Seats, Scandal & Punishment

Your monthly dose of women-related news from around the world

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SEAT FEAT

Even as it becomes clear that Indian political parties do not just need women voters but women representation, the fiery Mamata Banerjee has gone ahead and released her party’s – All India Trinamool Congress – candidate list: Of its 41 seats, 17 have been allocated to women. Declaring that it was a ‘proud moment’, Banerjee added, “We believe in women’s empowerment. In 2014, 35% of our MPs were women. I am happy to share that this time 41% of our Lok Sabha candidates are women.”

The Trinamool move comes two days after the BJD in Odisha announced that it would allocate 33% of its Lok Sabha tickets to women. Even though seats in India’s village councils have been reserved for women since the 1990s, Parliament is still dominated by men. With female voter turnout steadily increasing over the years, political parties are realising the need to target women voters actively.

OUTRAGEOUS PUNISHMENT

The sentencing of Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh to 33 years in prison and 148 lashes has sent shockwaves across the world. In September 2016, Sotoudeh had been sentenced in her absence to five years’ imprisonment in a separate case. The new sentence after two evidently unfair trials, brings her total sentence to 38 years imprisonment. Amnesty International has decried the “utterly outrageous” punishment by Iran’s authorities for Sotoudeh’s work, including her defence of women protesting against the country’s forced