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Recently, elected women from France, Canada, Scotland and Israel, to name a few examples, publicly condemned misogynist and violent political cultures. Not only did they expose acts of harassment and violence in politics, they made the case that violence should not be the price of participating in politics. Violence against women in politics (VAWP) limits women’s political opportunities and discourages or prevents them from exercising their political rights, including their rights as voters, candidates, party supporters or public officials. |
VAWP can occur during electoral campaigns, but not only: as women assume various political positions, they may, for example, be pressured to resign from their posts on the basis of gender, or verbally threatened or intimidated because they are women in politics; and VAWP may take many other forms, including in sexist stereotypes and images portrayed in the media, which, particularly in the digital age, focus on women’s bodies, sexuality and traditional social roles, rather than their competence, capacity and contributions as leaders. |
Please click here to read the full concept note of this e-Discussion. Click here to access the consolidated reply. This e-Discussion seeks to bring the experiences of the iKNOW Politics community into this growing dialogue on VAWP. Please join us in the e-Discussion from 22 August to 16 October 2016. Questions
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Worldwide, several challenges to the full realization of women's rights persist, and women continue face discrimination in access to education, work, social protection, inheritance, economic assets, productive resources and participation in decision-making and society at large. Gender discrimination is defined as "...any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment |
or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field." (The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly). Please click here to read the full concept note of this e-Discussion. Please click here to access the consolidated reply of this e-Discussion.
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The e-Discussion will take place from 16 May to 12 June 2016. QUESTIONS Addressing gaps: enactment vs. enforcement
Measures, mechanisms and institutions
Collective action
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Parliaments are key stakeholders in the promotion and achievement of gender equality. Parliamentary oversight processes provide and opportunity to ensure that governments maintain commitments to gender equality. While women parliamentarians have often assumed responsibility for this oversight, many parliaments are taking a more holistic approach by establishing dedicated mechanisms and systematic processes across all policy areas to mainstream the advancement of gender equality. The oversight role of parliamentarians is linked to the very notion of external accountability, the democratic control of the government by the parliament, among other bodies. Since gender equality improves the quality of democracy, the parliamentary oversight of gender equality is a key aspect of modern parliaments and a fundamental contribution for the achievement of sustained democratic practices. Against this backdrop and to contribute to the forthcoming second Global Parliamentary Report on Parliament's power to hold government to account: Realities and perspectives on oversight - a joint publication of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) - iKNOW Politics is moderating an e-Discussion on 'Parliamentary Oversight of Gender Equality'. The e-Discussion runs from 25 January - 28 February 2016 and seeks to highlight the willingness and capacity of parliaments to keep governments accountable |
on the goal of gender equality and ensure parliamentary oversight is gender-sensitive, as well as the opportunities available to both women and men parliamentarians to engage in oversight. One of the main objectives of this e-Discussion, thus, is to find best practices that will help to strengthen external accountability and the consolidation of sustained democratic practices. The conclusions of this e-Discussion will be incorporated into the global report. More information on the report is available at www.ipu.org/gpr2. iKNOW Politics members (politicians, experts, academics, CSOs, and think tanks) are encouraged to respond with concrete examples, experiences and recommendations to the questions outlined below. Please follow the following steps to send your comment(s): Please fell free to respond to as many, or few, questions as you like. There is no requirement to provide responses to all the questions. Please participate by emailing iknowpolitics@unwomen.org or by posting your comments online in the iKNOW Politics forum below. Please click here to read the full concept note of this e-Discussion. Access the Consolidated Reply here and the full report following this link. |
QUESTIONS 1. PARLIAMENT MECHANISMS FOR OVERSIGHT -Has parliament created mechanisms to oversee the government’s gender equality commitments? How effective have they been? What are the reasons for their successes and shortcomings, and what could be improved? -To what extent does parliament scrutinize the budget from a gender perspective? Are parliamentarians able to hold government to account for the extent to which expenditure has produced results for women and men? -To what extent does parliament engage with the national reporting process on Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women? Does parliament monitor the executive’s response to recommendations by the CEDAW Committee? -Is it possible to identify specific outcomes of parliamentary oversight of gender equality? Where a particular result has been achieved, what produced these outcomes? 2. MONITORING OF GENDER EQUALITY -To what extent does parliament monitor the impact of gender equality / non-discrimination legislation after it has been adopted? Do you have concrete examples how this has been done? What is the role of parliament when legislation is not put into practice, or does not have the intended effects? 3. mEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT EXPERIENCIES IN OVERSIGHT ACTIVITIES -What can be done to build political will for women and men parliamentarians to engage equally in oversight of gender equality issues? -Where caucuses of women parliamentarians exist, have they provided effective in building cross-party support for work on gender equality? To what extent have they been able to engage with government and hold it to account? -How extensively does parliament engage women’s groups outside parliament to support monitoring progress and setbacks with regard to gender equality? What the opportunities to strengthen these partnerships? -To what extent are parliamentarians supported in undertaking gender-sensitive oversight training, staff, and budgets?
Please note that there are different options to send your contributions: 1. Login with your iKNOW Politics member credentials. If you are not a member yet, please sign up using the profile icon on the top right of this page. Please check your email to confirm registration. Once a member, you will be able to use the comment section. Comments will wait for the approval of the iKNOW Politics Team. 2. Use the below comment section by signing in with one of your social media accounts. 3. Send your contributions to iknowpolitics@unwomen.org |
"Whenever I am asked what the missing link is between a promising businessperson and a successful one, mentoring comes to mind; if you are looking to make your way in business, try to find a mentor. If you are in a position to share the skills you have learned, give something back by becoming a mentor yourself.” CEO VIRGIN
In the private sector, mentorship programs have been proven successful in creating a new generation of leaders. The public sector learnt from these successes and copied them by organizing its own mentorship programs. Consequently, some parliaments followed suit by providing mentorship programs for incoming MPs or programs that allow people to shadow an MP in their daily functions to better understand the work of the Parliament and of that particular MP and their constituency, such as in the UK.
Given the complexity of a Parliament, candidates and first time Parliamentarians are keen to get advice from those who have previous experience with particular issues. Mentorship programs have been organized at national and regional levels. At the national level, Parliaments are exploring new ways of guiding young MPs through the complex structures of Parliament. At the regional level, Parliaments are providing mentorship projects, which go beyond the traditional study trip tours, through online networks and intensive collaboration between parliamentarians.
Q1: Have you ever been part of a mentorship program (as mentor or mentee)? If so, could you share your experiences?
Q2: Do you know of successful mentorship projects targeting women candidates and parliamentarians. Why were these projects successful?
Q3: Are ‘in-person’ meetings critical for a successful mentorship programme or could online mentoring be just as useful?
Women’s political and socio-economic status improves when women become more involved in decision making and policy development at all levels of governance. Through their active involvement in community work and women’s movements, local women politicians are fully aware of issues faced by women in their communities and are uniquely positioned to address them. The role of women in decision making has been addressed by various international agreements and conventions, CEDAW and the Beijing Platform for Action (1995), to name a few.
In 2009, iKNOW Politics organized an e-discussion on women in local governance. During this e-discussion participants agreed that including women in local governments is a key factor in creating gender sensitive policies and services. Participants believed that women politicians can be active advocates of women’s issues among their colleagues in the local government and vital for mainstreaming gender perspectives in policies, but nevertheless expressed the need for further research to document this.
In this discussion, iKNOW Politics is seeking more encouraging examples from all over the world, highlighting the impact women leaders have in changing the way business is conducted in local governance such as in district, provincial and regional assemblies and local (rural and urban) councils.
- What is the percentage of women in local assemblies and councils? Are there any cultural or institutional barriers for women to become politically active in your community?
- Is there a correlation between women’s political participation at the local and national level? Do you know women national leaders who started their career in local governance? Are there any specific programmes or structures in place supporting local elected women to become leaders at the national level?
- Has your local government undertaken any gender analysis as part of comprehensive policy, programmes and service planning and delivery?
- Does having more women in local governments lead to the creation of more gender sensitive programmes and legislation as well as empowering other women in local communities?
The priority theme of the 57th UN Commission of the Status of Women will be the elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls.
Inequalities in women's lives are complex and intersected and violence against women and girls can be tackled from many angles by different stakeholders.
It is an issue of universal interest, affecting women and girls globally, and parliamentarians can play a role in the elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls. To support parliamentarians in their preparation for CSW 57, in March 2013, iKNOW Politics will run an online discussion, in partnership with the Gender Parliamentary Reference Group of AGORA (the Portal for Parliamentary Development). This virtual discussion will focus on:
- Identifying the gaps and challenges in achieving the most effective responses among parliamentarians on this issue
- Highlighting the most effective parliamentary mechanisms for building policy and legislation to prevent violence, to support victims/survivors, and to tackle primary prevention (stopping violence before it starts)
- Discussing the impact violence against women has on perpetuating unequal gender political representation
Through this discussion, iKNOW Politics members and the Gender Parliamentary Reference Group can answer questions, and share experiences and best practices of parliamentarians' work to eliminate gender-based violence. All are welcome to participate!
From 9 November through 23 November 2012, iKNOW Politics will co-host a virtual discussion on the elimination and prevention of violence against women with AGORA (www.agora-parl.org).