Even as the world celebrates the 128th anniversary of women first winning the right to vote, experts and leaders believe that most countries are still not on track to achieve gender equality in politics, and in some places, women still feel vulnerable.

On Sept. 19, 1893, New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world to grant women the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, New Zealand's Ambassador to Turkey Wendy Hinton said this leap in political empowerment came after one in five women in her country signed a petition demanding their rights.

"But we know that many challenges still face women today, in New Zealand and all over the world," she said in an email interview.

The move by New Zealand was the first step in the granting of suffrage to half of the world's population.

"A world with balanced gender representation is a better, safer, and more prosperous world," said Hinton.

"In a world where many people still assume that people in high-profile roles (even ambassadors) are men, this theme remains vital."

Fadhlina Sidek, a senator in Malaysia, said empowering women leads to "the only place on earth where everybody is equal."

"Voting is a necessary step to make sure that our voices are heard, especially the vulnerable, marginalized, and discriminated communities," said Sidek, who is also a lawyer and a women's and children's rights activist.

She said that it would be wrong to say that women were given the right to vote.

"They won that right. They marched, they starved, they fought, and it took decades before women had the right to vote," she added.

Hinton agreed that all ages and genders have benefited from having women in leadership roles and having both genders represented in parliament, workplaces, universities, boardrooms, and in all decision-making bodies.

"Women's involvement helps to make better laws; more profitable businesses; enduring art, literature, and music; more sustainable peace agreements; and more accurate media coverage, medical advice, and scientific research," she argued.

"It means greater protection for women, children, and families, and is central to the fight against gender-based violence," she added.

WOMEN POLITICIANS STILL UNDER-REPRESENTED

This March, in its latest annual Women in Politics report, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), a global organization of national parliaments, noted that the world "is not yet on track to achieve gender equality in politics by 2030."

However, it added, the number of women inside parliaments is "steadily growing."

"The global average of women in parliamentary positions now sits at 25.5%, reaching over a quarter for the first time in history," IPU Secretary General Martin Chugong said when the report was released.

Hinton said achieving equal representation for women and men can lead to "equality in all other areas of life."

"This is important not just for women but for everyone," she said, adding that New Zealand to date has had three women premiers, including Jacinda Ardern, the current office holder.

"Although they are from different political parties, they acknowledge the pioneering roles they have respectively played in building a more equal society for New Zealanders," said the ambassador.

Chugong, however, lamented that the current pace of women entering parliaments is "painstakingly, or even excruciatingly, slow."

"At the current rate, it will take another 50 years before we can achieve gender parity in parliament. And of course, we all agree that this is not tenable, it's not acceptable," he said.

The small African nation of Rwanda currently leads the way in terms of women's representation in parliament.

ISLAM GAVE THIS RIGHT 1,400 YEARS AGO

Samia Raheel Qazi, a former lawmaker from Pakistan, said Islam gave women such rights 1,400 years ago.

However, challenges remain in a society like Pakistan, where "women are neither supported by family nor society" to take an active part in politics or economic progress.

"My religion gave me this right 1,400 years ago," said Qazi, who represented Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan's largest socio-politico-religious organization, in the country's parliament from 2002 to 2007.

"Being a woman lawmaker, I was never let down inside the parliament or by my party. I was granted more time by the speaker and was never discriminated against for being a woman," she said.

She said her group had brought to parliament a "detailed five-point agenda for a women's rights charter."

In addition to rights, security, and protection for women, it also pressed for education, health, justice, and "those rights granted by Islam which society does not grant her," said Qazi.

"The soul of a democracy is that the views of all are important, be (they from) a male or female," Qazi said, who said her party boasts one of the best internal democratic systems in the world and holds regular elections.

But she said Pakistani women remain "vulnerable" and that this is the "biggest challenge in empowering" them.

TURKISH WOMEN HAVE HAD SUFFRAGE SINCE 1934

In 1934, through a constitutional amendment, Turkish women were among the first in Europe to win the right to vote and run for elected office.

Only seven years after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded the Republic of Turkey on Oct. 23, 1923, Turkish women were granted suffrage in local elections held in 1930.

Since then, women have been active in national politics and founded the National Women's Party of Turkey in 1972 and the Women's Party in 2014.

Recent decades have seen an increase in the number of women elected to parliament.

While in 1935 only 4.5% of lawmakers in Turkey were women, this share increased to nearly one in five in 2019, despite the number of lawmakers rising from 401 to 600.

Today, there are 101 women lawmakers in the Turkish Grand National Assembly or parliament.

WOMEN NEED REPRESENTATION AT EVERY LEVEL

Malaysia's Sidek said the voices of women "still go unheard and their contributions are too often sidelined."

"This is the case where women are given only portfolios relating to women and only allowed to sit on women's committees," she explained.

"It's not only in parliament but at all levels of government, and inter-sectorial ministries need to adopt affirmative measures and policies to ensure women's participation at every level of decision-making," she argued.

Hinton said there is still a need for transformative shifts and new solutions "to remove structural barriers and ensure that no woman and no girl is left behind."

"We need industry leaders, game-changing start-ups, social entrepreneurs, gender equality activists, and women innovators to all examine ways we can remove barriers and accelerate progress for gender equality," said Hinton, urging the encouragement of investments in gender-responsive social systems./aa

The British government announced Friday that Kuwait; among others, is removed from mandatory COVID-19 tests for vaccinated travelers returning to England, starting October 4. Grant Shapps, the UK transport minister, said in a series of tweets that as of the aforementioned date, the current red-amber-green country lists that govern arrivals into England would cease to exist. In their place will be a “simpler” red list of no-go destinations.

The new system will help in “striking the right balance to manage the public health risk as No.1 priority,” Shapps said. Hence, according to Shapps, the UK will no longer require pre-departure tests before arrival into England for fully vaccinated travelers coming from non-red list countries starting from October 4. “From later in October, (fully vaccinated travelers) will be able to replace the day two PCR test with a cheaper lateral flow,” he added, referring to the test required two days after arriving in England. Officials review these measures weekly or in response to significant changes in disease activity abroad, as they could re-impose, extend, further ease, or otherwise amend any restrictions with little-to-no notice depending on disease activity over the coming weeks.

SOURCE:  TIMES KUWAIT

As an ambitious global environmental initiative, the world celebrates Coastal Cleanup Day tomorrow Saturday, by organizing various campaigns and activities to clean seacoasts and beaches. These campaigns aim to raise environmental awareness and the need to preserve seacoasts and beaches, and to shed light on the problems and threats to the environment, thus contributing to maintaining its ecological balance and ensuring its biodiversity. On the Coastal Cleanup Day, the Media official of Kuwait’s diving team, Dr. Dhari Al-Huwail told KUNA that the team participated in the global campaign to clean the beaches by cleaning the southern coast of Fahaheel in cooperation with the Kuwait Municipality and volunteers.

He noted that the team chose the southern coast as a cleaning site on this occasion due to the accumulation of a lot of plastic waste carried by the northern winds that blew over Kuwait a few days ago, indicating that the team was able to remove two tons of plastic waste. Moreover, he stressed the danger of plastic waste and its negative impact on the marine and coastal environment and its organisms, as it destroys thousands of sea creatures and birds, wishing more penalties for violators to ensure the safety of the environment and coasts. He also said that the team continues to protect the marine and coastal environment throughout the year, with the participation of many governmental and private agencies, and it has distinguished international partnerships, most notably the environmental cooperation with the United Nations Environment Program. For his part, Chairman of the Wildlife Protection Committee of the Kuwait Society for the Protection of the Environment, Dr. Manaf Behbehani, said that the coasts are among the most important natural environments due to their biological diversity. He noted that Kuwait enjoys a seacoast extending from north to south with a length of about 325 km, and the nine islands have a coastline of 175 km, which is considered a natural wealth. Behbehani stressed that Kuwait attaches great importance to protecting the coasts and their vital and nonvital resources, as stated in Article 100 of the Environmental Law, as it includes severe financial penalties and imprisonment for those who cause the destruction of coastal environments.

Meanwhile, Director-General of Public Relations and Media at the Environment Public Authority, Sheikha Al-Ibrahim, said that the International Coastal Cleanup Day is a global initiative identified by the United Nations and celebrated by the world in many activities to clean coastal and marine areas and aims to raise environmental awareness. She added that the authority chose the beaches of Kubbar Island as a cleaning site on this occasion, as it is one of the most beautiful Kuwaiti islands, for the diversity of its wildlife.

SOURCE:  TIMES KUWAIT

Climate finance provided and mobilized by developed countries for developing countries totaled $79.6 billion in 2019, 2% up from $78.3 billion in 2018, according to new data released by Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on Friday. 

"Climate finance continued to grow in 2019 but developed countries remain $20 billion short of meeting the 2020 goal of mobilizing $100 billion," OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said.

The OECD is an intergovernmental economic organization of 38 developed countries set up to stimulate economic progress and world trade.

Cormann added that the limited progress in overall climate finance volumes from 2018-2019 is disappointing, especially ahead of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, scheduled to be held in the city of Glasgow, Scotland from Oct. 31- Nov. 12 under the presidency of the UK.

"While appropriately verified data for 2020 will not be available until early next year it is clear that climate finance will remain well short of its target. More needs to be done,” he said.

The OECD report indicates that out of the overall climate finance in 2019, 25% of funds were allocated to adaptation, while 64% went to climate change mitigation and the remainder to crosscutting activities.

More than half of total climate finances are targeted economic infrastructure – mostly energy and transport – while the remainder going to agriculture and social infrastructure, notably water and sanitation.

Asia has been the main beneficiary of climate finance between 2016-19 getting 43% of the total funds on average, followed by Africa (26%) and the Americas (17%).

Climate finance for least developed countries rose sharply in 2019, up by 27% from 2018.

"It is more urgent than ever that developed countries step up their efforts to deliver finance for climate action in developing countries, particularly to support poor and vulnerable countries to build resilience against the growing impacts of climate change," noted Cormann./aa