BRUSSELS, Belgium: Jamaica's PM joins call for more women political leaders

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Jamaica's Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has joined the call by global leaders for more women to become political leaders.

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller (right)
 proudly holds the award given to Jamaica
for bridging the gender gap in terms of women
 in public administration, awarded
 by the European Union.

 

Simpson Miller, who was addressing Wednesday's opening of the Women In Parliament Global Forum, held here at the European Parliament, noted that as of January 2013 the average share of women in Parliaments globally stood at only 20.4 per cent. This, she said, was a far cry from the 40 per cent advocated by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for women's roles and rights to be considered as decision makers in the formal economy and development.

Simpson Miller argued that if women are not at the decision-making table, their long-term impact is negligible, so the first task therefore, is to get more women to the table. Read more: