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Women in election

The tokenism of today — which has the political parties grudgingly agreeing to a sprinkling of women candidates in the contest — is no doubt disheartening. The presence of women on the electoral board is in no way commensurate with their potential and their rightful share in running the affairs of this country, of which politics and elections are an integral part. Yet there are signs which need to be built upon until a more reasonable gender-based ratio among the election candidates can be achieved. One aspect of the campaign so far is that the protests against this anti-women bias are now far stronger than they had been during previous elections. Consequently, parties have been on the back foot trying to defend their pro-men, pro-patriarchy decisions, often conceding just how unreasonable some of their last-minute constituency solutions have been in the context of women candidates. This should be an incentive for those looking for some kind of gender balance, if not gender equality, to push ahead with their demands. The lords sitting over the masses are not going to yield unless pressed hard enough.

Dawn