Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Portuguese Socialist Party Wins Gender Equality Prize

This gender equality competition in women's political represenation was confined to Europe. Good thing the U.S. was not included because we would have been left in the dust and quite red-faced about it since we could not possibly hope to compete.

In 2009, the United States of America continues to rank 69 in the world -- down there beneath Boliva and Turkmenistan -- in the percentage of women elected to the national congress.

But congrats to the Portugese Socialist Party for working to improve Portugal's status as 27 in the world.

The first winner is the Portuguese Socialist Party, Partido Socialista, followed by the British Labour Party and Swedish left-wing party Vänsterpartiet. All three were rewarded for the steps they had taken to significantly improve women’s participation in their parties or in the elected assemblies of their respective countries.

"Equal participation of women and men in political and public decision making : a fundamental criterion of democracy."