Despite the fact that women are often the majority of party workers, their concerns and the ability to elect women is frequently not considered. Therefore the first challenge is to establish that women can be a force within the party and enhance electability of the party members.

How to do this?

Organize don't agonize. The most successful women's wings are able to:

-influence party platform , proposing specific policies of importance to women which might include: women's health, violence against women, child care etc.

- fundraising: no party ever has enough funding. Women's wings have done fundraising through a variety of methods: selling crafts and handiwork, developing a cook book for sale, establishing catering services as examples.

- support women for election and those women who are elected

- propose a quota for women on all party executive positions at the national and local level. One successful example is the New Democratic Party, Canada which has a 50% quota for all party positions. In a number of countries, there are successful examples of lobbying for a quota of women at the parliamentary level. notably Indonesia and India.

- develop networks: while most non governmental organizations do not align themselves with a political party, there may be opportunities to work together on a common goal. For example, the 50/50 group in Sierra Leone has been very effective in raising the importance of women's role in decision making. In addition, after the Beijing conference, many countries developed action plans to enhance women's involvement in many areas, including politics. Learn about your country's committments through the signing of this treaty and/or CEDAW and challenge your party to live up to these committments through their party policy.

-training: many women feel that they are not 'qualified' for politics...this is generally not true at all. Women's wings that do training with their members on the law, various issues and politics in general stimulate both interest and participation from members while enhancing the self confidence of members.

Communication:

In many countries , this is a problem owing to limited access to technology, however increasingly the use of the internet has greatly enhanced to ability of groups to communicate.

In addition many organizations post their experiences on the internet.

If this is not feasible in a particular area, small group meetings still remain the most effective way of organization.

Tools required:

The organization of a women's wing can be done with very little in the way of funding. It does require good organizational skills and the ability to bring people together for a common goal. The most effective way I have seen is to have one immediate and ( hopefully achievable) goal which is shared. A strategic plan to address this both with the support of the party leader and executive is important.

Too often women's wings are seen as a threat to the party hierarchy rather than an asset. It is very important to engage the leadership in the plans for a women's wing.

The most common error that is made is to start with too ambitious an agenda and organizational plan. It is much better to start with a small group, an achievable project and grow from this. This will indicate to the party what women can achieve and provide the base for expansion.

From the Editor
This response was kindly provided by Ms.Audrey McLaughlin. Ms. McLaughlin was the Federal Member of Parliament for the Yukon from 1987-1997. She served as the Leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada from 1989-1995 and was the first woman elected to lead a federal party in Canada.

Dear Ms. Wangchuk,

Thank you for submitting an interesting question about women’s wings/sections of political parties.

Establishing women’s wings/sections within political parties is not a new trend and can be traced back to the early 20th century. For example, the Social Democratic Workers' Party in Norway founded its first women’s branch in 1912 and the Social Democratic Party in Sweden in 1920.It is interesting to note that the trend where leftist and reform parties were more likely to promote and select women candidates has shifted in many countries around the world. Nowadays, right-wing and more conservative parties realize the importance of involving women candidates to win seats and promote their platforms. A good example is India’s conservative BJP party that “supports 33 per cent reservations for women in parliament, legislation curbing the dowry, raising the age of marriage and improving widows’ conditions.” [from Women, Political Parties and Social Movements in South Asia. Amrita Basu.]

Below is a step by step guide provided by our expert Mr. James Gomez, Programme Officer for Political Parties, International IDEA, and iKNOW Politics Staff on establishing and maintaining women’s section/wing within a political party:

- Introduce the idea to the party leadership

Mr. Gomez recommends introducing the idea “through a formal or an informal meeting with party leaders, at a bigger party meeting or through formal contacts with influential persons within the party. Preferably, a concept paper is circulated before a formal meeting where it is included in the agenda to ensure proper attention and increase the likelihood for approval.”

- Create a clear legal framework and structure of the women’s section/wing within the political party

Mr. Gomez recommends outlining the structural matters in the party’s internal regulations or in its by-law. He also suggests considering the following questions while creating a women’s section:

• How to elect the board of the section/wing?
• How to structure the new section/wing in the central and local levels?
• Will the membership of women members of the party in the new section/wing be compulsory, automatic or optional?
• How to ensure that the head of the women’s section participates in the party’s decision making process?

The last question is particularly important as simply establishing a women’s wing may not be sufficient for promoting women’s issues in the party’s platform and

increasing the party’s women candidates. As noted by Farida Shaheed in her work Politics and Power: A Gendered Perspective from South Asia “women’s wings of political parties are rarely integrated into the central power structure of the party. Functioning mostly as mechanisms for mobilising support for specific parties, these wings may actually further marginalise women by limiting their presence and activism to this auxiliary role, bereft of any real political power.” Therefore, it is important to ensure that a newly established women’s wing/section has equal opportunities with other party wings and members to participate in the political processes and platform development of its party.

- Think on funding options available to support the activities of the wing

• Through membership fees
• Through member contributions
• Through central party’s budget allocations
• Through separate fundraising strategy

- Develop member recruitment and outreach strategy for the women’s wing/section

Mr. James Gomez also provided a case study about the women’s branch of the Social Democratic Party in Sweden.

“The women's branch of the Social Democratic Party of Sweden was founded in 1920. The branch includes 300 local women's clubs throughout the country. They are working with political issues on the local level, influence and form opinions through organizing debates and seminars and take part in the international cooperation within the Social Democratic movement. One important task for the clubs is to conduct training for women in organizational and political questions. Several women's clubs form a women's district. In total there are 26 women's districts of the Social Democratic Party in Sweden. Districts support the women's clubs in training and policy formulation. The district board consists of active members of the women's clubs and board members are elected at an annual district meeting. Above the district level is the nation level. Meetings at national level are taking place every second year. 100 representatives from the district levels meet and take decisions on the forth coming political agenda and assess the work conducted over the last couple of years. Furthermore, a new board is chosen at these meetings. The national women's branch lobbies at the national level for issues that have been agreed upon during the meetings.”

We also recommend the following resources for reference:
1. Building Democracy in Yemen: Women's Political Participation, Political Party Life and Democratic Elections

2. Nominating for Change: Strengthening Women's Position in Political Parties

3. Building Democracy in Egypt: Women's Political Participation, Political Party Life and Democratic Elections

4. Building a Healthy Party

5. Promoting Women's Political Participation: Women Representatives Training (WRT) Program Trainer's Manual

6. Internal Communication: A Critical Function for Political Parties

7. OpenDocument Women, Political Parties and Social Movements in South Asia

8. Quota Project : Section on Party Quotas by Country

9. Women, Political Parties and Electoral Systems in Latin America

10. Developments in Party Communications

To read the full response submitted by Mr. James Gomez, please click here.

We hope this information is useful to you.

Sincerely,

iKNOW Politics Staff