Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Ensuring women’s participation – how?


In Nepal, the whole idea of creating a new electoral system for an upcoming election for a constituent assembly is to create a mechanism for representation which reflects the voting pattern and set various criteria of the way society want different groups to be represented. Say one criterion is to ensure and enhance women’s participation in politics then what do you do to fulfill it?According to Professor Joergen Elklit you could choose to do nothing within the electoral system rules because you trust the parties to ensure women’s participation. On the other hand you could chose to have quotas or you could try reserving say, every third name on the ballot for female candidates. Currently, political parties in Nepal need to have at least five percent female candidates in order to be eligible. As it is there has been a practice where parties chooses to put female candidates in districts where they are sure to loose out. They fulfill the quotas but it’s ridiculing the system and underlines the need for new rules.”In South Africa such a rule does not exist but interestingly, the governing ANC party has managed – through the use of internal member’s ballot on the composition of the list – to ensure participation of women and people with disabilities.“Reserving every third position for women will work, but of course it would be even better if you did not need the rule and if parties voluntarily would ensure and nurture female participation,” the Professor reflects. Many new and emerging democracies have a much higher representation of women in parliament compared to older Western democracies, because of this principle being enshrined in the electoral system.

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