Parliaments & Representatives
Esther Mcheka-Chilenje is the first Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Malawi.
Hanna Hopko is a Ukrainian Member of Parliament and the head of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee.
A Cameroonian national, Martin Chungong made double history by becoming the first-ever African and the first non-European to be elected as IPU Secretary General in the Organization’s 126-year history. With more than three decades of experience and knowledge of parliaments at national and international level, Mr Chungong has dedicated his professional life to promoting and building inclusive democracies world-wide. Watch Mr. Chungong talk about the barriers women in politics face and the role of iKNOW Politics in helping women face certain barriers.
Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir is Chair of the Executive Board of the Women in Parliaments Global Forum. She is the former Minister of Interior of Iceland, the first Member of Parliament for the Reykjavík South constituency in Iceland, as well as a previous Mayor of Reykjavík. In 2016, Iceland topped the World Economic Forum Gender Gap Index for the eighth year in a row.
Click here to read Womanthology’s interview with Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir.
Mmamoloko Kubayi is a Member of the South African National Assembly and holds the position of Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services. This interview was conducted during the 135th IPU Assembly in Geneva.
Child, early and forced marriage is not well understood in the Americas region, although UNICEF estimates that 29% of girls in Latin America and the Caribbean, or almost 1 in 3 girls, are married before the age of 18. Some countries surpass that figure at the national level (the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Brazil, Honduras and Guatemala), while others face the issue only within certain ethnic groups. One of the main problems in the Americas is the number of informal or “de facto” unions which may not be classified as marriage, with the result that the extent of child, early and forced marriage in the region is probably underestimated. On the other hand, the issue of child, adolescent and forced motherhood has received growing attention in recent years due to an increase in the number of girls younger than 15 that are giving birth. UNFPA projects that these births will continue to rise through 2030, and the data on girls who give birth does not include those that undergo risky and often fatal unsafe abortions. A plethora of issues underlie the prevalence of child, early and forced marriage and motherhood in the Americas, including gender inequality, the concentration of women among the poorest segment of the population, continuing disparities between boys and girls in the minimum age for marriage, gender-based and sexual violence, including incest, restrictive abortion laws and a lack of access to contraception and sexual and reproductive health information and services The objectives of this international event, which is organized by the Inter-American Commission of Women of the Organization of American States, are to: 1. Review what we know about child, early and forced marriage and motherhood in the Americas and identify those information and data gaps that still need to be filled; and 2. Formulate preliminary legislative, policy and program recommendations, on the basis of existing good practices and lessons learned, in order to begin a joint, comprehensive and effective response. During the event, the CIM will also launch its new “Hemispheric Report on Sexual Violence and Child Pregnancy in the States Party to the Belém do Pará Convention.
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.