Online Discussion "Women in power and decision making"

UNIFEM would like to invite you to an online discussion Women in Power and Decision-Making, one of the Critical Areas of Concern as identified in the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995. Promoting women's role and participation in decision making and politics is a key priority for UNIFEM, and we are pleased to facilitate this important discussion. The purpose is to draw on the collective experiences since Beijing and to identify what has worked well and what hasn’t in increasing the number and effectiveness of women in power and positions of decision making around the world.


This thematic discussion on Women in Power and Decision Making is part of a series of United Nations online discussions dedicated to the fifteen-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly (2000); and is hosted by WomenWatch (http://www.un.org/womenwatch), an inter-agency project of the United Nations Inter-agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE). WomenWatch is a unique electronic gateway to web-based information on all United Nations entities’ work and the outcomes of the United Nations’ intergovernmental processes for the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment. These discussions will be a contribution to the 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, which will take place March 1-12, 2010.


The 1995 Beijing Platform for Action notes, “Despite the widespread movement towards democratization in most countries, women are largely under represented at most levels of government, especially in ministerial and other executive bodies, and have made little progress in attaining political power in legislative bodies or in achieving the target endorsed by the Economic and Social Council of having 30% women in positions at the decision-making levels by 1995".

Section G of the Beijing Platform for Action presents 2 strategic objectives for Women in Power and Decision Making:

· Women's Take measures to ensure women's equal access to and full participation in power structures and decision-making.

· Increase women's capacity to participate in decision-making and leadership.



Key achievements and challenges were identified in the five and ten-year reviews of the Beijing Platform for Action. Since then, there has been much progress, but there are still many serious challenges. The current discussion on Women in Power and Decision Making provides an opportunity to share views on achievements, gaps, and challenges, and to propose future action.
The discussion will run for four weeks and address the following issues:

· January 20-27: Achievements

· January 28-04 February: Gaps and Challenges

· February 5-12: Future Actions

· February 13-18: Summary of the Discussions


The online discussion on Women in Power and Decision Making will be moderated by Piyoo Kochar (piyoo.kochar@unifem.org), Network Facilitator, International Knowledge Network of Women in Politics – iKNOW Politics (http://iknowpolitics.org) on behalf of UNIFEM. iKNOW Politics is a partnership project of UNIFEM with International IDEA, InterParliamentary Union, NDI and UNDP.

You will need to sign up in order to participate, at UNIFEM’s Online Forums page on Power and Decision Making (http://www.unifem.org/forums/governance/)