1. Women’s Political Participation and Strategies for Greater Equality
The 6th Asia Pacific Congress of Women in Politics
- February 10,
Women’s Political Participation and Strategies for Greater Equality
Jung-Sook Kim (Ed. D.)
President, Center for Asia-Pacific Women in Politics

2. Agenda Introduction Women’s Political Participation in the world
Multiple Factors Impeding Women’s political participation
Strategies to Expand Women’s Political Participation
Conclusion

3. What are the necessary changes needed in laws and social system?
I. Introduction
21st century will be an era of femininity and women can have far greater opportunity in social, political, and commercial endeavors.
If men were well suited for the industrial era, women are well suited for in Information-oriented era.
National development will be a function of how effectively woman power is applied and will depend on how well administrative systems are organized to utilize this potential.
Number of seats held by women in national legislative bodies is important element to make the best use of this potential power.
Women’s participation in politics, business, and social activities are important.
What are the necessary changes needed in laws and social system?

4. Since the 4th Beijing World conference on Women in 1995, many
countries have been formulating systems and enacting laws to help
women become more active participants.
Some countries have made a positive contribution to women by giving
preferential treatment in fields where women were “behind.”
• Women’s political participation remains abysmally low all over the world.
• Representation is low in appointed posts as well as in elected posts
• In the case of elected positions, the global average women’s participation
rate was increased approximately 3% over the past 10 years.
- Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland): 40%
- Asian and Pacific countries: 15.9%, 13.9%

5. <Table 1> Women’s Political Participation, Regional Breakdown
<Table 1> Women’s Political Participation, Regional Breakdown (unit: %)
Indicators
1990
2000
2005
World 13 14
16.3
Nordic countries 34 39
40.0
Europe-OSCE member countries
(including Nordic countries) 17
18.4
Europe member countries
(excluding Nordic countries ) 16 15
16.8
Americas 11
20.1
Asia
15.9
Sub-Saharan Africa 9
16.5
Pacific 5
13.9
**Source: IPU,
Women in National Parliaments: World Classification(Oct. 2005, IPU)

6. The purpose of this paper
To assess the last decade’s progress of ‘women’s
participation in politics
To identify cultural, religious, and institutional factors that impede women’s political participation and to consider strategies to remove them
To help generate a spirit that will allow us to extend and reinforce networks of cooperation among the women of the Asia Pacific region

7. II. Women’s Political Participation in the World
Since the 4th Beijing World Conference on Women in 1995, the expansion of women’s political participation has been a worldwide trend.
Big changes are still being made in the northern part of Europe as well as in Arab and Asia-Pacific countries.

8. <Table 2> Women in Parliaments: World classification (30 Nov
(Unit: pers %)
Rank
Country
Total seats
Women in Parliaments
Ratio(%) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Rwanda
Sweden
Norway
Finland
Denmark
Netherlands
Cuba
Spain
Costa Rica
Mozambique
Belgium
Austria
Iceland
South Africa
New Zealand 80
349
169
200
179
150
609
350 57
250
183 63
400
121 39
158 64 75 66 55
219
126 20 87 52 62 21
131
48.8
45.3
37.9
37.5
36.9
36.7
36.0
35.1
34.8
34.7
33.9
33.3
32.8
32.2

9. <Table 2> Women in Parliaments: World classification (30 Nov
(Unit: pers %)
Rank
Country
Total seats
Women in Parliaments
Ratio(%) 17 18 20 26 37 42 47 49 66 69 73 81 85
102
Guyana
Burundi
Belarus
Switzerland
Republic of Moldova
Canada
China
Bahamas UK
USA
Sudan
South Korea
France
Italy
Japan 65
118
110
200
101
308
2980 40
646
435
450
299
574
616
480 36 32 50 22
604 8
127 70 71 43
30.8
30.5
29.1
25.0
21.8
21.1
20.3
20.0
19.7
15.2
14.7
13.4
12.2
11.5
9.0
**Source: IPU,
Women in National Parliaments: World Classification (Nov. 2005, IPU)

10. If you look at Table 3 showing the ratio of women lawmakers of the Asia-Pacific countries between year 1995 and 2005,
There are only seven Asian countries, which have more than 20% women lawmakers in either upper or lower houses.
New Zealand 32.2%, Vietnam 27.3%, Australia (24.7% of the lower house, 35.5% of the upper house), Tajikistan(17.5% of the lower house, 23.5% of the upper house), Laos 22.9%, Pakistan(21.3% of the lower house, 18.0% of the upper house), Malaysia(9.1% of the lower house, 25.7% of the upper house)
However, some countries (NAURU, Solomon Islands, Kyrgyzstan, Sri Lanka, Iran) are showing less than 10% participation of women.

11. <Table 3> The numerical change of women lawmakers
in Asia-Pacific countries (1)
Nation
types of House
1995
2005
Increasing rate
Australia
Lower
15.5%
24.7%
9.2%
Upper
30.3%
35.5%
5.2%
Fiji
4.3%
8.5%
4.2%
8.8%
12.5%
3.7%
Nauru
one chamber
5.6%
0.0%
-5.6%
New Zealand
29.2%
32.2%
3.0%
Solomon Islands
2.1%
-2.1%
Japan
lower
4.6%
9.0%
4.4%
upper
13.9%
14.0%
0.1%
Taiwan
None -  -
South Korea
13.4%
10.4%
Azerbaijan
12.0%
13.0%
1.0%
Kazakhstan
-3.0%
7.7%
-0.8%

12. <Table 3> The numerical change of women lawmakers
in Asia-Pacific countries (2)
Kygyrstan
lower
1.4%
3.2%
1.8%
upper
11.4% -
Mongolia
one chamber
7.9%
6.7%
-1.2%
Tajikistan
None
17.5% - 
23.5%
Uzbekistan
6.0%
11.5%
15.0%
Bangladesh
9.1%
14.8%
5.7%
India
7.2%
8.3%
1.1%
7.8%
11.6%
3.8%
Maldives
4.8%
12.0%
Nepal
3.4%
5.9%
2.5%
0.0%

13. <Table 3> The numerical change of women lawmakers
in Asia-Pacific countries (3)
Pakistan
lower ?
21.3% -
upper
3.4%
18.0%
14.6%
Sri Lanka
one chamber
5.3%
4.9%
-0.4%
Iran
4.1%
-1.2%
Cambodia
5.8%
9.8%
4.0%
13.1%
Indonesia
12.6%
11.3%
-1.3%
Laos
9.4%
22.9%
13.5%
Malaysia
7.8%
9.1%
1.3%
17.4%
25.7%
8.3%
Philippines
10.8%
15.3%
4.5%
16.7%
0.0%
Thailand
5.6%
10.6%
5.0%
8.1%
10.5%
2.4%
Vietnam
18.5%
27.3%
8.8%
Reference:

14. Women face countless difficulties in their attempt
to become legislators
Problem
Reasons
Dearth of women who wish
to take part in politics
Politics is considered to be men’s realm
Patriarchal culture
Traditionally women were excluded
from high positions
Cultural
factors
Social division of gender roles
legitimized by religious doctrine
and practice acted to curb
female potential
Religion
Modern military state
Women were excluded from public
activities in the military culture

15. Lack of experienced women
Most women have been forced to
have “feminine” occupations and
it is hard to enter in politics trough
such occupations
Woman’s family
responsibility
It is often hard to juggle time and
energy between family and politics
Nomination is conducted through
a ‘closed’ decision cycle and too often,
through unfair methods that
discriminate women candidates
Unfair party nomination
process
Procedural
factor
Small election district majority system
is unfavorable for women
Election system
There are problems associated with
the generation of funds and the
establishment of effective organizations
during election campaigns
Election campaigns

16. IV. Strategies to Expand Women’s Political Participation (1)
The factors that limit women’s political participation:
- Cultural factors
- Institutional factors
Cultural factors are more fundamental, while institutional factors tend to be derived or constructed.
Therefore, a more effective short-term method of reducing barriers involves focusing on the institutional component rather than attacking cultural factors.

17. IV. Strategies to Expand Women’s Political Participation (2)
Introducing quota systems as an affirmative action
Election System
Electoral District System (Magnitude of Electoral Constituency)
Nomination Method within Political Parties
Educating and Scouting Talented Women in Politics
Increasing Political Funds for Women

18. 1.Introducing Quota Systems as an Affirmative Action (1) Importance of introducing quota system -1-
Cons
Pros
Violation of equality of opportunity
Not democratic because it limits the
range of choice
Eligibility of women by quotas
Women refusing to be elected
Conflict with principles of
democracy within political party
organization
Means of compensation
Minimization of stress and alienation
that women feel
Women have equal representation
rights
Women are needed in politics
Election are about representation
Women have been underestimated
Political party makes decisions in
nomination
Oddness of quota system with party
democracy but it is only temporary

19. (1) Importance of introducing quota system -2-
Debate issues on quota
systems
Concept of “consequential equality”
- Feminists contended that there is no true equal opportunity
simply because a formal obstacle has been eliminated.
Even if direct discrimination might have disappeared,
there are various other kinds of discrimination
that still impede women’s political participation.

20. (1) Importance of introducing quota system -3-
quota systems
Quotas have been one of the most successful means to securing women’s political participation
Quota systems effectively improve traditional man-centered politics and help women and new comers to participate in politics
Successful results in women’s political participation in Northern Europe
Quick increase of women’s participation in Northern Europe

21. (2) Quota System of the World -1-
A quota system can be divided largely into three types:
legal quota : a method of clarifying a quota in the political party Act or in the election law and requiring all the political parties follow it
legislature seat quota : a kind of election quota system that allocates a certain percentage of seats for women
a quota system by political party : There is no strict or legal requirement to use the quota system by the political party, but it is a method whereby the political party voluntarily allocates a certain percentage of women nominees by the political party

22. Quota system of the world
Adopting quota systems in politics related law or election law
for assuring women’s representation is a worldwide trend

23. 30% women candidates for all elected post civil employee positions
Kinds of
Quota
Country
Details
Legal
France
The constitutional revision in1999 provided that the government and political parties can actively attempt to expand women’s political participation.
It precluded the possibility of opposition based on unconstitutionality.
Election law was revised in 2000 so that women would constitute 50% of all candidate nomination in all elections.
Argentina
30% women candidates for all elected post civil employee positions
South
Africa
50% women candidates for all elected post civil employee
Quota Methods

24. 33% women in local legislature Quota by Political Parties Sweden
Kinds of
Quota
Country
Details
Legislative
Seats
Tanzania
20% women in legislature
India
33% women in local legislature
Quota by
Political
Parties
Sweden
Social Democratic Party introduced the zipper system in every election where
men and women alternate on the list
Norway
Labor Party provided women’s rate on a list should be at least 40%
U.K.
Labor Party allocates 40% of seats for women nominees.
Germany
Social Democratic Party(40%) and the Green Party(50%) have quota for women.
Quota Methods

25. Quota system in South Korea
Current status
Adopted 30 % quota system for women candidates in the nomination of electoral district constituencies
Adopted 50 % quota for women candidates in the nomination of proportional representation of National Assembly
Every Party allocated 50 percent of proportional representation to women and accorded the first place to women
Huge increase of women in
the National Assembly:
5.7% (2000)  13.4% (2004)

26. (3) The Effect of a Quota System -1-
The primary goal of a quota system : to let more women advance into politics in a short time.
The secondary goal : to encourage many young women to take interest in politics and become prospective politicians over the longer term.

27. (3) The Effect of a Quota System -2-
The case of France ;
In March 2001, there were Provincial (counsel général) and city council (counsel municipal) elections in France.
This was a good opportunity to see the effect of a quota system in France, because the provincial election was done without applying the Equal Number of Gender Candidate Act (Parité) while the city council election was done with applying the Equal Number of Gender Candidate Act.

28. (3) The Effect of a Quota System -3-
The case of France ;
Remarkable increase in the number of women legislators!
There were 189 women elected out of the total of 1287 elected, accounting for only 9.8%, which was a little progress over the previous one of 126 women or 6.3%.
With the application of the Parité, the ratio of women elected is 47%, which shows a big gab progress over 22% of the previous legislatures.
Case of the provincial election
Case of the counsel municipal election

29. 2. Election System (1) Majority representation sys.
Proportional representation sys.
Merit
voters directly choose the candidates they want
it proportionally represents the voters’ interests.
Drawback
voters’ interests may not be accurately reflected in the legislature and under-representing minority opinion.
Such action may not be to the liking of voters who wish to directly choose their representatives because they are forced to select from a list determined by political party functionaries.

30. Source: IPU, Democracy Still in the Making, 1997, p.52.
<Figure 1> Relationship between Percentage of Women Legislators and Election System
Source: IPU, Democracy Still in the Making, 1997, p.52.

31. 2. Election System (2)
In 1997, statistics show that among those countries where
women legislators account for over 30% of the total, 60% of the
countries had proportional representation systems and the rest
had a combined electoral system.
There is no country that elects legislators through a majority
representation system among the countries with more than 30%
women legislators.
Therefore, we can see that a proportional representation system
or partially proportional representation systems are favorable
for women.

32. 3. Electoral District System (Magnitude of Electoral Constituency)
There are three categories of electoral district size:
1) Small district system (single member district)
- 1 person
- most unfavorable for women candidates
- England, France, Korea, the U.S.
2) Medium district system
- 2~5 persons
3) Large district system (multi-member district)
- more than 2~5 persons
- most favorable for women candidates

33. 4. Nomination Method within Political Parties
Nomination methods can be divided into two types:
1) Upward nomination method (primary election system)
nomination is decided by individual party members or by representatives of the district constituencies of the party
2) Downward nomination method
(central party centered nomination)
Recommendation decision method & Bureaucratic nomination method
nomination is decided by party bosses

34. 4. Nomination Method within Political Parties
<Table 5> Nomination method
Downward Nomination Method
Upward Nomination Method
Bureaucratic System
Socialist Party, Austria
Socialist Party, Greece
Social Democratic Party, Sweden
Labor Party of England
Social Democratic Party of Germany
Socialist Party of France
Recommendation System
France UDF
Italy DC
Democratic Party, U.S.
Freedom Party, Canada
Switzerland parties
Source: Pippa Norris, Legislative Recruitment, p.203.

35. Creating permanent institutions for women’s education in politics
5. Educating and Scouting Talented Women in Politics -1-
Creating permanent institutions
for women’s education in politics
Establishing a talent pool is crucial in expanding women’s
political participation
Problem
Solutions
Current status
In Korea, URI Leadership
Center for Women
Women’s Academy
for political
education and
G.N.P Women
Power Network
Active search for
qualified new
comers
France & Korea Experienced lack of qualified candidates

36. 5. Educating and Scouting Talented Women in Politics -2-
2) Women’s education through
the Media and the Internet
It is important for women to arm themselves with tools necessary
to make the media work for them
Specific education programs are essential to this end
In the case of South Korea, the 17th General Election was fierce in terms of media campaigns
The media will take the lead in terms of shaping political culture

37. 5. Educating and Scouting Talented Women in Politics -3-
3) Building strong network with other
women’s associations and establishing a women’s resource bank
Women’s organizations within different political parties should
build strong networks
Parties should manage women resource efficiently

38. Build strong networks both among
themselves, and with other groups of
women interested in politics
Women’s
organizations
should
Build Women resource banks for current and past women national and local assembly members, head of associations and women executive party officials
should
Parties

39. Effective use of funds for the political advancement of women
6. Increasing Political Funds for Women
Effective use of funds for the political advancement of women
Independent and systemized government funding is necessary to
ensure greater honesty in government’s fund
Advancement of women’s political participation
In Korea,
New Political Fun Law, March 2004
Government subsidies
10%

40. 10% allocation of the government subsidy
 URI Leadership Center for Women
The Ruling
URI party
10% allocation of the government subsidy
 Grand National Party Women Power Network
Oppositional Grand National party

41. V. Conclusion (1)
Future society will not progress without making the best use of its women. Not doing so is like running a race with only one leg or thinking with only half a brain.
It is a global trend for governments and political parties to allocate quotas for women in order to promote their political participation.
Women’s active political participation will improve dramatically the current politics. Once women’s participation reaches parity, the traditional male centered politics characterized by authority, domination and sometimes corruption and violence will yield to politics that is characterized by love, caring, cooperation, sacrifice and honesty.

42. V. Conclusion (2)
A key ingredient for success, and one of paramount importance in today’s reality, lies in the effort of women themselves, not as individuals, but acting collectively.
Women’s organizations, NGO’s, and citizen’s organizations, when acting in a concerted manner, have considerable power to alter both cultural and situational conditions to expand political empowerment for women.
The United Nations can play an invaluable role in supporting women’s NGOs in developing networks, in organizing and directing research, and in finding application for research fund around the world.