United Stats V.S India and the Different Electoral Systems

In addition to the arguments above there are some very strong disadvantages to this system such as it excludes women from the legislature. The ‘most broadly acceptable candidate’ syndrome also affects the ability of women to be elected to legislative office because they are often less likely to be selected as candidates by male-dominated party structures. Although the evidence across the world suggests that women are less likely to be elected to the

What was the most underrepresented social group in the elected assemblies of the world? whether is the minority ethnic, religious groups or the poor? According to Putman’s statistic, the answer was “women”. (Putnam 1976 cited in Megyery 1991) Statistics have shown that although women around the globe occupy more than one half of the population, very small proportion become political elite. Different from what women have encountered, man tends to dominate many spheres in life which includes electoral politics. Such gender disparity happens everywhere not just in Canada. Ever since Canadian women suffrage and the right to candidacy was achieved, they have made a couple strides in political arena, yet not as many as they wish with the existence of electoral glass ceiling standing

genders. Women may have the same political rights, however they are still degraded and seen as inferior to men. So, women in politics are now trying to prove that they are just as capable as men are. However, their attempts are being suppressed due to the inappropriate comments against them. Sexist remarks in the media against female political candidates is the reason why there is a smaller amount of women in government.

Prior to 1921, men were the only members of the Canadian parliamentary system. With the first Canadian women being elected into the Canadian parliament in 1921, women have had the ability to participate and become elected into the House of Commons. Since then, Canadian women’s participation in the House of Commons has substantially increased from 1 female seat holder in 1921 to the present day 64 seats held by women. Although this increase is seemed as substantial, the debate about the underrepresentation of women in politics has been a central topic of debate by politicians, scholars and the general public in Canada. Although it is widely agreed that representation of women in the House of Commons needs to increase, there are two

In an effort to combat these structural impediments, parliaments across the globe have adopted proportional representation (PR) systems. Implementing gender mainstreaming practices have increased the amount of women holding parliamentary seats worldwide. “Non-PR countries only average 13.3 percentage rates. PR countries boast a much higher office holding rate at 20.7 percent respectively.” (Renzetti, Curran, Maier 2012: 312-313).

I think the role of women is everywhere essential and can include significant influence as in social life so in politics. Some people argue that women’s presence in power is a simple question of fairness. Fairness that demands women to get their proper share of power regardless of whether they us this power to promote women’s interests.

Whilst quotas fast track women into parliament, there is need for long term strategies to keep women in political positions and eliminate the sexism that prevents women from entering into politics primarily. Whether this is through education, initiatives to combat stereotypes, and providing opportunities and support for women, it is vital that we eliminate the gender gap that has grown increasingly in recent times.

Reserve the few important portfolios for the women-------- female ministers are typically given ‘feminine’ portfolios, such as education, health, social welfare or environment. Moreover, governments do not consider gender equality as a priority, gender equality issues are missing from the budgeting process, and women are not present in the financial, peace, and international negotiations, structures and delegations. The participation of a proportion of women in government in all levels should be established as one of the rules of democracy. All governments should thus include a proportion of women. Men and women alike are fitted to hold government

If more women were in higher governmental power, additional action would be taken to improve the government and the world in general. Women have always been considered a follower of men since the beginning of time. However, women are being politically elected to be head of state and government, they are leaders of countries and role models for the younger generations. More than 20 countries currently have a woman holding office as the head of a national government, and the global participation rate of women in national-level parliaments is nearly 20%. In addition, women are highly devoted to promoting national and local policies that address the socioeconomic and political challenges facing women, children, and disadvantaged

contribute negatively or positively in regards to the amount of seats held by women, and, if

(Adewunmi 2014)¬¬. Increasing women's representation

Traditionally, an Indian woman had only four roles and those were; Her role as a daughter, wife, sister, and lastly, a mother. The women in today’s time however are experiencing far reaching changes and are entering into new fields that were unknown to them. They are actively participating in social, economic and political activities. Unlike the older times, women today have received higher education.

An analysis of example can be derived from the aforementioned discriminatory sexist roles in India that prior to globalization highly favored the male population verses the female population. The female population in India has previously been less than second class citizens. Indian women's cultural roles have been previously defined by traditional customs that are centuries old and no longer apply in this day and age. Previous to globalization, Indian women were to take total domestic responsibility. They were not allowed formal education as the majority of teachers and pupils were male, and the chances of a female remaining chaste was slim in those settings, and related to tradition, females

New Zealand was the first country to give women the right to vote in 1893, however, since then we have dropped to 27th when it comes to gender representation in government, out of 188 countries. One of the many reasons as to why women are under represented in parliament can be linked to the issue of the political obstacles that face women. This is when they want to be in parliament, women whom are in parliament, and the many women who this is not an option for due to lack of opportunity. Women have to face this “masculine model” of politics and government. Men are dominant in parliament, meaning that political life revolves around male norms and values (Shvedova). This can be extended, politics is very much about competition and confrontation. Rather than politics being

Unlike the British and American women, Indian women did not face great difficulty in securing franchise. Gandhiji stressed on the need for active participation of the masses during the freedom movement, including women. He encouraged total participation of women resulting in the emergence of a large number of women freedom fighters. Annie Besant, Madame Cama and Sarojini Naidu formed the Women’s Indian Association. But, women still constitute a mere 10% of the legislators in the Parliament and State Assemblies. “According to the 1955 International Parliamentary Union Survey, women hold just 11.7% of all seats in Parliament around the world.” Success at the Panchayat level based on reservations for women convinced women’s organizations that it is the correct time to extend these reservations to the highest levels.