Sunday 17 April 2011

Parity of Women and Men in New Tunisian Electoral Law

The Tunisian electoral law adopted a few days ago provides for parity of women and men in the election of legislators. Article 16 of the Law which governs the 24 July elections requires equal representation of women and men on the lists for the proportional representation scheme so as to ensure parity in the constituent assembly.
A month or so ago, this blog lamented the results in the recent Irish elections, where women made up only 15% of those elected. Ireland should follow Tunisia's example in order to correct this situation.
The Tunisian legislation was praised by Catherine Ashton on behalf of the European Union.
It represents a great human rights dividend from the profound changes sweeping the Arab world, and a model that hopefully others in the region (and elsewhere) will follow.
The legislation also includes a more controversial provision by which those who were members of the previous government are excluded from running for office.
Thanks to Christine Chanet.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

If the majority of Irish women preferred to vote for a male candidate, surely that's not a problem. Maybe they think that the stance on finance, economics or abortion is more important than the gender of the candidate.

And I wonder why quotas are always demanded for parliaments, but not for other jobs: http://andreasmoser.wordpress.com/2010/10/03/quotas-for-women-why-only-in-boardrooms/