Figure 4: Women representation at political posts Women in political posts 450 400 390 Male 350 Female 301 300 259 250 200 154 145 150 74 100 50 0 No. of Political appointees of President 2011 No. of Political appointees of President 2012 No. of Political appointees of President 2014 Source: Department of Planning (2013). Statistical Year Book of Maldives 2013‐ Employment in Political Post for 2011 and 2012. Retrieved on December 10th 2014 fromhttp://planning.gov.mv/yearbook2013/yearbook.html and information obtained from President’s Office (2014) 38. With the decrease in total number of political appointees the percentage of women represented also has decreased. In 2012 the percentage of women represented as political appointees of president was at 32% and in 2014 only 22% of political appointees of the president are women. Figure 5: Representation of females in Independent Commissions Members of Independent Commissions Female 27% Male 73% Source: Information obtained from President’s Office (2014) 39. The total numbers of members in Independent commissions are 70 out of which 19 are women. Hence 27% are women and 73% are men. 40. It was observed in HRCM’s monitoring visit to atolls in 2012 that adequate importance was not given to the election of Women’s Development Committees (WDC) in the Page 13 of 35