CWP 1 - WOMEN’S POLITICAL


PARTICIPATION


Political parties should consider recruiting female candidates from the civil service, since they already have a good understanding of governance issues, however, this can be challenging since the civil service is often male dominated. Furthermore, it was recommended that more needed to be done to mobilize women voters to support and vote for fellow women in elections. In this regard, Ms Burain recommended that vigorous voter education campaigns were conducted so that voters knew how to use democratic strategies


and structures other than voting, such as petitions, making submissions, designing motions and getting MPs to ask oral questions.


Campaign funding mechanisms for women


With regards to campaign funding, Ms Truppe stated that a political campaign could not be successful without strong financial backing. A lack of funding had been identified as an important deterrent to women who were considering entering politics. In this regard, political parties


288 | The Parliamentarian | 2013: Issue Four


had to do more to assist women candidates to raise funds. This could be achieved through fundraising networks, creating funds within the party targeted to support women candidates, limiting nomination and campaign expenditures, allocating funds specifically for training women candidates and examining how party funds are used to support women candidates and women’s issues. Ms Truppe cited the example of Canada where its Elections Act and Income Tax Act introduced spending limits on nomination campaigns. This assisted


in putting women on an equal footing with male candidates who might have had more resources at their disposal.


Women in politics


Once women are elected to positions of power, it’s pertinent they receive continued support to ensure that increased women’s representation translates into policies that speak to women and improved their living standards.


Positions equivalent to the Minister for Women should be positions with real power that afford the respect required in order to be able to make


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