Women's Leadership

Since its establishment in 2000, the The Community of Democracies (CoD) has affirmed and maintained a commitment to engaging women in all aspects of democratic gover - nance and development, including women’s political participation and inclusion in peacebuilding processes and initiatives.  The importance of female participation in the political and diplomatic sphere as a crucial component of consolidated democracy and sustain - able development was outlined and recognized as a core value in the governing document of the CoD, the Warsaw Declaration, which em - phasizes that the “informed participation by all elements of society, men and women, in a country’s economic and political life, including by persons belonging to minority groups, is fundamental to a vibrant and durable democracy”. Gender equality is one of the three cross-cut - ting themes mainstreamed into all activities undertaken by the Com - munity as part of its Strategic Plan 2018-2023.

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The Women's Network of the Union of Latin American Parties (UPLA) is a political platform that seeks to promote and strengthen the participation and positioning of women in public decision-making roles in Latin America and the Caribbean.

UPLA prepared a report for the electronic discussion on the role of political parties in the promotion of women in politics.

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Women ran for and were elected to office in record numbers in the 2018 election. They made historic gains across levels of office and reached new milestones for women’s political representation. But not all women achieved record levels of success in 2018. Republican women’s representation dropped across offices and within their party.

The progress for all women in election 2018 should also be put into important context. First, despite breaking records for candidacy and officeholding, women – who are just over half of the population – were still underrepresented among all candidates and remain less than one-third of elected officials.

Finally, measuring progress for women in electoral politics means looking beyond the numbers. When considering the gender and intersectional dynamics at play in U.S. campaigns, it is clear that there is much progress left to make in creating equitable conditions for success for women and men in American elections.

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Violence against women in politics is increasingly recognized around the world as a significant barrier to women’s political participation. This article maps how the concept emerged globally, arguing that it has multiple, parallel origins: efforts by locally elected women in Bolivia in the late 1990s to theorize their experiences as political harassment and violence against women; networking by elected women across Asia, with support from global actors, to map and condemn manifestations of violence against women in politics in the mid2000s; and initiatives in Kenya to recognize and tackle electoral gender-based violence in the late 2000s. International actors began to link these debates in the late 2000s and early 2010s, collecting and analyzing testimonies from women to develop new frameworks and toolkits for identifying and addressing violence against women in politics. They also sought opportunities to embed these new understandings into existing normative and political frameworks. Arguing that concept formation plays a crucial role in global feminist politics, the article illustrates how feminist collaborations are essential for giving voice to women’s experiences and mobilizing for change.

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The High Level Political Forum (HLPF) is the core United Nations platform on Sustainable Development. It is the mechanism which follows up on UN Member States’ implementation of the 2030 Agenda and seeks to hold governments accountable by encouraging them to submit national reviews on their progress toward the 2030 Agenda. Each year, the HLPF focuses on a different theme and reviews a different set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This year’s theme was “Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”.

The following set of goals were reviewed:

• Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all 
• Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
•  Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries 
• Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts  
• Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels  
• Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.

As the HLPF adopts inter-governmentally negotiated political declarations, this report analyzes each of the 6 goals through a gendered lens and emphasizes the importance of taking a gendered approach in implementing each of the goals. Additionally, this publication focuses on how each goal impacts women and girls and how their involvement makes a global difference. Each goal is explored through a gendered analysis, backed up by examples of good practices from around the globe. These case studies demonstrate innovative and gender-sensitive practices that governments have implemented in their efforts toward the 2030 Agenda. The purpose of this report is to present how women and girls can have an effective impact on societies and governments when they are given a chance to take part in global discussions that may affect change. More importantly, this publication emphasizes how women and girls play a significant role in achieving the 2030 Agenda.

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The report on “The Empowerment of Women in Politics and the 6 th Legislature National Assembly Elections 2018” is an analysis of the data and views of Cambodian women’s participation in politics, especially the process of the 6th Legislature National Assembly (NA) Elections 2018.

This report looks in particular at the women’s political empowerment and elections; number of women candidates, measures for how to select women candidats, policies of political parties for promoting women’s political participation, political party platforms on women’s and children’s issues, challenges facing women both as voters and candidates including violence against women in politics. Also, it shows about women’s opinions on electoral progress, and activities related to promoting women’s participation in politics as well as the outcome of elected women representative from the single party CPP which dominated the election and the outcome. It also provides an overview of a rapid survey on “The reason of women voters who voted or have indelible ink on their finger and women voters who did not go to vote or have no indelible ink on their finger” conducted by Women Volunteer Citizens throughout the four provincial target area of COMFREL a day after the election and two case studies. The report closes with a set of recommendations to improve gender equality and women’s political empowerment in Cambodia.

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