Enhancing Women’s Political Participation: A Policy Note for Europe and CIS (ECIS)

This Policy Note presents a set of pragmatic recommendations that will enable policy makers to enhance women’s political participation in the region. These measures are the product of six national roundtable discussions organized in 2008 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Turkey and Ukraine as well as a regional conference in Turkey in December 2008. This Policy Note also presents the current status of, and opportunities for women’s participation in leadership and decision-making processes in the region. Based on the evidence and regional data collected and analysed, this Policy Note is for parliamentarians, government officials, legislators, political party members, civil society organizations working on enhancing women’s political participation and media with the recommended policy and action options in the following three areas:1) Legal and institutional frameworks to promote women’s political participation; 2) Mechanisms and strategies to promote women’s political participation; and3) Partnerships for women’s political participation: civil society organizations and the media.