“It will take 50 years to reach 50-50 parity” 

A unique visual tool to capture women’s participation in executive government and in parliaments around the globe.

The map of Women in Politics provides a snapshot, as of 1st January 2017. It includes a country ranking for both ministerial and parliamentary representation, as well as statistics on women in political leadership positions – heads of state or government, speakers of parliament, and ministerial portfolios held by women throughout the world. 

The number of women heads of state or heads of government fell from 19 to 17 since 2015, and progress in the number of women in parliament continues to be slow, according to Women in Politics 2017, which can be accessed in English by clicking here. Download in Spanish. Download in French. The map is enlargable and you can zoom to areas of interest on your home screen.

IPU data shows that the global average of women in national parliaments increased just slightly from 22.6 per cent in 2015 to 23.3 per cent in 2016. The number of female speakers of the house, however, is up to the highest so far, with 53 out of 273 posts.

Martin Chungong, the Secretary-General of the IPU says “In 2016, we saw confirmation of a trend we had been seeing, when it comes to representation of women in parliament, there is progress but the progress is excruciatingly slow. At this rate, it will take 50 years to reach 50-50 parity,” Mr. Chungong told the press. “This is a warning signal; we have to do something about this.”

Regional snapshot of women’s political power

Regionally, women’s representation in the Americas made the most significant gains, according to a press release from UN Women. Women’s participation in parliaments rose to 25 per cent from 22.4 per cent in 2015, even as the region saw a drop in heads of state with the presidents of Brazil and Argentina leaving office.

In Asia, women hold 11 per cent of ministerial posts, led by Indonesia whose Government is comprised of 25.7 per cent women.

Among the Arab States, 9.7 per cent of senior executive posts are held by women, led by Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates, at 23.1 per cent and 26.7 per cent, respectively.

In Europe, the total percentage stood at 22.5 per cent. A surprise came from the Nordic countries which have traditionally led the global stage in politics, but whose number of female ministers fell by more than six per cent to 43.5 per cent.

Female ministers in Africa saw a decline in numbers, after years of steady growth. About 19.7 per cent of the region’s ministerial posts are held by women. In Johannesburg in 2016 an IAWRT impromptu theatre event scratched the surface of the uphill battle for women who aspire to political representative roles. 

 

 

 

(Article adapted from WURN – Women’s UN Report Network)

Selected films from the succesful 2017 IAWRT Asian Women’s Film Festival held by the India Chapter in New Delhi in March will travel to Nepal for the first time.

The IAWRT Women’s Film Festival in Nepal will be held on  Monday10th April 2017 (28th Chaitra 2073).

9am at the Nepal Tourism Board, Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu.

“Across the world, civil society space is shrinking, and democratic actors and human rights defenders face daunting attacks”.

That stark assessment at the opening of the 61st Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women came from Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women. So, it was timely that IAWRT presented its documentary on the dangers faced down by women making news, and a panel discussion at its parallel event for NGO/CSW New York.

Sherine Tadros, (pic left) the head of Amnesty International’s New York (UN) Office, a former Sky news and Al Jazeera journalist, reflected that the space for media to do uninhibited reporting was also contracting. “I was a Middle East Correspondent that could no longer get to report from the Middle East, I was always based in the Middle East, from Damascus to Lebanon to the Gaza strip to Egypt, but I found that increasingly, the space was getting smaller.”

The Executive Producer of Velvet Revolution, Nupur Basu, said “If this is the century of the media, this decade has become the most difficult”.

“The most disturbing thing is when a journalist cannot report out of her county she has to report in exile”. The documentary features two women journalists in exile and one driven from her home.

One of the five local directors who contributed to the 2017 documentary, was Ilang Ilang Quijano, who profiled a younger and an older woman journalist in the film. She reminded the audience that the Philippines is the second most dangerous country in the world for journalists. according the IFJ.

“It is even more dangerous now under the Durtarte administration. Now more than 7 thousand people, ‘drug suspects’ have been killed. I have interviewed some of the families – one of the children – her parents were shot in front of her – the younger sibling was even being hugged by her father when he was shot – just missed the kid by a few inches, so it is horrible.”

“Journalist are being pilloried by the government for reporting on the drug killings …. For the women journalists, the notch gets higher, because of the abuse on social media, online and also the threat of rape that women face when they are in the field.”

Freelance Zimbabwean web journalist and IAWRT board member, Violet Gonda said she had been in exile for almost 17 years, after being banned for working on a shortwave station from London which reported atrocities.  

“In the Zimbabwean Parliament, the Justice Minister, in answer to a question in Parliament, said the six [of us running the station] were free to return, but in the country’s prisons.”

They broadcast for more than a decade, “but in 2014 it was forced to shut down because of a lack of donor resources. I have continued to try to set up alternative ways to broadcast. Currently I am trying to set up an online platform.”

After listening to those stories, Amnesty’s Sherine Tadros said she was “struck by the incredible crackdown that we are seeing, not just on journalists, but anyone that challenges the narrative of the state, and whether that is human rights advocates or lawyers, or journalists, we are all somewhat in the same boat.”

“I think that what is really stark is that we are sitting here discussing this in the United States where we have a President that is doing a very similar thing.”

Nupur Basu pointed out, in a brief q & a session after the film showing, that the attacks on the media women were not just attacks on single journalists but the thousands of people they reported for.  

The world premiere screening of Velvet Revolution was in New Delhi on March 3 during the13th Asian Women’s Film Festival. More details abouthe documentary project here. Inquiries to [email protected]

 

 

 

 

“female journalists may increasingly find themselves in the cross hairs”

The International Federation of Journalists has backed global campaigning by the international trade union movement to end violence against women and close the gender pay gap. 

On International Women’s Day 2017 it has pledged to campaign for an International Labour Organization (ILO) convention against violence in the workplace. 

The campaigning by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) is urging all unions to “join human rights defenders, women’s and feminist organizations in calling for the guarantee and respect of women’s rights at work, in the home and in our communities”. In particular, we are highlighting the urgent need to close the gender pay gap and to support an ILO Convention on ‘Violence in the World of Work’ as a means to stop gender based violence in the workplace.”

“Over the years, International Women’s Day articles have pointed out the exceedingly stubborn gaps that refuse to close in terms of access to training, jobs, promotions, equal pay and the right to work without threat, harassment or violence, says IFJ Gender Council co-chair, Mindy Ran.

As a consequence the international Journalists’ Federation “backs the global fight for women workers’ rights, particularly now, as there is a real threat to destroy the progress made over the past decades by the rise of right-wing political movements in many countries across the globe.”

The ITUC General Secretary, Sharan Burrow, has written “The surge in populist misogyny threatens to reverse progress towards gender equality and women’s autonomy.” The outline of the confederation’s campaign on women workers’ rights, can be viewed here. 

“At a time when tens of thousands of women journalists are facing threats, intimidation, harassment, violence and online and physical abuse, the need for action could not be greater” according to Ms Ran. “For female journalists, this rise of “acceptable” misogyny – as evidenced by the recent loss of legislation against domestic violence in several countries – is colliding with rising threats to press freedom.

As history has shown, these sorts of threats to the press usually lead to increases of violence. And, as with other forms of violence, female journalists may increasingly find themselves in the cross hairs”.

The the two organizations have been working on tool kits to give unions an understanding of the importance of an ILO convention against violence in the work place, and guides to organizing a campaign in each country. The IFJ will be releasing a dedicated tool kit for media workers in the coming weeks.

sourced from;

International Federation of Journalists  

International Trade Union Confederation

links to further information available through the above links.