Electoral quotas for women: an international overview

Dorothy Tangney DBE
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
courtesy Australian Freedom of Panorama

Electoral quotas for women: an international overview, published by the Parliamentary Library, provides an overview of recent global trends in women’s political representation and the different types of gender quotas adopted. Drawing on recent international research, it explains the impact of electoral quotas, what influences their success, and the various arguments for and against their use. The paper also looks at electoral gender quotas in Australia, and describes the use of quota systems in other Commonwealth countries. 

Bill to reserve seats for women passed by Samoan Parliament

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

The Legislative Assembly of the Samoan Parliament has voted unanimously in support of a bill to amend the Constitution to reserve five seats or 10 per cent of the 49 parliamentary seats for women electoral candidates. The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, La’auli Leuatea Fosi, has called it ‘a new dawn for women’. The Constitution Amendment Act 2013 was passed by the Parliament on 24 June 2013 despite strong opposition by the Tautua Samoa party in the months leading up to the vote. Tautua Samoa had argued that the Government should seek the community’s views through a referendum and noted that, in some villages, women were not allowed to hold the title of matai (chief) which is a prerequisite for parliamentary candidates seeking election to the Samoan Parliament.

Women in the Australian workforce: A 2013 update

Image source: Australian Human Rights Commission

First observed as an international event in 1911, International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated around the world on March 8 each year. Originally emerging from female labour movements in North America and Europe, female participation in politics and the workforce remains an important focus of IWD. As we celebrate IWD in 2013, this article briefly reviews current female participation in the Australian workforce.

International Women's Day

Image source: UN Women

On Friday 8 March women around the world will celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD). IWD had its genesis in events of the early 1900s, when women in places such as Europe, North America and Australia began demanding an end to inequality, and access to equal pay, better working conditions and voting rights. As outlined by UN Women Australia:

In 1910, Clara Zetkin, the leader of the Women’s Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany tabled the idea of an International Women’s Day at the second International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen. The proposal received unanimous assent from over one hundred women representing seventeen countries.
 

The very first International Women’s day was held the following year on March 19th. Meetings and protests were held across Europe with the largest street demonstration attracting 30,000 women. The day sparked great public debate, and advocates drew attention to the absolute necessity of extending the right to vote to women to make parliament more democratic. In 1913, IWD was transferred to March 8th and has been held on this day ever since.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (White Ribbon Day)—25 November 2012



Image source: http://www.un.org

In 1999, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (also marked in Australia as White Ribbon Day). Each year since then the UN has encouraged governments around the world to raise public awareness on this issue.

110th anniversary of the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Tuesday 12 June 2012 marks the 110th anniversary of the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902, the law that granted most Australian women the right to vote, and therefore to stand, in Commonwealth elections. The Act stated that ‘all persons not under twenty-one years of age whether male or female married or unmarried’ would be entitled to vote in Commonwealth elections. It excluded Indigenous men and women, unless they were eligible to vote under state laws in accordance with Section 41 of the Australian Constitution. Across Australia, women voted for the first time in the second Commonwealth election held on 16 December 1903. Women in South Australia (who were granted voting rights in 1895) and Western Australia (1900) were eligible to vote in the first Commonwealth elections held in 1901, since these were conducted under state laws. Four women stood as candidates for election to the Commonwealth Parliament in 1903. They were the first women nominated for any national Parliament within what was then the British Empire, although none of the women were elected.

Women in Australian Parliaments



Vida Goldstein
Source: Wikimedia Commons

 A new Background Note, Representation of Women in Australian Parliaments, published by the Parliamentary Library to coincide with International Women's Day, reveals that there are currently more women parliamentarians in the Senate than at any other time since Federation. However, despite occupying several high-profile roles, women are still significantly under-represented in Australian parliaments, comprising less than one-third of all parliamentarians and occupying less than one-quarter of all ministry positions. In addition, whilst the number of women in the Senate reached its highest point after the 2010 Commonwealth election, the number of women in the House of Representatives declined. When comparing the proportion of women in national parliaments internationally, Australia's ranking has slipped from 21 to 38 over the past decade.

International Women's Day

Image source: wikimedia commons

Women all over the world have used International Women’s Day, March the 8th, to campaign about issues relevant to their local needs – from gender equity in the workplace to ending poverty and violence against women. Last year marked 100 years of the day’s fascinating and varied history. International Women’s Day continues to celebrate the great achievements of women, and turn our attention to the problems still faced by women.

A bigger cabinet and more women in it


The new ministry to be sworn in today, with 22 cabinet members, is the largest cabinet since the second and third Whitlam Ministries (1972–75). When the Second Whitlam Ministry was sworn in, all 27 members of the ministry sat as members of the cabinet. During this period, and also between 1901 and 1956, there was no ‘inner cabinet’. The inner cabinet system was formally adopted by the Menzies Government on 11 January 1956 and has characterised all Governments since, with the exception of the Whitlam Government.

The other notable feature of the new ministry is its record number of five female cabinet ministers.

PNG parliament votes to allow reserved seats for women



Image source: United Nations Democracy Fund

In a historic vote, the Parliament of Papua New Guinea has passed a bill allowing 22 parliamentary seats to be reserved for women MPs. On 23 November 2011, the Equality and Participation Bill (or ‘Women’s Bill’) received 72 votes to two, with several members abstaining and some absent. PNG has had four women Members of Parliament since the country’s independence in 1975, and currently has only one woman MP—Dame Carol Kidu—who sponsored the Bill. In a recent ABC radio interview, the Queensland-born MP described the vote as ‘a real paradigm shift’ on the floor of the parliament, and noted that the years of campaigning for change had helped to raise public consciousness of women’s under-representation in the country’s parliament. In a nation where violence against women is endemic, Dame Carol cites international evidence to show that social issues gain priority when more women are involved in making laws. The PNG parliament must now pass enabling legislation that will determine the boundaries of the 22 electorates. The enabling legislation, still to be introduced, will require 73 votes or two-thirds of the parliament.