At a time when there are more female candidates for Parliament than ever before the latest research by the Electoral Commission shows that women’s knowledge of the MMP electoral system is lagging well behind that of the male voters.

The research conducted earlier this month reveals that that while 66 percent of men understand that the Party Vote decides parties’ shares of seats in Parliament, the figure for women is only 44 percent. Similarly, 85 percent of men know there are two votes with MMP compared to 67 percent of women. In some age groups the differences are even greater.

There are similar gaps between knowledge of the function of the party list and the eligibility threshold for a party to get a share of seats in Parliament based on its Party Votes.

The Commission says that the trend of a gender gap has been evident in research conducted each year since 1994.

The Commission’s Chief Executive, Dr Paul Harris, said today that anyone can easily obtain information they need by ringing the electoral agencies’ freephone service 0800 800 610 or by asking for a booklet at any PostShop.
Another good source is the electoral website www.elections.org.nz

He said the Commission had recently mailed information to a number of women in particular age groups to try to redress the gap. It had also taken a number of other initiatives aimed specifically at women.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>