Will history be made in the USA? Here are all the important updates about women in politics from October
#WomenLead (Issue 155): Your monthly round-up on women in politics
Hello, and welcome to the October edition of #WomenLead!
We stand on the cusp of history. On Tuesday, November 05, Americans will pick the next person to lead their country, and by consequence, determine who will be one of the most powerful leaders on the planet for the next four years to come.
For over 200 years, this has always been a man (and barring one name, always a white man). A woman - Hillary Clinton - made it to the finale in 2016 but eventually lost to Donald Trump. This time, Kamala Harris, who has already entered history books as the country’s first (and only) woman Vice President till date, has a shot at shattering what has been less of a glass ceiling and more of (to borrow Japanese politician Yuriko Koike’s phrase), an iron plate.
Will the final barrier be crossed? We’ll know very soon.
In this edition of #WomenLead, we bring you updates from Canada, India, Indonesia, Japan, United Kingdom a lot more. And a special reading list on the USA’s potentially historic election.
In case you missed last month’s edition, you can read it here.
Election Watch
Tracking women among candidates and winners
🇮🇩 INDONESIA: Indonesia’s President, Prabowo Subianto, has a new cabinet of ministers. It includes five women out of 48 ministers and another eight women among the 56 deputy ministers, The Jakarta Post has reported, lamenting the marginalisation of women in the country’s politics. Read here.
🇯🇵 JAPAN: A rare but encouraging development from Japan from this month – a record number of women (73) have been elected to the East Asian country’s Parliament. Together they will comprise 15.7 percent of all MPs, a significant improvement from the previous legislature where this share was less than 10 percent (9.7 percent). Women comprised 23 percent of all candidates who contested the elections, another record high in the country. We hope the path forward is only upwards. Read more in The Japan Times.
🇺🇸 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: While all eyes are on the Presidential polls, the USA will also be electing its next set of legislators. A total of 256 women are running for the US House of Representatives this year, data from the Centre for American Women and Politics (CAWP) shows. This is a small dip in numbers from the last two elections. In total, they comprise 30.9 percent of all general election nominees, with wide party-wise gaps. While 45.9 percent of all Democratic Party nominees are women, among Republican nominees this share is only 15.7 percent. Read more here.
Leaders
Updates about women leading countries, states and movements
In the United Kingdom, Kemi Badenoch has been elected to lead the Conservative Party, becoming the first Black woman to lead a major political party in the country. She will also be the leader of the opposition in the national Parliament. Read more in the BBC here.
On-the-job Updates
Spotlighting women’s experiences in political office
Violence, hate, harassment should not be the cost of being part of public life. And yet, women leaders across the world face these at an alarmingly normalised scale and frequency. Valerie Plante, Mayor of Canada’s Montreal city, recently announced that she would not be seeking re-election for a third term, and would quit politics instead. In 2017, Plante made history by becoming the first woman to head Montreal’s municipal leadership. During her term, Plante has faced a barrage of online hate and threats, according to a CTV News report. So much so that recently she decided to restrict public comments on her social media posts. While Plante did not explicitly mention this vitriol as the reason to quit politics, her announcement follows that of other women leaders in the country who have recently quit citing the toxic hate. Read more in this report by CTV News here.
In the meantime, it is election time in the Indian state of Maharashtra, where, for some context, women have comprised only five percent of candidates who have contested all elections since the formation of the state in 1960 till date (per an analysis by The Times of India). Arvind Sawant, a member of the Shiv Sena party (Uddhav Thackery faction) called Shaina NC, a candidate from its opponent faction (the Eknath Shinde-led faction), an “imported maal” (Maal loosely translates to stuff/items) because Shaina had switched parties. After he was criticised, Sawant apologised, with the usual-and-predictable explanation that his remarks had been misinterpreted and that he was being deliberately targeted 🤨.
Reading List
The more one learns, there’s only more to learn
“Which Australian states and territories perform best on gender representation in parliament? We crunched the numbers”: The Conversation
“2024 election super-cycle: a key moment for gender equality?”: IDEA International
“Sexism and hostility against female politicians pose 'major issue for democracy'”: The Brussels Times
“Online gender-based violence undermines women’s political participation in Tanzania”: The Guardian (Tanzania)
“Taking on India's patriarchal political order”: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
“Angela Rayner’s green suit: why is it so difficult for women in power to dress ‘correctly’?”: The Conversation
Election Special Reading List
On the US election from a gender lens
“Gender gap: How the US election is becoming a battle of the sexes”: France 24
“Women sharing personal stories about abortion bans have become a political force”: NPR
“Why are so many women hiding their voting plans from their husbands?”: The Guardian
“Trump says he is going to protect women whether they ‘like it or not’”: CNN
“Gender is playing a crucial role in this US election - and it’s not just about Kamala Harris”: The Conversation
“Is America ready for a woman president? Voters’ attitudes to women politicians are radically different from a decade ago”: Women’s Agenda
“The massive gender gap in the election, in 2 charts”: Vox
Community Watch
A quick round-up from the community working at the intersection of gender x politics
UN Women is inviting proposals from civil society organisations to expand women's leadership and political participation. Find the details here. The application deadline is November 11.
The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA International) has launched a handbook tilted ‘Beyond Numbers: Stories of Gender Equality in and through Parliaments’. This Handbook aims to provide a comprehensive framework for embedding gender sensitivity into the heart of parliamentary functions and processes, while highlighting practical stories of change to inspire and offer a fresh perspective on what enables change in parliaments across the world. Access it here.
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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.