Advocacy & Lobbying
Stakeholders have advocated the implementation of gender-inclusive policy-making to address the challenges facing women in the country.
This was as Women Trust Fund (WTF) observed that the widening gender gap in political opportunities would worsen issues for women.
In a communiqué issued after a high-level stakeholders’ event tagged #WhatNaijaWomenWant campaign, hosted by Gatefield, supported by Heinrich Boll Stiftung Foundation, the stakeholders, comprising representatives of the executive and legislative arms of government, the federal civil service, as well as civil society and the private sector allies, called for increased women representation in policymaking and other spheres of national life.
Click here to read the full article published by The Guardian Nigeria on 14 December 2023.
Image by The Guardian Nigeria
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In a significant development, representatives from major political parties have unequivocally expressed their commitment to advancing women’s political participation.
The women leaders, parliamentarians and civil society leaders on the occasion present a joint Charter of Demand for meaningful political participation with political parties; structure and all decision-making process. This collective dedication was prominently affirmed at the National Policy Forum on “Women’s Inclusion in Democratic Governance,” a noteworthy event hosted by South Asia Partnership Pakistan (SAP-PK).
The forum aimed to bring together women leaders, policymakers, and international partners to deliberate on strategies for enhancing the role of women in political processes.
Click here to read the full article published by The Pakistan Observer on 12 December 2023.
Image by The Pakistan Observer
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Globally, approximately 736 million women — almost one in three — endure violence at least once in their life. The most prevalent form of violence against women globally is intimate partner violence (affecting around 641 million). However, this problem goes beyond interpersonal relationships and reaches into diverse environments, including online platforms. Online violence against women and girls has escalated rapidly in recent years, posing major threats to safety and well-being.
Online violence against women and girls
The digital transformation brings about substantial opportunities, but it also constitutes a space where harm can be perpetrated.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) raises concerns about protecting and promoting human rights. Societal biases linked to gender roles and identities are ingrained in social programmes and services through automated decision-making. Algorithms and devices have the potential to spread and reinforce harmful gender stereotypes. These gender biases pose a risk of further stigmatising and marginalising women on a global scale.
Click here to read the full article published by the United Nations Regional Information Center for Western Europe on 29 November 2023.
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Since 2005 UBCM has participated in international projects that support local government development through missions in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Cambodia. With direction from UBCM Executive, UBCM is currently partnered with the Cambodian National League of Councils on a project to support women in local leadership. The program aims to support more women to get involved in local governance, as well as local governments' capacity to deliver inclusive, gender-responsive services.
The National League of Councils (NLC) is leading an advocacy campaign to encourage political parties to put more women on the ballot. Local politicians are currently elected based on a proportional representation model. Female candidates are generally not at the top of the candidate list, which means less women make it into political office. The NLC campaign is working to encourage parties to put more women in the top positions on the candidate list.
Click here to read the full article published by the Union of BC Municipalities on 29 November 2023.
Image by Union of BC Municipalities
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There is increase in politically motivated violence against women in Zimbabwe, manifesting as rape and sexual assault, direct violence and hate speech, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (The Forum) has said.
This observation is made in light of the 16 days of activism that runs from November 25 until December 10, under the theme: “Unite! Invest to prevent violence against women and girls’, which the Forum said provides an opportunity to reflect on the milestone achieved in combating violence and identifying gaps in pursuit of a violence free environment for females.
“Violence against women women and girls accordingly remains one of the most prevalent and pervasive human rights violations,” said the Forum and gave examples of how women particularly those involved in politics and human rights have been ‘targeted.’
Click here to read the full article published by The Zimbabwean on 30 November 2023.
The United Nations Women (UN Women) has called for an increase in women’s political participation in Nigeria.
Beatrice Eyong, UN Women representative to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), spoke on Tuesday at the national conference on women’s political participation in Nigeria.
The conference was organised in collaboration with the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) to assess women’s participation in the 2023 general election.
The Women’s Political Participation Working Technical Group and Women in Politics Forum were also partnered to organise the event.
Click here to read the full article published by The Cable on 30 November 2023.
Image by The Cable
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The rise of social media in the past decade has changed the political landscape - not only the way friends connect with one another, but also how people and public officials communicate. Elected officials and governments across the globe are able to engage directly with the people they represent on a scale previously inconceivable. This report, a joint effort between the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, Facebook, and the Women in Parliaments Global Forum, is designed to show how women legislators from around the world use social media to engage with citizens as well as how social media can play an even more effective role in facilitating a dialogue between governments and their citizens.
This report is based on the results of a survey that examined the use of social media by female Parliamentarians from 107 countries. The survey sought to discover factors affecting their level of social media use and to identify areas where greater knowledge could strengthen that use.
Click here to access the report.
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UN Women launched www.cidade5050.org.br where candidates will be able to make public commitments to gender equality. The project was developed in a partnership between UN Women Brazil, the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE), the Patrícia Galvão Institute and the Research Group on Democracy and Inequality at the University of Brasilia (Demodê/UNB). It has institutional support of Congress in Focus, and #MeRepresenta and In Press Group.
The digital platform "City 50-50: All for Equality", available at www.cidade5050.org.br aims to encourage debate on equal rights between women and men in local elections this year. The platform is a place where candidates can make commitments to gender equality and voters can get information to help them define their vote. It arises from the understanding that a society can only be called democratic when there is equal participation between women and men.
Candidates of the 5,568 Brazilian municipalities, which already have registered their candidatures with the TSE can register and make public commitments to promote women's rights during the election campaign. Voters, in turn, will be able to identify their candidates’ proposals for this topic, and afterwards make the elected accountable.
The Minister of the Superior Electoral Court, Luciana Lossio, highlighted some measures already taken to ensure women's political empowerment: "We had a major trial at the Superior Electoral Court that buoyed the condemnation to all political parties that do not comply with the 10 per cent allocation of radio and TV space to encourage women´s participation. Now we are joining in a partnership with UN Women, to seek a solution to this problem of the Brazilian Electoral Politics."
Among the more than 144 million Brazilian voters who will vote in October, 52% are women. However, only 31% of the candidates running for office (Mayors, Vice Mayor and City Council) are women - the percentage is within the law, which requires a minimum of 30% women candidates.
For this elections, 52 municipalities have only women as candidates for city council, according to a survey conducted in mid-August this year by the TSE. Only men compete for Mayor in 3,815 of the 5,568 municipalities, equivalent to 68% of the total. Currently, women occupy 10% of the municipalities and represent 12% of councilors in municipalities.
To read the full story, visit the UN Women regional website for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The report’s chapters were built in response to the Concluding Observation No. 60 by the CEDAW Committee, where the Committee request from the Iraqi government’s side to submit, within two years, a written report on steps and measures taken to respond to the recommendations included in the Concluding Observations (12 and 18). The Concluding Observations, of the CEDAW Committee, were issued after its 57th session on February 2014, in which the last government’s report, submitted to the Committee at the end of 2013, was discussed, concerning Iraq's obligations to implement the CEDAW Convention, also in that session Iraqi CSOs presented the first CEDAW shadow report for Iraq since signing the convention back in 1986.
This report includes a review of the situation of Iraqi women after an increase in the phenomenon of migration and displacement, in addition to the procedures and measures and legislation adopted to implement recommendations 12 and 18, and the civil society’s observations on the government’s report plus a number of activities run by the Iraqi Women Network and some of its members during this period of time.
Click here to read the Summary of the humanitarian situation and the situation of women in Iraq and the role of CSOs.
In this report, the Working Group examines discrimination against women and girls in cultural and family life. The cultural construction of gender determines the role of women and girls within the family, including in marriage. After analysing the impact of culture and religion on the enjoyment of equal rights by women and girls in society and the family, the Working Group redefines family by incorporating a gender perspective. In reaffirming equality between the sexes and family diversity, it is necessary to apply the principle of women’s right to equality in all forms of family law, in secular family law systems, State-enforced religious family law systems and plural systems. After recalling the obligation of States to combat discrimination against women in cultural and family life, the Working Group makes several recommendations, drawing on good practices, for the establishment of true equality between the sexes in cultural and family life.
This year, for the first time ever, two of the largest neuroscience societies are led by a female scientist: the Society for Neuroscience (SfN), with nearly 42,000 members, and the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS), which represents more than 22,000 neuroscientists in 42 member societies across Europe. While the SfN has a history of female presidents, 9 out of 45, FENS welcomed its first female president only recently. Why do women move so slowly through the ranks of the system and why is it important that they do so? More urgently, what can be done to change this and by whom? Here we address current challenges and recommend concrete actions.
· Young people are not at the center of political decision making even though almost half the world’s population is under 30 years old. [UNDP, 2013, http://bit.ly/1dd2a2L]
· Globally, less than 6% of the parliamentarians are under 35 years old [UNDP, Fast Facts: Civic Engagement and Participation of Youth in Politics and Public Institutions, 2014, p.1, http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/results/fast_facts/Fast-Facts-youth-civic-engagement-and-participation/]
· Globally, less than 2 per cent of parliamentarians are under 30 years old. [SDG indicator 16.7.1; Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2016: Youth participation in national parliaments, 2016, http://goo.gl/A83XGf]
· The average age in parliament in 53 years old. [UNDP, 2013, http://bit.ly/1dd2a2L]
· Only 1.65% of parliamentarians around the world are in their 20’s and for a third of countries, eligibility for national parliament starts at 25 years old. [UNDP, 2013, http://bit.ly/1dd2a2L]
· Voter turnout among 18-25 year olds continues to be lower than other age groups [UNDP, Fast Facts: Civic Engagement and Participation of Youth in Politics and Public Institutions, 2014, p.1, http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/results/fast_facts/Fast-Facts-youth-civic-engagement-and-participation/]
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· 2 out of 3 countries DO NOT consult young people as a part of the process of preparing poverty reduction strategies or national development plans. [The Global Youth Call “Prioritizing Youth in the Post-2015 Development Agenda,” http://www.un.org/youthenvoy/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/The_Global_Youth_Call.pdf]
Source:
http://www.un.org/youthenvoy/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/YouthStatsPublicandCivicParticipation1.pdf