Politics has always been a sore subject for everyone and it can soon turn into a controversy if it is not dealt with properly. And why has politics always been controversial because it is something that concerns the leaders and government of a country. And because it is such a controversial topic, where tables can turn so easily and lead to a very ugly and deadly scenario because of which one needs to be careful while they are at it. And because handling politics can be tacky, we see people, especially today’s youngsters, running away from it or don’t like to indulge themselves much in it.
And that is a drawback for any nation when it’s youth doesn’t want to participate in the politics to make it a better nation, but on the other side, we also have youths who want to make a difference in the society by being a part of the active politics and do some good.
But what about the contribution of women in politics? Over the years we have seen that women had to fight a lot to even get their voting rights, so women participating in active politics for making a positive change in the society is very difficult. So, let’s have a look at the contribution of women in politics according to the data presented by the UN.
- In only 22 countries women serve as heads of states or government and 119 countries never had any women leader in their country. And at this rate the gender equality in the highest position will take another 130 years to reach.
- Only 13 countries have a woman as a head of the government while only 10 countries have women as a head of the state.
- The five most common positions held by women in the ministry are as follows:
- Family/ Children/ Youth/ Elderly/ Disabled
- Social Affairs
- Environment/ Natural Resources Energy
- Employment/ Labour/ Vocational training and
- Women’s affair & gender equality.
- And only 25% of all national parliamentarians are women. And at the current rate of progress, the gender parity will not be achieved in all the government legislative bodies before 2063.
And all these numbers just prove that, how there is gender inequality in the government bodies and there are hardly any women in the head positions of ruling a country and even if we set out to achieve an equality nothing is going to be achieved before 2063 at the latest. However, according to the data presented by the UN, it is found that legislative bodies ruled under the supervision of women function better than those under men.
Like in the case of Panchayats in India, the number of drinking water projects in areas with women-led councils was 62 per cent higher than in those with men-led councils. Thus this shows a clear distinction between the better performances done by women than men. However it is not as easy as it seems.
Efforts to improve women representation and participation in politics has often focused on quotas and reserved seats for women in legislative bodies. But even if there are such provisions provided for the women, what is needed the most is a nuanced approach that tackles the interconnected barriers that women have to face in getting nominated for elected office and successful political campaigns.
Although times are changing and so are the rules and regulations of society. Even if it may take another 100+ years to bring in proper and equal gender equality in the highest positions held by women in any country, women are still trying to make a change in the society with their amazing contributions.
Now let’s have a look at some superwomen who contributed to changing the society and it’s laws.
- Malala Yousafzai – Malala Yousafzai is a social activist who was shot by the Taliban in 2012 after she spoke about her fight to protect girl’s education. And then she became the youngest Nobel Laureate in 2014, who is also a UN messenger of peace and an author. And since then she has been trying to bring consecutive change in the society and raise awareness about women’s education.
- Shamma Bint Suhail Faris Mazrui – Shamma Bint Suhail Faris Mazrui is the world’s youngest government minister who was appointed as the Minister of State for Youth Affairs in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the age of 22. And since then she has been a role model to create pathways for the younger generation to have more interaction with the government and make some valuable changes in the society.
- Amariyanna Mari Copeny – a 8 year old girl back in 2006 had written a letter to Mr. Barack Obama (former President of the United States) stating whether she could meet him or the former First Lady Michelle Obama regarding the increasing water crisis in her hometown Michigan. And since she had become the ambassador of the women’s March and an activist fighting for the increasing environmental crisis.
- And one of the best examples of young women being a part of the ruling government would be Finland, whose Prime Minister is 34 years old, Education Minister is 32 years old, Finance Minister is 32 years old and Interior Minister is 32 years old. A government full of young powerful women.
And honestly, this is the example that we all should follow. A country which gives equal rights to women to come up to hold the positions as the head of any government organisation, legislative body or a whole damn nation. Because always remember that if a woman can manage a home so well, right from it’s hygiene to finance to food to organisation, you name it and she must have done it, so then why won’t she be able to handle the position of a leader and not just any leader but a political leader, which leads the nation.
Although, balanced political participation and power-sharing between women and men in decision-making is the internationally agreed target set in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action while most countries in the world have not achieved gender balance, and few have set or met ambitious targets for gender parity (50–50). This indicates that measure have been taken on behalf of the women to give them an equal opportunity in the field of politics but it will be difficult and unattainable unless we teach our daughters and sons that politics ain’t a field just for men but also for female where they can also come up on stage and express their views and contribute in building a developed nation.
Thus, as of now the female participation in the politics under the age of 30 is not much and can hardly be seen, however in such disappointing scenarios we also have nations like Finland that set an amazing to be noted example in front of us for having a government that is led by the young women of the nation. And not only that, we also have young girls like Malala and Shamma acting as guiding light for bringing out positive change in the society with the help of their knowledge and a beautiful mind-set about women empowerment.