Topic: Encouraging Political Participation by Women
Country: South Africa
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All South Africa position papers GLIMUN 2017 committees
Around the world, women are not given a voice in their own government. This opportunity is taken away from them for no reason. In many nations, women are discriminated against and in many nations women are much less educated than their male counterparts. However in other countries there have been strides to allow women to represent in their government, South Africa being one of those many. The delegation of South Africa believes that women have a right to be part of parliament and the government in general. In this committee we need not look to find the problems, only to solve them.
Before 1994, only 2.7% of parliamentary seats were held by women. Since that year, the amount of women in South Africa’s government has greatly increased. Women now occupy 43% of Cabinet posts, 46% of Deputy Minister Positions, and 41% of parliamentary seats, which is a rise from previous years. This 38.3% increase is greatly due to South African women actively seeking change. South Africa is also one of only 3 nations in Africa where women account for more than 30% of ministers in the cabinet. South Africa’s government has overall seen an improvement since gaining women in their government.
In this committee, the delegations need to work together quickly and efficiently to seek a resolution. Women are needed in a country's government to protect their rights and speak for that side of the population. South Africa hopes to have other delegations seek a resolution for this problem and overall support policies that advocate for women’s political participation.
