Women’s share in Indian parliament drops, new data shows stubborn global gender gaps, and more: All you need to know about women in politics from June
#WomenLead (Issue 151): Your monthly round-up on women in politics
Hello, and welcome to the June edition of #WomenLead!
The World Economic Forum released the 2024 edition of its flagship Global Gender Gap report earlier this month. The report measures gender gaps on four dimensions – economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. The last one remains the dimension with the widest gender gap.
“Women’s representation in the political sphere has increased at the federal and local level, though top-level positions remain largely inaccessible for women globally,” the report notes, hoping that the super-election year will be an opportunity for progress. 💯 💯
Over to this month’s edition, which brings you updates from Bulgaria, India, Ireland, Mexico, Slovakia, the UK and more. In case you missed last month’s edition, you can read it here.
Representation Watch
Taking stock of global progress on women’s political representation
UN Women has released the most recent data tracking women’s representation at the top of the political ladder around the world.
There were 27 countries with women serving as the Head of State and/or Government as of Jan 01, 2024. Further, 113 countries have never had a woman serve in either position, the research notes.
Women comprise 23.3 percent of Cabinet members heading a Ministry/leading a policy area (as of Jan 01, 2024). This varies from 32.5 percent in Europe and North America on the one hand, to 9.5 percent in Central and South Asia on the other. There are only 15 countries in which women hold 50 percent (or more) of the positions of Cabinet Ministers leading policy areas.
Women are most likely to be heading the portfolios related to women and gender equality (87 percent), family and children affairs (67 percent) and social inclusion and development (51 percent), and least likely to helm religious affairs (five percent), transport (seven percent) and the energy, natural resource fuels and mining (12 percent) and defence (12 percent) ministries.
Election Watch
Tracking women among candidates and winners
🇧🇬 BULGARIA: Women will comprise 26.7 percent of MPs elected in Bulgaria in June’s snap election, up from 24.2 percent elected in the previous polls, data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) shows.
🇮🇳 INDIA: On June 04, results of India’s #HotSummerElections were announced. The new cohort of elected MPs includes 74 women, together comprising just 13.6 percent of all members. Fewer women were elected this time than in the previous polls of 2019 (78) despite this being the first election after the Women’s Reservation Bill was passed (it has not yet come into effect), and even as all parties tried to attract women’s vote during the election. Further, there are only seven women among the 71 ministers who have been sworn in as part of the new government.
Read our take on the dip in women’s representation in this article for The Indian Express.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom: Only 31 percent of the candidates who will be running in the upcoming election in the UK will be women, data from the Electoral Reform Society shows. In the previous election of 2019, women comprised 33.8 percent of all candidates and of all those who were elected, IPU data shows.
Leaders
Updates about women leading countries, states and movements
Claudia Sheinbaum has been elected as Mexico’s next President. She becomes the first woman to be elected to the position in the country’s history.
In Iceland, Halla Tomasdottir has been elected as the country’s next President. She will assume office in August after incumbent President Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson’s term ends.
On June 15, Zuzana Čaputová’s term as Slovakia’s President came to an end. Čaputová, who became the country’s first female president in 2019, had announced her decision to not seek re-election last year itself saying that she did not have the strength to continue for another term. Read her farewell address to her country here.
On-the-job Updates
Spotlighting women’s experiences in political office
#NotTheCost: Even as historic strides were made in Mexico’s electoral history, there was no end of political violence. Just on the day Sheinbaum was elected as President, Yolanda Sanchez Figueroa, the Mayor of Cotija was shot dead on a public road. A few days later, Esmeralda Garzon, a local councillor who led the equity and gender commission on the municipal council of Tixtla in Guerrero, was killed by gunmen as she was leaving her house on June 07. This election has been termed as the bloodiest election, and nearly 37 candidates were assassinated in the run-up to the polls, Reuters had previously reported.
Reading List
The more one learns, there’s only more to learn
“Gender equality in the European Parliament and in national parliaments in the European Union: 2023 state of play”: European Institute for Gender Equality
“Women 'changing the game' in Mongolia's patriarchal politics”: AFP
“During this super election year, more women are needed at the top”: Project Syndicate
“The backlash against women in politics”: The Tyee
”Women leaders remain scarce in Thai local politics. What can be done?” Global Voices
“Claudia Sheinbaum has already made history — there will be pressure on her to make more”: The Fuller Project
Community Watch
A quick round-up from the community working at the intersection of gender x politics
The Centre for Gender and Politics (CGAP) has released a podcast featuring interviews with women leaders from the South Asian region. Listen here.
The Advancing Learn and Innovation on Gender Norms (ALIGN Platform) recently released a series of reports under its ‘Men in politics as agents of gender equitable change’ research project. The project examines why men in politics decide to support gender equality, how they explain and frame their work in this area, and how their actions are perceived by women politicians, activists and students. Read more/explore 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.