In 2005, the world watched as a number of momentous political feats for women came into realisation: from Iraqi and Afghani women coming out in large numbers to vote and run for positions in their countries' first permanent post-war legislatures to the election of Africa's and Chile’s first female presidents. These gains are at a time when almost all the constitutions of free democracies have provided for equality for their citizens before the law, doubly enforced by being signatory to international conventions such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and strategic documents and instruments such as the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action.

There is still a glaring disparity in the number of women who hold decision-making positions at various levels worldwide. In Asia Pacific, only 15 percent of all parliamentarians are women, as in reality, there are many hurdles hindering the attainment of this goal of equal access and participation in political processes.

Women’s attitude of hesitancy towards involvement in political life is generated by pervasive patriarchal systems which stereotypically confine women’s roles in the private sphere in conjunction with male-dominated traditional political systems. Women have yet to overcome societal stereotyping and invisible barriers based on their gender, age, race, caste, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, class, religion and other factors. 

In Asia Pacific there is a general lack of laws enacted for electoral processes and in countries where there are laws, the lack of implementation of these laws hinders women’s participation in politics. An incredible amount of social transformation taking place at an uneven pace inequitably is impacting on women in all parts of Asia Pacific. In Central Asia, women in newly independent states have experienced losses in parliamentary representation due to changes from a socialist to a capitalist system. Drastic changes in political leadership and governance, such as that witnessed after coups, also sets back women’s participation in politics.

Women's political space and access to decision-making fora is directly affected by the increasing feminisation of poverty. States are neglecting rights of local electorates by prioritising demands of international financial institutions and multi-national corporations and are increasingly adopting repressive stances and escalating levels of state violence towards dissenting communities and organisations, targeting women specifically, and continue to marginalise them from existing political processes.

Democratic mechanisms have been negatively impacted upon by globalisation, as States relinquish many of its roles to the private sector, denying people access to decision-making or failing to hold decision-makers accountable to the people. This, combined with the high levels of corruption, is leaving a system where participation of women is very limited. In 2005 many elections in the region have been wrought with discrepancies.

Freedom of expression, media, opinion, peaceful assembly, association, and others are essential tools for women's full political participation. In countries where the freedom of association is limited with growing fundamentalisms and militarism, women find themselves under constant surveillance and threat by their own governments. The fulfilment of basic survival and social needs, economic independence, and freedom from violence are crucial requirements in women's realisation of their political potentials.

In 2005, in Asia Pacific general elections were held in Japan, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Sri Lanka. Progressive trends in the number of women participating in politics were reflected in these countries. However, it should be noted that whilst this is a positive indicator in the numbers game, many of these successful candidates were from ruling parties not necessarily working with feminist perspectives for women in their countries.

Throughout 2005, WPPP Task Force members continued to lobby for electoral reform, and the strengthening of the links between women candidates, and women’s agendas and progressive political parties in their countries. In the Philippines, Gabriela Women’s Party has successfully used the party list system to win a seat in Congress. The women’s movement in Fiji have launched a ‘10 year Women in Shared Decision Making Plan of Action’ and conducted voter education programmes. As a measure of results, local government elections held in Fiji recently saw the WPPP Task Force member, Priscilla Singh, successfully securing her term as her constituency’s councillor in a landslide victory for her party. In the Solomon Islands, women’s groups are preparing a campaign strategy focusing to have a minimum of 30 percent women in parliament by 2015 from a current baseline of zero. Many groups in the region are actively involved in reviewing electoral processes and they are working to realise the goal of the equal participation of women in decision making as highlighted in the Beijing and Pacific Platform for Action.
  
Amongst other gains, in Korea, after the comparative success of women in last year’s elections, there is a push amongst political parties to recruit politically active women to represent the women’s agenda. A refreshing concept of a Parliamentary Gender Caucus that cuts across ethnic and party politics to address issues that curtail women’s participation in politics is been put forward by Malaysian groups.
 
These gains are significant, however, the full attainment of equal representation in all levels of government and decision-making bodies across the region is still being firmly challenged by a decisive roll-back in democracy across Asia Pacific, abetted by the onslaught of globalisation and resulting State’s antithetical policies. In 2005, APWLD members reported an escalating climate of patriarchy and corruption in forms that continued to marginalise women candidates and diminish government accountability.

Operating within this context in recognising the importance of counteracting emerging political processes which reduce spaces for women’s political participation, the Women’s Participation in Political Processes Programme (WPPP) objectives for 2003-2005 were:

• To assist women in Asia Pacific to challenge existing political structures (i.e., electoral processes) which hinder women’s political participation; and
• To increase the capacity of Asia Pacific women decision makers to promote a feminist perspective and agenda in existing political processes and structures.

Collation of Strategies

For women to effectively use law as an instrument to effect changes and improve their situation, gaining equitable representation in the decision-making bodies of their countries is an important step. However, achieving this has proven next to impossible, where countries do not have real democracy to guarantee peoples political participation and where women are discriminated against and subjected to various forms of violence. Here, learning from the experiences of women who have directly engaged in electoral politics, whether they have won seats in their parliament or government or not, is vital.

Under the objective to assist women in Asia Pacific to challenge existing political structures, the WPPP programme undertook this research with the main aim to collate information on strategies utilised by six women electoral candidates in elections which took place in their countries since the late 1990s. Women’s participation in politics cannot just be a question of numbers and ratios but of what kind of women will represent women. Women’s movements and its allies have a few among its ranks to run for elected office and gain seats in parliament or other government positions. These are the women who can be most depended upon to fight for women’s rights and they are the ones who will be more formidable against being co-opted and swallowed by a monopolistic, patriarchal and unjust system. And it is important that we learn from the experiences of the few, such as those chosen for this research, who have worked in a usually corrupt and graft-ridden government. 
 
Research:
The study undertaken by six researchers in Fiji, India, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia and the Philippines was successfully completed within the allocated time period. The resulting book titled “Seethings and Seatings: Strategies for Women’s Participation in Political Processes” presents a collation of strategies in the form of six case studies identifying the restraining and driving forces for women that helped them to win in elections and to be effective in their elective position. The six women depicted in the book are Adi Ema Tagicakibau (Fiji), Balabarathy (India), Kim Hyen Mi (Korea), Toktokan Borombaeva (Kyrgyzstan), Zaitun Kasim (Malaysia) and Liza Largoza- Maza (the Philippines). The book pinpoints and assesses the strategies used by women candidates to meet women’s objectives in the elections; assesses how these women advance the women’s agenda while in their elective position; and outlines the lessons from women’s engagement in elections and work in government, and use them a as guide to future efforts at strengthening women’s participation in the political process.

Selected countries: Fiji, India, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia and the Philippines were chosen as case studies for the purpose of analysis. Some countries are multi-ethnic (Malaysia, India and Fiji) while others may be rather homogeneous (South Korea). Some countries have a long tradition of parliamentary election while others are practicing the presidential form.

This research initiated in 2004, under the guidance of WPPP Task Force members took on a three-pronged approach, i.e. contextual assessment, descriptive and inferential analysis. The three member editorial board, comprising of Task Force Co-convenor Rashila Ramli and Task Force members Nurgul Djanaeva and Elisa Tita Lubi, met in May and August 2005 to track progress of the research and to provide editorial guidance to the researchers.

Book Launch:
The book was launched on 17 December 2005, after the annual Task Force meeting in Hong Kong as part of the People’s Action Week against WTO activities. The WPPP Task Force invited researchers and research subjects to be a part of the launch to share experiences and strategise on how to move forward towards equal representation in all political mechanisms and institutions within the region.

At the launch the research subjects, standing and former parliamentarians Adi Ema Tagicakibau, Toktokan Borombaeva and Liza Lagoza-Maza; iterated that women have always participated in politics and in electoral systems but there are many obstacles and challenges. On the one hand, the obstacles can bring forth frustration, anger and resentment. On the other hand, the challenges can lead to innovative ideas, character building and the discovery of hidden potentials. It is imperative that women learn from other women in order to champion women’s issues especially at the national level.

The six case studies portrayed in the book do not make a generalisation on overall strategies in political participation. It will not allow for a formulation of a universalised method of participation in Asia Pacific. It, however, gives insights to the challenges and obstacles that women face and need to overcome in different electoral systems. By having these insights, better strategies can be developed in order to cater to local situations in the future. To facilitate this, the WPPP programme in 2006 - 2008 will assist three national partners in translating the publication into local languages (Russian, Bahasa- Malayu and Korean) so that the strategies documented can be used by aspiring women politicians and in doing so meeting the indicators for the objective. The book will be distributed to APWLD members and partners and follow up will be done to see if it has been a useful tool in enabling women to challenge existing political structures in their local situations. The book will also be used as an educational tool for upcoming national and regional level Gender and Politics Training workshops and the inclusion as text in some academic institutions.

Gender and Politics Training

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