Parliaments & Representatives
The IPU and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) organized a panel on Where do parliaments stand in the fight against sexism and harassment? at the 139th Assembly, where the new report on Sexism, harassment and violence against women in parliaments in Europe was presented.
This interview was conducted in September 2017 on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. At the time, Zuraida Kamaruddin was a Member of Parliament for Ampang, Malaysia. In May 2018, she was appointed as Minister of Housing and Local Government.
Elene Khoshtaria is a Member of Parliament and Member of the Gender Equality Council in Georgia.
This interview was conducted in March 2017 in the margins of the 61st session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW61) in New York.
Tanya Gilly Khailany, from Iraqi-Kurdistan, is a former member of the Iraqi Parliament (2006 – 2010) and a co-founder of the SEED Foundation, an organization that works with survivors of violence and trafficking in Iraq. An outspoken women’s rights activist, Ms. Gilly Khailany was one of the key parliamentarians who legislated the 25 per cent quota for women in Iraqi provincial councils. As an expert on political participation and peacebuilding, she recently spoke at a side event on the margins of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly on 26 September in New York. In this interview, Ms. Gilly-Khailany talks about what motivates her, and what women’s meaningful participation in peace processes means in practical terms.
"I am an activist; I came from activism and became a legislator. There were several incidents and moments that led me to this path.
I remember one with my son when he was in the fifth grade and had to write a paper on a topic of his choice. I was helping him. He said to me, ‘I could have written my paper on women’s rights, but I didn’t want my friends to make fun of me.’
I was a parliamentarian at the time. I thought, all the work I had done… and here was my son, not feeling comfortable to talk about women’s rights. That incident stayed with me and motivated me to push forward.
It took my son years to openly talk about women’s issues. Today he’s doing his senior paper on gender-based violence in the tech industry. That’s just one person; we have to make sure thousands and millions of boys feel comfortable talking about women’s rights.
My fight is for the chance of equal opportunity. A woman should not be held back from pursuing her dreams and aspirations because she is a woman. One of the measures that I worked on as a parliamentarian that I am most proud of, is the quota system for women in the Iraqi Constitution. We asked for 40 per cent but got 25 per cent quota for women in the Iraqi Parliament. I worked with women activists to establish the same quota for women in provincial councils. Having the quota at the provincial level was really important because women could use the provincial councils as a stepping stone to get back into politics, to learn and to grow. Now in the Iraqi Parliament, there are many women who came from the Provincial councils.
My fight is also about peace. Peace is not just about security. It’s about equality and social justice. No one is above the law, and no one should be discriminated by the law.
Peace needs women’s meaningful participation. For that to happen, first, women must get a seat at the table. In my country, there have been many women in political parties, they’ve headed women’s caucuses in the parliament, but when it comes to core issues, women are still not at the table. It’s also about bringing issues that matter to women to the table.
When we talk about sustainable peace, reconciliation is part of that. But people talk about political reconciliations between political parties. There are women who have been impacted deeply by the conflict; how can we not talk about their reconciliation? Simply put, women’s voices must be heard, when it comes to running the country.
Sustaining peace is not only about protecting women during times of war, but also protecting women in times of peace. The UN has the tools for holding countries accountable to resolutions and treaties. Any country not in compliance, should be called on it.
When it comes to women’s rights, there’s no room for diplomacy.”
Source: UN Women
Thandi Modise is the Chairperson of the Upper House of the Parliament (National Council of Provinces) of South Africa.
This interview was conducted in March 2018 in New York during the CSW.
Caroline Janvier was elected to the French National Assembly on 18 June 2017, representing the department of Loiret.
This interview was conducted in November 2017 in Ottawa, Canada, during the Inter-parliamentary Union's Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians.
This online resource will guide you in implementing the OECD Recommendation on Gender Equality in Public Life. In addition to better familiarising you with the Principles, the Toolkit lets you compare indicators and good practices in use in numerous countries. The self-assessment tools will help governments assess the strengths and weaknesses of their gender policies, which in turn, will help policy makers set priorities for improvement.
Source: OECD
This action kit is a practical tool for unpacking gender responsive budgeting (GRB) and engaging parliaments and parliamentarians in strengthening scrutiny and oversight of gender responsive budget formulation, execution, and evaluation. As a result of their interventions, the budget process can be more participatory, inclusive, and effective.
This publication is directed primarily to actors who want to build an effective system for integrating GRB into the annual state budget process. This includes Members of Parliament (MPs), parliamentary staff and committees, caucuses of women MPs, as well as other actors, including UN Women or other United Nations entities who may want to initiate and support a stronger role for parliament and MPs in GRB.
The action kit is divided into sections:
- Building government systems to support GRB through the budget cycle;
- Parliament’s role in engaging with GRB in the budget process; and
- Programmatic interventions to support parliaments in the GRB process.
To ensure the guidance and information provided in the publication are grounded in practice, country examples of GRB implementation and entry points for parliamentary engagement are included.
Click here to access the publication.
The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) today published a “Participatory Gender Audits of Parliaments, a Step-by-Step Guidance Document,” which offers comprehensive tools and detailed steps on how parliaments can fully capitalize on their potential to implement a gender-sensitive and intersectional approach to legislative processes.
The PA and ODIHR collaborated on the publication, which sets out how to implement participatory gender audits through a clear framework and step-by-step process. The Guide recognizes that each parliament is unique and will undertake the audit in unique circumstances and it allows parliaments to choose the scope of the audit, the format and the timescale within which it will be conducted. As such, it adds to the extensive OSCE acquis in support of all parliaments of the region and it is in line with institutions’ respective mandates to advocate for ensuring transparency and accountability of all parliamentary procedures, practices, and standards, including those aimed at gender mainstreaming and conducting gender audits or assessments.
The “Participatory Gender Audits of Parliaments, a Step-by-Step Guidance Document” complements the “Realizing Gender Equality in Parliament: A Guide for Parliaments in the OSCE Region,” published in December 2021, which brought together lessons learned and good practices from 46 national parliaments in North America, Europe and Central Asia on introducing and improving gender sensitivity in parliaments, on which the two Institutions have also closely co-operated.
Click here to access the report.
The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s Gender Sensitising Parliamentary Guidelines: A Seven-Step Field Guide (‘Field Guide’) provides a blueprint for Commonwealth parliaments interested in undertaking a Gender Sensitive Parliament (GSP) review of their institutions with the objective of making their parliaments more representative and inclusive. The Field Guide builds on earlier Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and Commonwealth Women Parliamentarian’s (CWP) gender sensitising reports, in which a GSP is defined as a place that responds to the needs and interests of women in its structures, operations, methods, and work and is a workplace that removes barriers to women’s full participation.
GSP reviews have the potential to respond to the needs of parliamentary members and staff who identify as women or as belonging to another marginalised group, and in some Commonwealth contexts, this includes people with intersecting identities, such as Indigenous People, Black People, and People of Colour, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer+ People (LGBTQ+), and people living with disabilities.
Click here to access the guide.
This course, written by Dr Sonia Palmieri, explores why and how to build gender sensitive parliaments. Rich in case studies, it sketches the international framework for action and outlines opportunities for shaping contextually-appropriate parliamentary processes and norms.
Click here to access the course.
Parliaments have a key role in ensuring not only that everyone is properly represented in decision-making, but also that legislation and government actions take account of the needs and experiences of women and men on an equal basis. However, the achievement of gender equality requires more than commitments and good intentions. It is reliant on action.
This Guide is designed to help parliamentarians, officials, civil society and democracy-support organizations undertake gender-sensitive scrutiny. It provides a model for gender-sensitive scrutiny and demonstrates how the techniques can be used when carrying out pre- and post-legislative scrutiny, conducting oversight and monitoring budgets. It also provides case studies and resources.
Click here to access the guide.
This guide is designed to help Members and staff of the Parliament of Malaysia undertake gender-sensitive scrutiny of laws, budgets, and policies.
Click here to download the guide published by INTER PARES.
This guide is designed to help Members and staff of the Parliament of Bhutan undertake gender-sensitive scrutiny of laws, budgets, and policies.
Click here to download the guide published by INTER PARES.
This practical guide is intended to support the full range of parliamentary actors — from parliamentary leadership teams, members of parliament, and political and parliamentary staff, to parliamentary practitioners and civil society organizations dealing with gender equality issues — in transforming these institutions into gender-sensitive parliaments.
Click here to access the guide.
This Primer highlights practical ways Members of Parliament (MPs) and parliamentary staff can take action to ensure COVID-19 response and recovery decision-making address women’s needs. It is informed by the differential impacts of the disease on women as documented to date, and the common needs and challenges expressed by MPs and parliamentary staff adapting to new priorities and ways of working around the world. A Checklist is included to guide MPs and parliamentary staff on gender-sensitive options for COVID-19 response and recovery both during and beyond the pandemic.
Click here to see the primer.