Bahamas
Data on women
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Basic information > About parliament
Speaker
Speaker
Patricia
Deveaux
(Female)
Year of birth
1968
Additional information
Elected on 6 Oct. 2021.
Secretary general
Secretary General
David
Forbes
(Male)
Members
Current number of members, by sex
Men
The number of male parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
32
Women
The number of female parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
Percentage of women
Calculated by dividing the current number of women by the current number of members.
Age
Youngest member (years)
Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
Youngest member
Travis Robinson (Male)
Reserved seats and quotas
Electoral quota for women
Quotas to promote the representation of women in parliament.
Elections > Election results
Candidates
Total number of candidates
Total number of people who registered as candidates for election. Does not include people who stood as candidates to become "substitute members".
225
Results
Members elected, by sex
Number of men elected
32
Number of women elected
7
Percentage of women elected
The percentage is calculated by dividing the number of women elected in the election and the number of seats at stake at the election.
17.95%
Number of women after election or renewal, by mode of designation
Women Directly Elected
7
New legislature
Total number of men after the election
The total number of male parliamentarians in this parliament/chamber following the election or renewal, regardless of their modes of designation.
32
Total number of women after the election
The total number of female parliamentarians in this parliament/chamber following the election or renewal, regardless of their modes of designation.
7
First Speaker of the new legislature
First Speaker of the new legislature
First name of the Speaker of the new legislature following the election or renewal.
Patricia
Deveaux
(Female)
Political party
Progressive Liberal Party (PLP)
Date of election
06.10.2021
Elections > Historical data on women
Women's suffrage
Date of independence
For countries that become independent after 1940
1973
Women’s right to vote
Women’s right to vote
Year in which women obtained the right to vote
1961
National or local
Suffrage: National or Local
National
Restricted or unrestricted suffrage
Suffrage: Restricted or Universal
Universal
Notes
Suffrage: Additional Notes on right of suffrage
Prior to independence, under British administration, adult male suffrage was introduced in 1959, although members of the electorate satisfying certain property qualifications also received a second vote. Women were granted the vote in 1961 and by 1964 all property qualifications had been abolished. The right to vote was confirmed at independence.
Women’s right to stand for election
Women's right to stand for election
Year in which women obtained the right to stand for election
1962
National or local
Stand for Election: National or Local
National
First woman in parliament
First woman in parliament
Year in which first woman entered parliament
1977
First woman speaker
Year of first woman speaker
Date at which, for the first time in the country's parliamentary history, a woman became Presiding Officer of Parliament or of one of its Houses.
1997
Specialized body - Women's caucus
Bahamas Commonwealth of Women Parliamentarians Group (CWP)
Formal or informal
Formal
The caucus is open to male MPs
No
The caucus is cross-party
Yes
Notes
The CWP was founded by women delegates at the 1989 plenary Commonwealth Parliamentarians Association conference
Activities
Issues dealt with by the caucus
CWP is designed to bring female parliamentarians together in the lower and upper chambers together to work towards common goals, including being mentors to other women who would like to enter the political and leadership arena. Some areas of focus include:
Constitutional equality for men and women under the
Increasing women's participation in conferences
Discussing ways to increase female representation in Parliament
Work towards mainstreaming gender considerations in all of the Commonwealth Parliamentarians Association (CPA) activities and programs
Constitutional equality for men and women under the
Increasing women's participation in conferences
Discussing ways to increase female representation in Parliament
Work towards mainstreaming gender considerations in all of the Commonwealth Parliamentarians Association (CPA) activities and programs