Who gets the gold medal?

by DWtO Intern Katherine Cheng

Katherine Cheng

The participation of women in the political field has undeniably come a long way in less than a century. There are those who feel that equality has been achieved in the voting booths and political offices alike. As a result, this is an issue that has been pushed aside to make room for economic rather than social woes. But just exactly how far has this movement come?

It turns out that the answer varies from country to country. With Norway leading the percentage of female ministers present in their government, they take the gold medal with a whopping 52.6% (as for the Olympic games, we will just have to wait and see). With only three other countries that have also achieved a 50-52% of women in official political positions, progress in the remaining countries is slow and steady. This means that the rest of the 192 countries in the world have a majority of males as Members of Parliament.

Without balanced representations, the decisions that are being made today will inevitably be biased, which places the under-represented in a vulnerable position in the future. Even a country such as Canada takes the 27th place behind the United States with a mere 26.9% of ministerial positions being taken up by females, according to UN Women statistics as of January 2012. Fourteen countries, including Singapore, tie in last place with 0%.

This perspective is put into place on a broader international scale by the IPU Secretary General, Anders B. Johnsson, who says, "less than one-in-five parliamentarians in the world today are women. It is a worrying statistic at this point of human development and impossible to justify. The political will to change this is simply lacking in most cases."

However, this might be changing. As of right now, there are 17 countries with a female head of government or state - a number that has doubled since 2005. This list includes Sonia Gandhi, the president of the Indian National Congress Party; Cristina Fernandez, president of Argentina; and Julia Gillard, prime minister of Australia.

With these role models and at this rate, it is entirely conceivable to push countries with ministries that are composed of 50% women from four to forty to all 196. Why have only one gold medal when you can have 196?

source: http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm