2006年VOA标准英语-Number of African Women Parliament Members

By William Eagle
Washington
28 February

In Africa, the increased participation¹ of women in politics is helping² legislatures look more like their own societies and less like exclusive men's clubs. A study by the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union concluded in many African legislatures, women now make up to a third of the sitting members.

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What's striking about the list is that much of the political change is coming from countries in transition from civil war to democracy.

"In Africa what we see is first of all in countries which have gone through internal conflict or strife³, countries like Mozambique, South Africa, Burundi, and Rwanda," said Anders Johnsson - the Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. "These are countries which are in a transition period, that have paid a lot of attention to women's issues and have made provisions to make sure they have a fair chance to participate in political and public life."

South African Parliament
(file photo)   
  
The Rwandan parliament is 49 percent female. It leads not only Africa in terms of gender⁴ parity⁵ - but also the world. Second and third are Sweden - with nearly 45 percent - and Norway, with nearly 38 percent. Other African parliaments made up of at least 30 percent women are in Mozambique (34 percent), South Africa (32.8 percent), Burundi (30.5 percent), Tanzania (30.4 percent) Namibia (26.9 percent), Uganda (23.9 percent) and Eritrea (22 percent).

In many African democracies, there are quotas⁶ that parliaments and political parties must meet to encourage the selection of women. One regional body that encourages such measures is the Southern African Development Community. In fact, Anders Johnsson of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, says about 20 percent of all southern Africa legislatures are made up of women, a figure surpassed only by Nordic countries.

Margaret Mensah-Williams is the vice⁷ chairperson, or deputy speaker, of the Namibian Senate. She's one of about 29 women serving as presiding officers, or speakers, of parliaments worldwide. Others in Africa are Burundi, Lesotho, South Africa, Liberia and Zimbabwe. She met this week with more than a dozen other parliamentary speakers to discuss how women have changed the operations - and agendas - of the bodies in which they work. On the positive side, she said legislation - like bills governing education and inheritance - now take women's concerns into consideration. On the other hand, women MPs still face what they see as bias⁸.

"We saw a few women speakers who said there were votes of no confidence against them for the mere⁹ fact they were female." she says. "There was one speaker [of parliament] who said they tried it three times, and failed each time because there was no substantive¹⁰ evidence [for complaint]. A speaker from Lesotho said female MPs now feel they can't speak because men heckle…and use interjections like Shut up, you are a woman, Keep quiet - things like that which intimidate¹¹ some women [parliamentarians] - and they keep quiet."

Mensah-Williams says the women speakers are considering taking their complaints to the Inter-Parliamentary Union's Human Rights Committee for investigation¹². It could encourage parliaments to pass by-laws to restrict, for example, the type of language used during debate. She also encourages more mentoring¹³ of women and networking among colleagues to increase support for women.

Africa's women legislators will be telling these and other stories during the next two weeks in New York in meetings before the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women. It will consider the various findings as it works to create policies for ending political discrimination against women and increasing their economic empowerment.

1 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。

4 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

5 parity   

n.平价，等价，比价，对等

参考例句：

• The two currencies have now reached parity.这两种货币现已达到同等价值。
• Women have yet to achieve wage or occupational parity in many fields.女性在很多领域还没能争取到薪金、职位方面的平等。

6 quotas   

（正式限定的）定量( quota的名词复数 )； 定额； 指标； 摊派

参考例句：

• In fulfilling the production quotas, John made rings round all his fellow workers. 约翰完成生产定额大大超过他的同事们。
• Quotas of the means of production are allocated by the higher administrative bodies to the lower ones. 物资指标按隶属关系分配。

7 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

8 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

9 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

10 substantive   

adj.表示实在的；本质的、实质性的；独立的；n.实词，实名词；独立存在的实体

参考例句：

• They plan to meet again in Rome very soon to begin substantive negotiations.他们计划不久在罗马再次会晤以开始实质性的谈判。
• A president needs substantive advice,but he also requires emotional succor. 一个总统需要实质性的建议，但也需要感情上的支持。

11 intimidate   

vt.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• You think you can intimidate people into doing what you want?你以为你可以威胁别人做任何事？
• The first strike capacity is intended mainly to intimidate adversary.第一次攻击的武力主要是用来吓阻敌方的。

12 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

13 mentoring   

n.mentoring是一种工作关系。mentor通常是处在比mentee更高工作职位上的有影响力的人。他/她有比‘mentee’更丰富的工作经验和知识，并用心支持mentee的职业（发展）。v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• One of the most effective instruments for coaching and mentoring is the "role rehearsal" . 辅导和教学的最有效的手段之一是“角色排练。” 来自辞典例句
• Bell Canada called their mentoring system a buddy-buddy system. 加拿大贝尔公司称他们的训导系统是伙伴—伙伴系统。 来自互联网