Strategies for improving women's political participation - Term Paper Example

This paper tries to enlist some strategies for improving political participation of women. Strategies: In order to develop a sustainable democracy in the country, it is very important to have equal role and participation of women in politics and in government. Women occupy fifty percent of the world population but still they are under-represented as voters, political leaders or elected officials. There cannot be democracy in the country if half of the population remains unrecognized in the field of politics.

Every nation should take adequate steps to help women so that they can acquire their due respect and importance and should have the tools necessary to participate successfully in all aspects of the political process. (Han, pp. 15-20; Paxton and Hughes, p.23-35) For women to participate in politics in a full fledged way, there should be wide ranging programs which must be creative and strongly focused in both type of challenging environments where democracy is just beginning to flourish and in more established democracies where women are engaged in legislatures, political parties and civil society as leaders, activists and informed citizens.

These programs create an environment where women has built in confidence and can advocate on matters of policy, run for political office, can get elected, govern effectively, and participate meaningfully in every facet of civic and political life. Various innovative programs have helped to strengthen the political skills of women, emphasize on how women are impacted by public policy, and improve the perception of women in political life. The government should also commit in delivering democracy in all kinds of challenging environments.

(Paxton, p.1) A government should focus on its high-level political relationships in order to encourage leaders to understand and actively promote the benefits of gender-balanced politics. It is necessary for any government of a country to have a prospect on training women and focus on the inclusion of a gender perspective in every NDI program. This dual approach can strengthen its ability to build women’s skills and organize women across ethnic and political lines, as well as create the opportunity for women from diverse backgrounds to converge around shared goals to solve problems in ways that contribute to the development and well-being of their societies.

(Burrell pp. 12-15) A country should use a broad spectrum of inventive and inclusive strategies and techniques, in order to reach the widest range of women leaders and activists, which are uniquely adapted to best fit the local cultural and political contexts of the communities in which we work. Quotas can also be introduced in order to ensure that women acquire a minimum share of seats in the legislature. The rules that establish quotas in political parties and government institutions aim to assist women to overcome the barrier of under-representation in these areas of decision-making.

(Burrell pp. 12-15) In order to be compelling and competent, affirmative action programs should be adopted and the establishment of quotas has to be accompanied by definite timetables with clear targets. India was an example cited by several participants who observed that the target of reaching 33% of seats to be reserved for women at the district level, which is also called as the Panchayati Raj, has been