse of culture and religious beliefs. For all my posts advocating for gender equity, I receive abuse or insults”: CNN reports on how women politicians in Uganda become easy targets of online abuse and harassment
In the UK, a female MP of the Labour Party has filed a police complaint against a colleague for sexually harassing her after a party in July 2021, Tortoise Media reported earlier this month. The survivor alerted two of her colleagues soon after the alleged assault, and the party encouraged her to file a formal complaint. However, she felt that the popularity of the male MP - who was a Shadow Minister - could be a roadblock, and therefore decided not to pursue the same. She has recently filed a complaint with the police, and has reached out to the party over concerns about a “wider pattern of behaviour”, the news report said.
Policy Watch
Because policy shifts matter
After civil society groups raised concern, Indonesia has reversed a change in its election rules that could have potentially led to a decline in women’s representation in its formal politics, The Jakarta Post reported.
The country has a rule to ensure that a minimum of 30 percent of the total legislative candidates in each electoral district are women. But to calculate the 30 percent mark, it is possible to encounter non-whole numbers (e.g. in a district with nine candidates, 30 percent of nine is 2.7). In such scenarios, the electoral commission had a policy to round the figure upwards in all cases to ensure the minimum 30 percent level (this would make it three women in our example of nine candidates). But recently, it changed the rule to round it to the closest whole number, which would be downwards in certain cases (e.g. for eight candidates, the 30 percent figure is 2.4, which is closer to 2 than to 3, resulting in just 25 percent women).
However, after concerns were raised that this could lower the number of women, it is now sticking to the original policy. Well, all’s well that ends well, but this seems like it should have been a totally avoidable pursuit!
Shout-out
A note of gratitude for those tracking gender gaps in politics
In this edition, we would like to give a big shout-out to iKnow Politics, for all the work they do!
The International Knowledge Network of Women in Politics (iKNOW Politics) is a collaborative platform bringing together the expertise of four leading organizations in the field of women’s political participation – IPU, IDEA International, UNDP and UN Women. They do the valuable work of tracking updates about women in politics, and also for initiating dialogues and enabling exchange of ideas and expertise across the globe (in multiple languages!). At #WomenLead, we are inspired by and grateful for the work they do.
Reading List
The more one learns, there’s only more to learn
“Ignoring online abuse of women MPs has dire consequences”: LSE Blogs
“The patriarchs’ war on women”: Ms. Magazine
“Equality versus empowerment: Women in Indian legislature”: Economic and Political Weekly
“Women are inspired to run for office when they see how political exclusion threatens their rights”: LSE Blogs
“Why women haven’t been successful in Nigerian elections”: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
“Where are the women in Pakistan’s politics?”: The Diplomat
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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