{"id":58814,"date":"2023-11-21T18:45:48","date_gmt":"2023-11-21T18:45:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists"},"modified":"2023-11-21T20:16:16","modified_gmt":"2023-11-21T20:16:16","slug":"global-parliament-gender-gap-persists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists","title":{"rendered":"Global parliament gender gap persists"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>Only 26.5% of the world\u2019s parliamentarians are women, placing the world on the back foot in achieving gender parity, but Namibia could achieve its 50\/50 target by 2025.<\/p>\n

Gender equality minister Doreen Sioka is confident that this is achievable.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be frank, I am not satisfied with the general representation of women. But Namibia has made strides, and there is political will [to achieve gender parity], and we will achieve it in the near future,\u201d Sioka said in an interview with New Era recently about women\u2019s representation in legislative chambers the world over.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore I leave, I will leave you with a 50\/50 legacy,\u201d she added confidently.<\/p>\n

Her comments come at a time when it is projected that the world will only achieve gender parity in parliaments in the next 150 years.<\/p>\n

Her optimism is further fuelled by the outcome of a recent summit, where female members of Parliament across the political divide converged under one roof in Swakopmund to discuss issues concerning women\u2019s representation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur fellow women in other political parties now do understand the 50\/50 concept. After 2024, we will make it. As a country, we are doing well,\u201d she enthused.<\/p>\n

Echoing her sentiments was veteran politician Elma Dienda.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are doing very well as a country in terms of women\u2019s representation. But President [Hifikepunye] Pohamba failed us because after signing the SADC protocol on 50\/50 gender representation, he did not domesticate it so that it becomes law. So, you cannot punish political parties for not adhering to 50\/50 if there is no law. Before President Hage Geingob leaves, he must bring that law to Parliament, just like they did with the Local Authorities Act, which requires a list to have 50\/50 in terms of men and women,\u201d the Popular Democratic Movement lawmaker said.<\/p>\n

She continued: \u201cBut we are doing well. You have a Nudo president [Utjiua Muinjangue], Swapo vice president [Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah] and the PDM vice president [Jennifer van den Heever], who are all women. I am praying that all political parties will do the same. Overall, we have a lot of female CEOs, women school principals, lawyers, and female judges in the justice system\u201d.<\/p>\n

Namibia is faring well in terms of gender parity, with 44.2% female MP representation in the National Assembly (NA), while the National Council is lagging with just 14.2%.<\/p>\n

Global situation<\/p>\n

At present, no functioning parliament has zero women, \u201cwhich is a good sign\u201d, while only six countries have achieved gender parity.<\/p>\n

This is according to a report on the role of parliament in the implementation of the Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).<\/p>\n

The report emanated from a roundtable discussion attended by Namibian members of Parliament (MPs) in Geneva, Switzerland in June.<\/p>\n

The indaba was organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OUDHR), in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.<\/p>\n

MPs Kletus Karondo (National Assembly) as well as Melania Ndjago and Ueutjerevi Ngunaihe, both from the National Council, were present.<\/p>\n

The convention touched on the issue of gender parity in global legislative organs of state.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf one looks at women parliamentarians and women in politics, which by the way is one of the spotlights, only 26.5% of women are in parliament. In just 36 countries, we have a woman head of state or government. There is progress, but it would take 150 years to fully realise equal participation in politics and meaningful participation,\u201d UN high commissioner for human rights Volker Tu\u0308rk says in the report.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe type of misogyny we see against women in public and political life is mind-boggling, and it\u2019s extremely important that we are vigilant about it, identify why it is happening, and that we try to counter it,\u201d Tu\u0308rk is further quoted as saying.<\/p>\n

On his part, IPU secretary general Martin Chungon said: \u201cGains in women\u2019s rights and gender equality are at a serious risk of being reversed by multiple crises\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need more women in high-level positions so that they have this vision of gender equality, and have more sensibility. I think the big challenge for a woman is to raise her hand, believe in herself and say, yes, I want to be there. Trust women, and give them a chance to participate by creating quotas. To achieve gender equality in parliament is to have equal representation, to have the same opportunities and the same rights,\u201d Cyntia Lopez Castro, Mexican MP and IPU Forum of Women Parliamentarians member says in the report.<\/p>\n

Challenges<\/p>\n

The report furthermore sheds light on a myriad of challenges faced by female MPs and women in politics in general.<\/p>\n

\u201cGender-based violence (GBV) at home and in the public sphere and even in political life is a global phenomenon that constitutes a key barrier to women\u2019s political participation. GBV in politics targets women more than men, e.g., sexist threats, sexual harassment, online harassment and female political candidates and journalists are exposed to online GBV,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

There are also deeper-rooted gender stereotypes defining the roles of men and women, often associated with women being excluded from rooms where strategic decisions are made.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe assumption that women are weaker is not true, and the need for women to look towards men\u2019s protection and guidance continues to hinder women\u2019s participation in decision-making,\u201d the conference confirmed.<\/p>\n

Sexual harassment is another worrisome harbinger, keeping women at the periphery of global politics.<\/p>\n

According to statistics, one in three women worldwide faces sexual harassment in their lifetime, a worrisome concern, especially when it comes to women in the political arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cSurprisingly, male colleagues are mostly perpetrators in harassing those women. This harassment takes place inside parliament as well, when women are in their constituencies, and in their private lives,\u201d it stated further.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. Only 26.5% of the world\u2019s parliamentarians are women, placing the world on the back foot in achieving gender parity, but Namibia could achieve its 50\/50 target by 2025. Gender equality minister Doreen Sioka is confident that this is achievable. \u201cTo be frank, I am not satisfied with the general representation of women. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":58813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-58814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nGlobal parliament gender gap persists - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Only 26.5% of the world\u2019s parliamentarians are women, placing the world on the back foot in achieving gender parity, but ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Global parliament gender gap persists\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Only 26.5% of the world\u2019s parliamentarians are women, placing the world on the back foot in achieving gender parity, but ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-21T18:45:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-21T20:16:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/11\/sm_1700584979.041342.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"479\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Global parliament gender gap persists\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-21T18:45:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-21T20:16:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists\"},\"wordCount\":980,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/11\/sm_1700584979.041342.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists\",\"name\":\"Global parliament gender gap persists - Namibia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/11\/sm_1700584979.041342.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-21T18:45:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-21T20:16:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Only 26.5% of the world\u2019s parliamentarians are women, placing the world on the back foot in achieving gender parity, but ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/11\/sm_1700584979.041342.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/11\/sm_1700584979.041342.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":479,\"caption\":\"Global parliament gender gap persists\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Global parliament gender gap persists\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/\",\"name\":\"Namibia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Global parliament gender gap persists - Namibia","description":"Only 26.5% of the world\u2019s parliamentarians are women, placing the world on the back foot in achieving gender parity, but ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Global parliament gender gap persists","og_description":"Only 26.5% of the world\u2019s parliamentarians are women, placing the world on the back foot in achieving gender parity, but ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists","og_site_name":"Namibia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-11-21T18:45:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-11-21T20:16:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":479,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/11\/sm_1700584979.041342.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Global parliament gender gap persists","datePublished":"2023-11-21T18:45:48+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-21T20:16:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists"},"wordCount":980,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/11\/sm_1700584979.041342.jpg","keywords":["africa press","Africa Press-Namibia","namibia"],"articleSection":["all news","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists","name":"Global parliament gender gap persists - Namibia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/11\/sm_1700584979.041342.jpg","datePublished":"2023-11-21T18:45:48+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-21T20:16:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Only 26.5% of the world\u2019s parliamentarians are women, placing the world on the back foot in achieving gender parity, but ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/11\/sm_1700584979.041342.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/11\/sm_1700584979.041342.jpg","width":720,"height":479,"caption":"Global parliament gender gap persists"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/global-parliament-gender-gap-persists#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Global parliament gender gap persists"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/","name":"Namibia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}