Advocacy & Lobbying
High-level meeting to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
Description
⁃ 10:00 to 10:45: Opening segment
Keynote statements
⁃ 10:45 to 13:00: Plenary segment
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What you need to know:
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To effectively address TFGBV, support systems must be integrated into existing reporting mechanisms, providing clear communication channels for women to report incidents.
Uganda is making significant strides in its democratic processes, but the intersection of technology and politics poses both opportunities and challenges, especially for women. Technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) has emerged as a major barrier for women in politics, where harassment, intimidation, and violence are prevalent.
As we commemorate the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence under the theme “Towards Beijing +30: UNiTE to End Violence Against Women and Girls,” it is crucial to address TFGBV through a multifaceted approach, including communication channels, education, awareness, and strong support systems. TFGBV is a pervasive issue that affects women at all levels of political engagement, from grassroots activism to national leadership.
The Amplified Abuse report by Pollicy highlights the alarming prevalence of online violence during periods of political activity in Uganda. This violence, particularly directed at women in public life, exemplifies Violence Against Women in Politics (VAW-P). The research, conducted during the January 2021 general elections, examined social media accounts to assess how online harassment affects women’s political engagement
Read here the full article published by Monitor on 25 November 2024.
Image by Monitor
Every 10 minutes, partners and family members killed a woman or a girl intentionally in 2023
The crisis of gender-based violence is urgent. There is #NoExcuse for violence against women and girls.
The 16 Days of Activism is an opportunity to revitalize commitments, call for accountability and action from decision-makers, as the world approaches the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 2025 – a visionary blueprint for achieving gender equality and women’s and girls’ rights everywhere. Read the concept note.
There is #NoExcuse to violence against women
Nearly one in three women experience violence in their lifetime. Girls are at particular risk of violence—1 in 4 adolescent girls is abused by their partners.
For thousands of women, the cycle of gender-based violence ended with one final and brutal act—their murder by partners and family members.
Femicide (or feminicide) is the intentional killing of a women or girl because of her gender. It is a universal problem, and the most brutal, visible, and extreme manifestation of the cycle of gender-based violence that women and girls endure.
Violence against women and girls can and must be prevented.
Read here the full article published by UN Women on 25 November 2024.
“Regrettably, not much progress has been made in eliminating violence against women since the adoption of the latest Congress texts on this matter, notably on combating domestic violence in 2009 and on fighting sexist violence against women in politics in 2020”, underlined Congress Spokesperson on Gender Equality, Nazia Rehman (UK, SOC/G/PD) in her statement to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women 2024.
She called on authorities at all levels to keep this matter high up on their political agendas at a time when, world-wide, one woman was killed every 10 minutes. The 2024 motto of the International Day, held every year on 25 November, “#NoExcuse. UNiTE to End Violence against Women” should therefore be taken to heart by everyone, including public decision-makers. Local and regional authorities play a crucial role in this area, not only to ensure that women are protected from hostile attitudes and behaviours towards them when engaging in politics, but also by developing awareness-raising campaigns and providing reliable support services to all women victims of violence.
Read here the full article published by the Council of Europe on 22 November 2024.
Image by Council of Europe
From Iraq to Afghanistan to the US, basic freedoms for women are being eroded as governments start rolling back existing laws.
Just a few months ago a ban on Afghan women speaking in public was the latest measure introduced by the Taliban, who took back control of the country in 2021. From August the ban included singing, reading aloud, reciting poetry and even laughing outside their homes.
The Taliban’s ministry for the propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice, which implements one of the most radical interpretations of Islamic law, enforces these rules. They are part of a broader set of “vice and virtue” laws that severely restrict women’s rights and freedoms. Women are even banned from reading the Quran out loud to other women in public.
In the past three years in Afghanistan, the Taliban has taken away many basic rights from women who live there, so that there’s very little that they are allowed to do.
From 2021, the Taliban started introducing restrictions on girls receiving education, starting with a ban on coeducation and then a ban on girls attending secondary schools. This was followed by closing blind girls’ schools in 2023, and making it mandatory for girls in grades four to six (ages nine to 12) to cover their faces on the way to school.
Read here the full article published by The Conversation on 20 November 2024.
Image by The Conversation
Kosovo women MPs, on November 19, 2024, signed an official declaration pledging to actively combat gender based violence against women in public and political life.
Cornelia Taylor, Acting Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, which supported the declaration, called it “a commitment to solidarity and a call to safeguard women’s dignity and rights.”
“As a woman, I deeply understand the importance of this cause. I am inspired by the courage and determination of those making this initiative possible. The support and experiences shared from across the region highlight the strength of women uniting and learning from one another,” Taylor said.
“When people witness women leaders facing harassment or threats simply because they are women, it reinforces negative attitudes and also discourages participation of women. When harmful behaviour is normalised in public life it affects how society as a whole treats women,” Taylor added.
She stressed that this declaration marks only the beginning and called for broader actions from other actors, including politicians and media.
Read here the full article published by Prishtina Insights on 20 November 2024.
Image by Prishtina Insights
Men in politics as agents of gender equitable change examines why men in politics decide to support gender equality, how they explain and frame their allyship, and how their actions are perceived by women politicians, activists and students. Drawing on evidence from three countries: Colombia, Liberia and Malaysia, this research contributes in-depth, qualitative and cross-country analysis of how gender norms are influencing decisions of men politicians to support gender equality in the Global South.
As key stakeholders in changing norms around political masculinities and representation in politics, the project responded to feminist calls for a better understanding of how more men can be motivated to take an active role in addressing gender inequalities. Despite their diverse histories, social, political and economic contexts, all three countries had senior government officials expressing support for feminist foreign policy and a greater public discourse on gender equality or feminist politics among men politicians.
Based on key informant interviews and focus group discussions with politicians, activists and university students, the study explores how personal motivations, political institutions, social norms, and global gender equality regimes help to shape men’s engagement – or lack of it – with gender equality, while being mindful of the risk of the appropriation of feminist principles to maintain patriarchal inequalities and intersecting systems of oppression.
This cross-country analysis, together with the three country reports, tease out the implications for politicians, international donors, civil society and researchers on how best to engage with men in positions of power to promote the sustainable transformation of unequal gender norms.
Read here the full report published by the ALIGN Gender Norms Platform on 28 May 2024.
Despite overall progress in terms of more women participating in political decision-making worldwide, gender equality in political participation remains elusive. Deeply entrenched discrimination continues to hinder women’s full participation in political and electoral processes. In its efforts to advance women’s rights and gender equality, UN Women recognizes women’s political participation as a key area of focus.
UN Women’s initiatives to advance women’s political participation include:
¨promoting supportive legislative and institutional reforms;
¨building the capacity of women political aspirants and leaders;
¨monitoring, preventing and mitigating violence against women in politics; and
¨encouraging social norms change to recognize women’s political leadership.
UN Women is also actively engaged in promoting women’s political participation through coordination and advocacy efforts across the UN system.
In 2023, UN Women’s Independent Evaluation Service conducted an evaluation of UN Women’s support to women’s political participation. The primary focus of the evaluation was the impact of UN Women’s efforts to support women’s political participation at the national (and subnational) level. The evaluation also identified lessons learned; examined the contribution of regional and global-level support/guidance; and tracked both positive and negative unintended consequences, including cases of backlash against women’s political participation.
The evaluation included a retrospective view of results achieved during the UN Women Strategic Plan 2018–2021 period, as well as a forward-looking view to support implementation of the UN Women Strategic Plan 2022–2025. The geographic scope covered UN Women’s programming across all six regions through a representative sample of 12 country offices.
Read here the full report published by UN Women on 18 May 2024.
KARACHI: The Uks Research Centre (URC) has urged the media outlets in the country to recognise the transformative potential of women in politics and foster a more inclusive media environment for democratic, inclusive, and representative discourse.
The Pakistani media has been urged to increase the coverage of women's issue to address gender imbalance prevailing in the country -- a phenomenon witnessed during the news coverage of pre-and post-election period.
The URC organised a dialogue, titled 'Gender Representation in Media During Pakistan's 2024 Elections'. The event, hosted by URC Executive Director Tasneem Ahmar, was attended by politicians, representatives of journalists, and researchers.
In her brief remarks, Ahmar said that her organisation monitored gender representation in the Pakistani media, and conducted research on emerging trends and created awareness about inclusion and negative stereotyping through training and advocacy.
On the occasion, Shahrezad Samiuddin presented a data-based analysis of the media coverage of the pre- and post-election scenarios. She highlighted that during the election coverage, more than 90% of journalists, who reported to both print and electronic media, were males.
A better representation of was seen on TV screens where 33% announcers were women. Similarly, Samiuddin pointed out that the coverage of women-specific news did not exceed 10-13% in both forms of media. The share of women-related news increased in the current affairs shows to 38%.
Read here the full article published by The Express Tribune on 18 May 2024.
Image by The Express Tribune
Africa Renewal: What best practices you would you like to share with other countries regarding your government’s work to empower women?
Dr. Mahoi: Everybody knows what we have been through in Sierra Leone—war, Ebola, landslides, flooding, and more. In all these, women suffered the most but we have picked ourselves up. Our focus now is ensuring that women's empowerment is at the centre of development.
We have ratified numerous international agreements such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, also known as the Maputo Protocol, and the Beijing Declaration, and so on. So, we are on course in domesticating these treaties and implementing our mandates and obligations as a country.
On the domestic front, we have enacted many gender-related laws such as the Devolution of Estates Act, 2007; the Domestic Violence Act of 2007; and the Customary Marriage and Divorce Act of 2009. For me, these are outdated laws, even though they were steps in the right direction at the time.
In the last few years, we reviewed some of those laws and are trying to address existing gaps. For example, in 2019, we reviewed the Sexual Offenses Act of 2012, to impose stiffer punishments on perpetrators of sexual violence. President Julius Maada Bio demonstrated his passion for the well-being of women by declaring in 2019 a State of Emergency over rape and sexual violence.
We established a Sexual Offences Model Court to try cases of sexual violence against minors and impose stiff punishment. Those cases are now fast-tracked. We enacted the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act(GEWE), in 2022, to reaffirm our commitment to the empowerment of women and girls. We also have the Customary Land Rights Act, which guarantees women the right to own, hold, use, and inherit land.
All these efforts are translating into tangible results.
Click here to read the full article published by the United Nations Africa Renewal News on 30 April 2024.
Image by UN News
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In the ongoing war in Sudan, there is an insufficiently narrated tragedy—the plight of women who are paying a hefty price for this war and are simultaneously being kept from the table in the discussion of how this war can end. International Women's Month coincides with a difficult period in Sudan, where women are facing various forms of violence and violations, including rape, sexual assault, kidnapping and the loss of providers. This is all occurring in a context marked by extreme poverty and lack of medical facilities, especially those related to sexual and reproductive health.
The war that erupted on April 15, 2023 between the Sudanese army and Rapid Support Forces has led to a humanitarian crisis that UN reports have ranked among the largest globally—stating that nearly 8 million people have been displaced due to the war, 88 percent of whom are women and children. There are more than 4 million women and girls at risk of sexual assaults, and alarming reports have appeared of women being sold in markets in Sudan.
The painful irony is that Sudanese women were at the forefront of the Sudanese revolution that overthrew Omar al-Bashir's government on April 11, 2019. Despite their contributions and sacrifices, they found themselves marginalized and excluded from decision-making positions in the subsequent transitional government. The promises of allocating 40 percent of the Sudanese parliament’s seats for women remained unfulfilled. When the actual figures emerged, they reflected a failure to meet Sudanese women's aspirations and acknowledge their vital role in society and the political process.
Read here the full article published by the Washington Institute on 25 March 2024.
Image source: Washington Institute
With Victorian council elections to be held in October, the state government’s target of reaching 50-50 gender representation at the local level is under threat.
While the state achieved a record 43.8% of women elected to councils in 2020, outperforming most federal and state parliaments, and succeeded in achieving gender parity in 47 out of 76 councils, the overall 50-50 gender representation target by 2025 will still be difficult to reach.
Globally, gender quotas have been a tried and tested way of lifting women’s political representation. But research also shows quotas can divide public opinion, and they work better in some contexts than others. With this in mind, we wanted to test alternative measures to support women in politics, which also attract public support.
Click here to read the full article published by The Conversation on 8 February 2024.
Image source: The Conversation