Gender parity - The African Mirror

Nov

2023

Africa is steadily marching toward gender parity

NAMIBIA is among a select group of nine nations globally that have successfully closed over 80% of their gender gap, marking a significant stride towards equality. According to a 2023 report from the World Economic Forum, Namibia has achieved an impressive 80.2% closure, securing the rank of 8th worldwide in bridging this gap. Leaders include Iceland (91.2%), Norway (87.9%), Finland (86.3%), New Zealand (85.2%), Sweden (81.5%), Germany (81.5%), and Nicaragua (81.1%), with Namibia next, at 80.2%. “Sub-Saharan Africa’s parity score is the sixth highest among the eight regions at 68.2%, ranking above Southern Asia, the Middle East and North Africa,”…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Africa lags on gender parity in politics

NEWS

NITA BHALLA AFRICA has increased the number of women in parliament but still looks set to miss a global goal of gender parity in politics by 2030, according to an European think tank. The study by Sweden's International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) found that women occupied 24% of Africa's 12,113 parliamentary seats in the upper and lower houses in 2020 - up from 9% in 2000. But progress was slow, it said, with women facing a barrage of challenges underpinned by entrenched sexism, be it a dearth of opportunity, lack of economic support or outright prejudice.…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Gender parity in legal field 50 years away

WORLD

EMMA FARGE MORE than a quarter of lawmakers worldwide are women after the proportion inched higher in 2020, but progress is so slow that it will take 50 years at the present rate before they achieve parity with men, a global body of legislatures said on Friday. "Although progress has been steady over the past few years, it is still excruciatingly slow," the Inter-Parliamentary Union, made up of 179 national member parliaments and 13 regional parliaments, said in an annual 'Women in Parliament' report. "At the current rate, it will take another 50 years before gender parity is achieved in…