Netherlands Creates Record As 50% Women Make Up Brand New Government

In a historical precedent, the Netherlands government would be forming its new government in Holland, with women making up over half of ministers and secretaries of state. Out of the 29 ministers and secretaries of state roles, women would be filling up 14 of the positions, and 10 of the 20 ministers would be women.

Netherlands Creates History with Women Occupying Prominent Positions:

Kajsa Ollongren, the current deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands, would become the new defence minister in the four-party coalition that would be sworn on January 10. Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius would be appointed minister of justice and security. Sigrid Kaag is set to become the new female finance minister of the Netherlands, according to this report by The Independent.

As per a Reuters report, Prime Minister Mark Rutte would continue his run with his fourth term in office. This coalition would consist of the four parties that have been in power since 2017. It had taken almost 300 days to bring them back together after the March 17 elections had led to an inconclusive result.

The appointments come in the background of anti-lockdown protestors defying an order not to assemble in light of increasing Covid-19 cases. Hundreds gathered in Amsterdam in the Dutch capital on Sunday to protest the Covid-19 restrictions introduced by the government on December 19. Riot police armed with batons and shields and police dogs were deployed against anti-lockdown protestors in the Dutch capital.

India Struggling to Catch Up In Terms of Political Empowerment of Women:

As per the Global Gender Gap Index 2021 by the World Economic Forum (WEF), women's political representation in India has fallen to 51st rank across the world from the 18th rank in 2020. The report has surveyed over 156 countries, indicating that women occupied only 26.1 per cent of some 35,500 parliament seats. Women comprised just 22.6 per cent of over 3,400 ministers worldwide. At the current rate of progress, WEF estimates that it would require 145.5 years to attain gender parity in politics.

The WEF report also highlights the overall gender disparity in India, which has declined significantly from 112th rank in 2020 to 140 in 2021. As per data from the International Growth Centre (IGC), six states in India have no female ministers, including Sikkim, Nagaland, and Manipur, as of March 2021. The IGC report says that 68 per cent of states have less than 10 per cent female representation in state leadership roles.

Women ministers in India, such as Shiv Sena's Priyanka Chaturvedi, have spoken about the need for women's reservations to be lifted to 50 per cent. As per a Hindustan Times report, she is quoted as saying, "24 years ago, we proposed a 33% reservation for women in Parliament. Today, 24 years later, we should raise this to 50 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and assembly."

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