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Vetoing women prejudic in politics

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31 July 2017 12:01 am - 0     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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The year 1931 marked a milestone in the history of Sri Lanka, with women receiving the right to vote and get involved in politics. However today, the representation of women in local politics has been the lowest among the South Asian nations. Sri Lanka is ranked 180 out of 190 in the IPU ranking of female representation in Parliament as of July 2017, which of course was reason to raise concern.   
The Parliament passed the Local Authorities Elections Act No. 1 of 2016, to increase women’s representation at the local govt level as an advancing step to improve women involvement in politics. Until the amendment passed in 2016, the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Act No. 22 of 2012 only provided for a 25% non-mandatory quota for both women and youth. Following the Amendment, a 25% mandatory quota for women was introduced, by increasing the total number of seats at the local authority level by one-third which is an optimistic result.   
 Hence, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), UN Women and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), came forward to collaborate in organizing a discussion forum on operationalizing the 25% quota for women in local government which was held on Wednesday, 26 July 2017 at Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute, Horton Place, Colombo 7.   
 This event aimed on shedding light on the operationalization of the mandatory 25% quota for women candidates at the local government level through discussions in the attempts of ensuring that this quota for women is successfully put into operation at the upcoming local govt elections, demonstrating the benefits of women’s political participation.

 

"After the 18th Constitutional Amendment of Pakistan in 2010, the local government has become a provincial matter and has implemented a reserved 33% quota for women which is a big step towards women empowerment in Pakistan"

 


Sri Lankan Partisanship

 


“Women representation in parliament has never gone above 6%. This is not acceptable in a country where majority of the population is women.”

Una McCauley, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Sri Lanka

 

 

There is a disconnection between Sri Lanka’s noteworthy achievements in the fields like education and health compared to the lack of enthusiasm of women’s participation in politics and parliament. “Women representation in parliament has never gone above 6%. This is not acceptable in a country where majority of the population is women. At 25%, the bar is set very low. But we have to work with that and need to achieve the target”. She continued to say that when talking about women, the improvement in the political governance, reduction in the level of corruption, opportunities for addressing a different set of priorities other than those identified by men and positive correlation to socio-economic development should also be of concern.  

 

 


“When it comes to local government, we have the lowest figures of representation in South Asia”

Kumudini Samuel, Programme /Research Associate Women & Media Collective

 

This 25% quota for women in local govt was implemented only after a tremendous struggle by many to overcome more than 25 years of advocacy. “Sri Lanka women have been historically discriminated. In particular, when it comes to local govt, we have the lowest figures of representation in South Asia and anywhere in the world, which is less than 2%” stated Samuel. She further noted while Sri Lanka did not meet the standard for the millennium development goals, the country is currently nowhere near to reaching the standards of the sustainable development goals.  

 

 

"Sri Lanka women have been historically discriminated. In particular, when it comes to local govt, we have the lowest figures of representation in South Asia and anywhere in the world, which is less than 2%"

 

 



“Politics in Sri Lanka is not women-friendly”

- Dr. Sudarshani Fernandopulle, State Minister of City Planning and Water Supply
 

 

In the development and advancement of society, there is no difference as both men and women progress with indifference. According to Dr. Fernandopulle, women go a long way ahead especially in the fields of education and health. More women gain admission to universities as well. But when it comes to politics, in Sri Lanka, women are quite behind. “Looking at other countries of the world, especially those in the South Asian region, we are at the bottom. At national level, women representation at the parliament is only 5.8% but 51.4% of the Sri Lankan population are women. In 1931, we women gained equal rights to vote. But women had to step out in to the streets and fight for their rights.”   

 She stated that in other countries, women participation in politics has increased through quotas and their governments have encouraged women participation. “In Sri Lanka, such practical actions have not taken place up to now. But I am thankful to the President and Prime Minister, as an act to increase women representation in politics by 25% has been proposed to the parliament. The way I see it, quotas are an advantage for women to enter into politics. But we are not going to always ask for quotas. If we get quotas just twice or thrice it will be enough to motivate women to enter politics, from that point on, I believe they can stand on their own feet and go ahead in the field of politics, as women have shown great talent in other fields as well.”   

 

In Sri Lanka, such practical actions have not taken place up to now. But I am thankful to the President and Prime Minister, as an act to increase women representation in politics by 25% has been proposed to the parliament

 


Dr. Fernandopulle also mentioned having taken steps to initiate more women involvement in politics by raising awareness. “Male politicians say there are no women to take up politics. ‘Where are women who want to do politics?’ they ask. The truth is there are plenty of women but the barrier of lack of opportunity stands in the way. When we consider political parties, there is no big plan to involve women in politics. Political leaders have no confidence that women can win this struggle. Therefore even when we achieve the 25% quota, changes have to be made within political parties. For women to be more involved, women representation has to increase by 30% in the least. Only then will the probability of women entering politics will increase.”  

The minister stressed that general perception of politics in the country is not a good one and should be subjected to change. “We have to create positive views on politics. Today even media do not give publicity to the female political figures. Only failures or mistakes committed by female politicians are highlighted through media. Every politician is labelled as a thief. So a fear is created for the future leaders who approach politics as they have to be able to bear the criticism that is entitled to politics. That is why some say that most 

politicians who enter politics have a family background in that field. This is not just applied to women but also men. The initial motivation is given within the family. They are used to the challenges and criticism that come with the territory of politics so they are able to face and bear them. But the opportunity has to be given to normal citizens to enter politics as well. So a positive perspective has to be created about politics in the country. Parents often tell their children to become doctors, engineers or lawyers. But no one tells their children to become politicians. Even we don’t tell a child to pursue politics now as it has been portrayed as a very corrupt field through media. If this view does not change what position will the country go to? We have to create leaders in the next generation to accept and take our country forward. So we have to change society now itself. So from a young age, in schools and universities, a positive light has to be shed on politics as an occupation making it a positive concept.”   

Getting women into politics is apparently not enough as Dr. Sudarshani pointed out that a positive atmosphere is not existent for female politicians to further prevail in the field. “Looking after children, family responsibilities have been placed on the shoulders of women alone by society. It is a stereotype based society. So the atmosphere has to be set for women to make economical and political contributions. Politics in Sri Lanka is not women-friendly.”   

On a final note the struggle that women have to go through to be heard was exemplified. It is quite clear that Dr. Fernandopulle believes that women can make a positive impact on politics and lead the country forward. “We have also requested a 30% increase in female candidates at national level while 50% of the national list to be allocated for females. If women who are interested in politics and have talent volunteer to enter into the quota mechanism, women can create change and make history in the governance of the country. The capabilities of the 13 lady politicians have been acknowledged by the 213 male politicians at the parliament so it is quite clear that we as women can create great impact on the concept of politics within the country.”

 


International Politics

Comparative experiences on advancing women’s political participation from the UK and Pakistan were shared during the event, also discussing the role of civil society in advancing women’s representation through the political party systems.   

 

 



“Our goal ultimately was not to have a certain number of candidates but get those candidates elected”

- Nan Sloane of Labour Party, UK Local Government Councillor

 

 

She recalled that initially their situation was no different to the current situation faced by Sri Lanka, with the percentage of women representation in politics being very low. While the intentions to improve the situation were existent, very little concrete actions were taken. The political party represented by Sloane had decided on a specific quota for female candidates, which was implemented in 1995 for party elections and in 2004 for local govt elections.   

 

My view is that there are enough women, but if they are reluctant to come forward, and if they don’t want to accept the offer to the political arena, the problem lies in the nature of the offer itself and not in the women



“People assume that there are not enough women to fill all the seats that need filling. My view is that there are enough women, but if they are reluctant to come forward, and if they don’t want to accept the offer to the political arena, the problem lies in the nature of the offer itself and not in the women”, remarked Sloane, speaking about the reluctance of women to take leading roles in politics.   

 “We concentrated on seats that we had a reasonable chance of winning, because our goal ultimately was not to have a certain number of candidates but get those candidates elected. Our efforts have resulted in an overall increase of women councillors in our party from about 28% to 40%”, says the seasoned councillor. According to Nan, the potential candidates should not only be educated but also supported for them to step in to politics which is a very unfamiliar and challenging environment for most women. She said that their ultimate goal was to increase women’s participation up to 50% and they would continue to strive to keep up that percentage.   


 



”You have women in your communities who take on leading roles, whether it is to open up a library or to improve public transportation”

Clare Haughey, Scottish National Party member of Scottish Parliament

 

 

Elucidated that their party decided to increase the number of women by initiating women participation from the grassroots level. Speaking on the practical application of the decision she recalls that it was made mandatory to have a woman official at every branch. There is also a National women’s officer who coordinates the branch officers and every year at least one women’s conference is held. Their efforts have come to fruition today, with 43% of the Scottish National Party representatives being women.   

 

"You have women in your communities who take leading roles, whether it is to open up a library or to improve public transportation. Those are the women that you should work with and motivate for them to come far in politics"



 “You have women in your communities who take leading roles, whether it is to open up a library or to improve public transportation. Those are the women that you should work with and motivate for them to come far in politics”, concluded the Scottish representative.  

 

 


“Women’s participation in politics cannot be made effective unless there is progressive socio-cultural change”

Amra Khan, member of Pakistan National Assembly


 
Equal participation of women and men in decision making and political arena is one of the fundamentals of democracy, in the absence of which the legitimacy of democratic process becomes questionable, also violating the basic human rights-Right of gender equality and no discrimination.   

 

After the 18th Constitutional Amendment of Pakistan in 2010, the local government has become a provincial matter and has implemented a reserved 33% quota for women which is a big step towards women empowerment in Pakistan



She further stated that in 1997, women’s participation in politics in Pakistan was 4% in the provincial assemblies, 2% in the senate, and 4% in the national assembly. In 2002 the local government reforms were brought forward, ensuring the provision of 23% of women’s quota in local governance, which provided a tremendous opportunity for women to play an important role in the developmental process.   

 “We are working with different organizations to encourage and empower women who take to politics. After the 18th Constitutional Amendment of Pakistan in 2010, the local government has become a provincial matter and has implemented a reserved 33% quota for women which is a big step towards women empowerment in Pakistan. Women’s participation in politics cannot be made effective unless there is progressive socio-cultural change. Political parties should include women empowerment in the party leadership, policy making and electoral nominating process. Special training and mentorship programs should be organized with public and private partnerships to encourage female political participation.

Media play a crucial role in changing the socio-cultural mindsets of the society regarding women’s political participation, providing gender sensitive coverage and avoiding of stereotyping.”

 

 



Our approach to empowering women into politics and into the party is by actively encouraging them to get involved by mentoring and teaching women the best ways to be cool with politicians”

Hannah David, Conservative National Director, Conservative Party Policy Forum, UK

 

 

 Hannah briefed on the organizations and proactive ways that the conservative party utilizes to approach and get women involved in politics. She also spoke about policy forums getting women involved in politics through getting them involved in policy formation.   

“Two issues that we are always dealing with are the supply and demand issues. The supply issue is how we ensure that enough women come forward and the demand issues are how the parties currently active, approach diversity within their membership selection procedures. Our approach to empowering women into politics and into the party is by actively encouraging them to get involved by mentoring them and teaching them the best ways to be cool to politicians and to actively engage with those who are not elected.”   

She elaborated on the work done by the organizations intended for this purpose. “Civil society organizations have been useful to us. Conservative women’s organization showing the priority that the conservative party has with regards to engaging women, this organization is constitutionally mandated by the Conservative Party. Role of it is to provide support and focus for women through reaching out to women in all parts of the community. This is done by campaigning on particular issues that are of concern to women and ensuring that the women’s perspective is taken into account in our policies. We encourage women at all levels to get politically active. My experience was also the same when I was elected as councillor in national politics. I received the same mentoring and training and now I participate in giving that training.”    

 

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