Dear friends,
As another year comes to an end, we are pleased to share this newsletter for the latest news and resources on women's leadership and political participation. Click on the buttons below for the Arabic, French, and Spanish versions. We hope you find this update useful!
Happy holidays from all of us,
The iKNOW Politics Team
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Women in Politics and the Media |
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Women in politics face biased, sexist, and discriminatory media treatment. Research over the past few decades reveals that women in politics continue to be at a disadvantage when it comes to media coverage. When reporters cover women in politics, they often use terms that emphasize women's traditional roles and focus on their appearance. They perpetuate stereotypes of women politicians as weak, indecisive, and emotional. With the purpose of discrediting, delegitimizing, and silencing women in politics, studies have shown that women are often discouraged and dissuaded from getting involved in politics because of gendered media reporting.
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We recently organized an e-Discussion to raise awareness and collect experiences and knowledge on gender differences in political media coverage, its impact on women’s political participation and representation, as well as gather good practices and recommendations on ways to counter the negative impact of media portrayals of women in politics with fair and unbiased coverage. See the summary here.
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Did you know? An Inter-parliamentary Union study revealed that 27.3% of the surveyed women MPs said that traditional media had shared highly contemptuous or sexually charged images or comments about them. The percentage rose to 41.8% when they were asked about photos or comments disseminated through social media.
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Violence Against Women in Politics |
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Women often face prejudice, discrimination, and violence when they are in politics, a field from which they continue to be excluded. In this video, we asked women leaders about the impact of violence against women in politics and the solutions they propose to make politics a safe space for all women.
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In Tunisia, there are only 122 women candidates out of a total of 1058, meaning the new parliament is certain to look very different from that elected in 2014, when nearly a third of MPs were women. Click here to learn more.
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In Jamaica, the motion to establish a women's caucus comprising lawmakers from both houses of Parliament was approved last week. The caucus will facilitate networking and promote dialogue across party lines. Click here to learn more.
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Dina Boluarte took office as the new President of Peru after Congress ousted former president Pedro Castillo. She is the first female president in the country's history, and the sixth Peruvian president in less than five years. Click here to learn more.
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A violent brawl broke out in Senegal’s parliament after a male opposition legislator slapped a woman colleague in the face, television footage showed, amid growing acrimony between ruling and opposition party politicians. Click here to learn more.
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The prime ministers of Finland and New Zealand took a swipe at suggestions their first face-to-face meeting happened just because they are both young female leaders. Click here to learn more.
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After the United States midterm elections, a record 12 women will be sworn in this winter as State Governors. The number tops the high mark set in 2004 of nine. Click here to learn more.
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In Sierra Leone, lawmakers voted unanimously to pass the Gender Empowerment Act, ensuring that one in three MPs and local councillors is a woman. Currently, only 19 of the 146 MPs are women. Click here to learn more.
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In Slovenia, Natasa Pirc Musar, a lawyer, won the presidential election on 13 November, becoming the country’s first woman Head of State. Click here to learn more.
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In Italy, women MPs win the right to breastfeed their children under the age of one in the Chamber during debates. Click here to learn more.
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We share news and resources in four languages for and about women in politics daily on our platform and social media pages. Our online library features more than 20,000 news and resources, including world news, reports, research papers, training material, videos, case studies, databases, and blogs. Browse our library and our enhanced elections page for unique access to insight on women's participation in politics. Do not hesitate to share your feedback with us by replying to this email connect@iknowpolitics.org.
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Our partner organizations are contributing with their specific mandate and expertise to make advancements in women’s political participation a reality. Find below some of the latest resources from International IDEA, IPU, UNDP, and UN Women.
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iKNOW Politics is a unique platform on women in politics, designed to connect members and build knowledge through e-discussions, webinars, interviews, videos, a rich online library of resources, a calendar of events and daily world news. Created in 2007, iKNOW Politics is a joint project of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (UN Women).
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