Translating Women’s Participation in Politics into Critical Actions and Influence

As a South-South forum, the Inter-Regional Seminar on Women’s Political Empowerment, with the theme Translating Women’s Participation in Politics into 

Critical Actions and Influence, brought together representatives of 36 parliaments from across the globe to discuss the current state of women’s political 

participation and representation in parliaments in their respective countries and the important policy objectives that women are pursuing within their legislatures. The 

following countries were represented at the Seminar: Bolivia, Cameroon, Chad, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Jordan, 

Kenya, Kosovo, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, Peru, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Spain, Tanzania, Trinidad and 

Tobago, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

A large majority of members of parliament attending the seminar are currently serving as chairs or deputy chairs of women’s inter-party parliamentary caucuses and 

committees set up to address issues pertaining to women’s rights and gender equality within legislative bodies.

The objective of this Inter-Regional Seminar was to identify and promote optimal approaches that translate women’s presence in leadership and decision making into critical action and influence. In particular, the 

discussions aimed to:

• Share knowledge and experiences on multi-faceted 

approaches that increase women’s access to and 

retention in leadership and decision making and 

include measures that target awareness raising of 

gender equality among men and boys;

•Identify strategies and approaches to optimise 

women’s participation in leadership and decision 

making;

•Share and take stock of ‘good practices’ on the 

impact and difference women make in political 

leadership and decision making;

•Distil knowledge on transformative leadership 

styles and skills for women in politics.