政坛仍是平权低谷，女性何时能顶半边天？

This year, New Zealand’s Parliament became a majority-female chamber for the first time in history.

今年，新西兰议会史上第一次出现女性占大多数席位的情况。

This shift occurred when Labour MP, Soraya Peke-Mason was sworn in on 25 October 2022. New Zealand has been a forerunner in gender equity, since being the first self-governing country to give women the vote in the late 1800s.

这场转变发生在2022年10月25日，时值工党议员索拉亚·佩克-梅森宣誓就职。自从19世纪晚期成为第一个给予女性投票权的自治国家以来，新西兰一直是性别平等的先驱者。

Despite the remarkable progress of women in many professions, politics is not one of them. Indeed, around the world, women have been conspicuous by their absence in decision and policy making in government. When the United Nations First World Conference on Women was held in Mexico City in 1975, the international community was reminded that discrimination against women remained a persistent problem in many countries; and even though governments were called upon to develop strategies to promote the equal participation of women, political participation was not yet identified as a priority.

尽管女性在许多领域取得了令人瞩目的成就，但在政治上却不然。的确，这是个全球“通病”：女性鲜少能参与决策与政策制定。1975年，第一届世界妇女大会在墨西哥城召开之时，主办方联合国就被提醒：在很多国家，歧视妇女是一个根深蒂固的问题；即使人们号召政府制定政策以促进两性平权，女性参政的重要性仍然没有得到认可。

Since then, though there has been an increasing focus on women's representation and their impact on decision-making structures, the increased attention did not reflect in immediate results. For example, in 1975 women accounted for 10.9 per cent of parliamentarians worldwide; ten years later it increased by one mere percentage point to 11.9 per cent.

从那以后，尽管女性代表得到了更多的关注，在决策上的影响力也越来越强，但她们的政治参与度并未提高。举个例子，1975年全世界女性议员占比仅为10.9%，十年以后，这个数字也只增长了1%。

Reaching gender parity in political authorities ensures more attention is given to pro-women policies, which also extend to family and children-focused policies, that more women’s voices will be heard and reported in the media, that less sexual harassment and abuse is tolerated, and that girls can have role models and aspire to be future politicians.

唯有在政治权威层面实现性别平等，才能确保保护女性的政策受到更多的关注，并由此扩大到保障家庭和儿童权利的政策，倡导媒体倾听更多女性的声音、降低性骚扰和性虐待行为的容忍度、鼓励女性成为楷模并向往成为未来的政治家。

Efforts to improve female representation in politics have often focused on quotas and reserved shares. What is really needed is a nuanced approach that tackles the underlying, interconnected barriers that women face in getting nominated for elected office and conducting successful campaigns.

那些想要提升女性在政治中能见度的举措往往注重选举配额和保留份额，但真正需要的是一种更加细致入微的方法，以解决女性在获得公职提名和开展竞选活动时面临的潜在的、相互关联的障碍。

In many countries, the cost of campaigning is becoming prohibitively high for most aspirants, regardless of gender. But women seem to have it worse than men. Fortunately, some countries are introducing innovative measures to address this problem. In Georgia, for example, political parties that include at least 30% of each gender on their electoral lists receive a 30% supplement from the state budget.

在许多国家，无论性别，高昂的竞选费用都令大部分有意向者望而却步。而女性的情况似乎比男性更糟。幸运的是，一些国家正在采取创新措施来解决这一问题。例如，在格鲁吉亚，在其选举名单上至少有30%的女性的政党可以从州预算中获得30%的补贴。

Beyond financing constraints, women face high social and cultural barriers to political participation. In particular, greater care obligations, reinforced by public perceptions of a “woman’s role,” severely undermine women’s ability to run for public office.

除了资金限制外，女性参政还面临巨大的社会和文化障碍。特别是公众对“女性角色”的刻板印象让女性被迫承担了更大的照顾责任，这严重损害了女性竞选公职的能力。

These issues are difficult to address directly. One step that could help would be for male politicians to assume more care responsibilities, thereby making the playing field more level, while demonstrating that family is a high priority for everyone. Likewise, new mothers should be able to bring their children to work. Concrete policies should also be put in place to support working parents, by giving them more flexibility to meet family responsibilities. 

这些问题很难直接解决。一个可能会奏效的方法是，让男性政治家承担更多的照顾责任，从而使竞争环境更加公平，同时展示家庭对每个人都是第一位的。同样，新妈妈们也应该能够带孩子上班。还应该制定具体的政策来支持工作的父母，给予他们更大的灵活性来履行家庭责任。

Women may also benefit from targeted training. UN Women’s recent Political Academy in Tunisia trained women candidates on local governance, the missions and roles of municipal councils, and media relations. 

女性也能从针对性的培训中受益。联合国妇女署近期在突尼斯的政治学院对女性候选人进行了有关地方治理、市议会使命和媒体关系的培训。