This is great! (Tunisa)

[MrIC]

I haven't seen any English-language story on this yet, but according to El Pais, Tunisan parties for the July election will not only have to have equal numbers of male and female candidates on their party lists but the candidates will have to alternate (man, woman, man, woman). This should lead to direct gender parity in the new Parliament.

way to go!! Dictatorship to gender balanced democracy in 6 months - let's hope they go through with it!

[DrSeuss]

I want the opportunity to vote for the best candidate. Their gender is a non issue. Obviously, women should be given the same opportunities as men to stand as candidates but I'd always choose the better candidate.

[MrIC]

Oops, should have been Tunisia (doh!)

DrSeuss Tunisia will have PR - so they will be voting for parties not individuals.

[AyeRobot]

Brilliant. I was hoping (and thought naively) that the north african countries would emerge from the tumult in that vein.

Vive la revolution!

[InmaculadaConcepcion]

Here's a report in English if anyone's interested.

[aliceliddell]

DrSeuss - me too. Funnily enough, it appears that the commitment to gender blindness has led to universal male domination (numerically, culturally and politically) in all organisations where it has been tried. Do we conclude that men are therefore always the best candidates? Or a more complex and sophisticated response that reveals the myriad subtle complications of society which lead to the structural impossibility of achieving gender equality in the current system. So, yes, we could try to a) have a revolution right now or b) reform each little bit that currently makes it so difficult for women to participate or c) have a tactical solution like Tunisia, the Green Party here or the Scottish Socialist Party. Because actually having women making the law will mean the law will serve women a bit better. Most people believe this to be a temporary tactic, not a permanent principle, as it will hopefully succeed in making itself unnecessary.

[aliceliddell]

Cheers celadon!

[Beachcomber]

This is great news. My FIL lives in Tunisia, must ask him what he thinks.

Agree with Alice.

[InmaculadaConcepcion]

A quote from Suzanne Moore's article in The Guardian in response to David Cameron's "Calm down, Dear" remark:

Quotas, women-only shortlists and any form of positive discrimination are often disliked equally by men and women, but they work. The alternative is waiting for the great promised land of meritocracy to start. I'd give it time. We are in fact still operating in the realms of hundreds of years of male-only shortlists and men giving people that remind them of themselves (other men) promotions. Rwanda has a bigger proportion of women in its parliament then we do. At the current rate of success the Fawcett Society estimates it will take Labour 20 years to get to 50% female candidates, the Lib Dems 40 years and the Tories 400.

Good luck Tunisia!