Posts tagged representation
Women in the ministry and shadow ministry
Women in the ministry and shadow ministry

To great fanfare, the Albanese government announced a cabinet that had the highest rates of female representation in Australian history. In today’s analysis, Anna Hough (@AnnaC_Hough) of the Australian Parliamentary Library (@ParlLibrary) compares the gender composition of both the cabinet and the shadow cabinet with recent historical elections. While representation is important, the kinds of portfolios led by women are also analysed. This analysis was originally published on the Parliament of Australia website.

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Womens Policy Action TankWomen's Policy Action Tankgovernment, representation, Gender equality, Election
What to make of the diversity in Australia's 47th parliament
What to make of the diversity in Australia's 47th parliament

Representation is critical for effective governance and law-making, and the recent election gives Australia its most diverse Parliament yet. But there’s more to true voice and representation than photo opportunities. In today’s analysis, Yasmin Poole ((@YasminPoole) of the World Bank (@WorldBank) expands the metric of ‘diversity’ and challenges the government to ensure marginalised communities are fully engaged. This piece originally appeared in Election Watch (@electionwatch_ @Government_UOM).

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Womens Policy Action TankWomen's Policy Action TankElection, diversity, representation, politics and democracy
To Quota or Not to Quota: Women’s political representation needs better support
To Quota or Not to Quota: Women’s political representation needs better support

While approaches to ensure better legislative decisions for women include such activities as gender responsive budgeting, the most fundamental action would ensure that women are truly representative in Australia’s legislative bodies. In the lead-up to the Federal Election, we are running a series of specific asks for policy change. Today’s piece by Sandy Venn-Brown, Menaka Cooke and Terrie Roberts, all of the Women’s Electoral Lobby (@WELAus) makes the argument for instituting a quota system.

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Womens Policy Action TankWomen's Policy Action TankElection, representation, Gender equality, politics and democracy
Fixing Parliament for women: Five dimensions that help explain why it’s an entrenched masculine workplace
Fixing Parliament for women: Five dimensions that help explain why it’s an entrenched masculine workplace

Earlier this year, Australians were shocked to hear Brittany Higgins’ story – not only of her alleged sexual assault in Parliament House, but also the lack of a process to report and address her allegations. More recently, Annabel Crabb’s series Ms Represented showcased the historic and continuing barriers to inclusion and respect that women face in Australian politics. In today’s analysis, Josefina Erikson (@Josefinaerikson) of Uppsala University (@UU_PoliSci), shares a summary of her recently-published paper, co-authored with Cecilia Josefsson (@CeciliaJsfssn). It provides a framework encompassing five dimensions, explaining how parliaments fail to operate as gender-sensitive workplaces despite increasing numbers of women working there.

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Womens Policy Action TankWomen's Policy Action Tankpolitics and democracy, representation, Gender equality, Women's safety
When work becomes a masculinity contest
When work becomes a masculinity contest

The workplace culture at Parliament House is under intense scrutiny after the revelations prompted by Brittany Higgins’ experiences as a staff member bringing forth an allegation of rape in the workplace, while the wider experiences of women in Australian politics is being highlighted in Annabel Crabb’s Ms Represented which aired its first episode yesterday. In today’s analysis, Leonora Risse (@Leonora_Risse) of RMIT, the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard (@wapppHKS), and the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia (@WLIAus) discusses toxic workplaces as sites for contests of masculinity, and how that negatively impacts on women and others who do not conform to these norms, with a particular focus on Australia’s political spheres.

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Womens Policy Action TankWomen's Policy Action Tankpolitics and democracy, representation, men's violence, Harassment, Sexual violence, discrimination
Do Parliamentary quotas influence legislation? Lessons from France

With the Coalition’s ‘woman problem’, representation of women in Australia’s Parliament has been at the forefront. While Labor has a self-imposed gender quota (see page 6) that means women are at near-parity in Parliamentary representation at 46.3 per cent, the Liberals are at 22.9 per cent (percentages calculated in January 2019). With an overall female representation in Parliament of 33.2 per cent, here’s the question: does representation matter? One way to answer this is to look to countries which have a quota system, to identify any changes to policymaking. In today's analysis, Quentin Lippmann of the Paris School of Economics provides evidence from France. This summary draws on Quentin’s presentation at the Australian Gender Economics Workshop in February of this year; his full presentation notes can be found here.   

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Womens Policy Action TankWomen's Policy Action TankElection, representation, Gender Inequity, politics and democracy
Don’t Underestimate the Power of Representation

In honour of International Women’s Day on March 8th, the Wiley Network spoke with Associate Professor Helen Dickinson (UNSW Canberra's Public Service Research Group) and Professor Janine O'Flynn (University of Melbourne's School of Government) about their experiences as a successful women in academia and how societies and associations can help to improve gender parity in research fields. This podcast was originally published on the Wiley Network.

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IssuesPower to PersuadeWomen's Day, gender, representation