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Nelson EducationHigher EducationIntroduction to Government and Politics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Gender, Sexuality & PoliticsGender has been a political issue for many years, as women have been either totally excluded from, or marginalized by, the male power structures of every major political system. The right to vote was only won by women in the twentieth century, even in "advanced" democracies. In recent decades, however, significant changes have occurred while still leaving much ground to cover.On this page you will find resources dealing with gender in politics. This material deals principally with women, but it also raises related sexuality issues for gays, lesbians, and the transgendered. For more material dealing specifically with gender issues in Canada, you should connect to the Women in Politics page of Nelson's Canadian Politics on the Web. WOMEN & POLITICSThe Inter-Parliamentary Union has
an interesting
Women in Politics site with a range of useful information. Look up the overall
numbers of women
in parliaments around the world. The IPU also provides a table to compare
the number of women in each of 177 legislatures around the world.
Amnesty International has a collection of documents on the condition of women in many countries of the world, including:
Distinguished
Women of Past and Present - search this site by field of activity or name.
Contemporary
Forms of Slavery Preliminary Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of systematic rape sexual slavery and slavery-like
practices - from the United Nations POLITICS OF SEXUAL ORIENTATIONOnly in the last few decades has the mainstream political agenda come to accommodate issues of sexual orientation. While issues of gay rights remain controversial, especially in some religions or cultures, the political systems in most liberal democracies have shown some positive movement in this area. By the same token, there has been some recent action in some jurisdictions to actively block the extension of gay rights. For a review of events and issues relating to homosexuality in the past 400 years, connect to the PBS site Out of the Past.
The CBC provides
a timeline on gay rights in Canada plus links to other news items and resources
on the issue.The Canadian Library
of Parliament has an interesting research paper on Sexual
Orientation and Legal Rights in Canada. However, the most important changes in gay rights came with two provincial court of appeal decisions declaring that it was against the Charter to prevent same-sex couples from marrying. You can read the decisions of the Ontario and British Columbia appeal courts delivered on June 10, 2003 and July 8, 2003 respectively. The BC case had originally given the governments until July 2004 to enact new legislation, but lifted this limitation after the Ontario decision. As a result of these cases, the first legal marriages between same-sex couples were held in Ontario and BC; the first gay divorce was also subsequently initiated. Since these initial rulings, courts in Quebec, the Yukon, and 4 other provinces have also ruled that same-sex couples must be allowed to marry. In response, the federal government announced that it would not appeal the decisions to the Supreme Court of Canada. Instead the government referred draft legislation to the Supreme Court, which delivered its opinion in the Same Sex Marriage Reference. In July 2005, Parliament passed legislation permitting same-sex couples to marry while ensuring that religious officials who object do not have to perform the ceremonies. The Alberta legislature passed a law in early 2000 to amend the Marriage Act, in order to ban same-sex marriages. A notwithstanding clause was also added to the Act to protect it from the applicable sections of both the Canadian Charter of Rights and the Alberta Bill of Rights. A recent Environics poll taken in the summer of 2003 revealed that 53% of Canadian supported allowing gay couples to marry. However, an Ipsos-Reid poll taken around the same time found support and opposition evenly split at 49%. Public views have changed since the Angus Reid poll on sexual orientation issues: May 1998 poll on sexual orientation in human rights legislation.
Gay rights in other countries The Vermont Supreme Court decided in late 1999 that same-sex couples must be extended the same range of benefits as heterosexual married couples. "Whether this ultimately takes the form of inclusion within the marriage laws themselves or a parallel 'domestic partnership' system or some equivalent statutory alternative, rests with the Legislature," the ruling said. You can read the CNN news report or the full text of the Baker v. Vermont decision. This ruling comes in the context of legislation passed by Congress and by 33 state legislatures banning same-sex marriages. In the 2004 US elections, referendums were held in 11 states to ban same-sex marriages. The votes carried in all 11 states. In 2005, Spain became the third European country to legalize same-sex marriages, along with Belgium and the Netherlands. Other countries have extended or created a category of "civil unions" to same-sex couples, instead of formal marriage. For example, the United Kingdom allowed same-sex civil unions starting in late December 2005. The courts continue to define and extend gay rights in a number of countries. The South African Constitutional Court ruled in late 2005 that the government had a 12 month grace period to draft legislation to permit same-sex couples to marry.
Internet resources on sexual
orientation issues include: American
Civil Liberties Union's Gay & Lesbian Rights Resources
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