Gender Equality in Elected Office: A Six-Step Action Plan
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has repeatedly stressed the importance of ensuring equal rights of men and women; accordingly, participating States have agreed to take all actions necessary to promote equally effective participation of men and women in political, economic, social and cultural life. To provide an assessment of opportunities for enhancing women’s political participation across the OSCE region, this report sets out the general picture of women’s representation in OSCE participating States and reviews the impact of each of the institutional strategies discussed above in the Six-Step Action Plan. Evidence is derived from cross-national comparisons among OSCE participating States, from public opinion surveys, and from ‘before’ and ‘after’ case studies. The study focuses in particular upon selected exemplars which illustrate the positive impact of each of these strategies, illuminating how measures were introduced and why some strategies have proved more successful and effective than others. The study concludes by considering the next steps in developing a Handbook on Measures to Promote Women’s Participation in Political Parties and what other information could be collected for this purpose. Where this baseline analysis explores the ‘menu of options’ of different measures available to government and political actors to enhance women’s political participation, the Handbook will provide strategies for putting these measures into action through practical incentives, attention to sequencing, and options tailored to different political and electoral systems.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has repeatedly stressed the importance of ensuring equal rights of men and women; accordingly, participating States have agreed to take all actions necessary to promote equally effective participation of men and women in political, economic, social and cultural life. To provide an assessment of opportunities for enhancing women’s political participation across the OSCE region, this report sets out the general picture of women’s representation in OSCE participating States and reviews the impact of each of the institutional strategies discussed above in the Six-Step Action Plan. Evidence is derived from cross-national comparisons among OSCE participating States, from public opinion surveys, and from ‘before’ and ‘after’ case studies. The study focuses in particular upon selected exemplars which illustrate the positive impact of each of these strategies, illuminating how measures were introduced and why some strategies have proved more successful and effective than others. The study concludes by considering the next steps in developing a Handbook on Measures to Promote Women’s Participation in Political Parties and what other information could be collected for this purpose. Where this baseline analysis explores the ‘menu of options’ of different measures available to government and political actors to enhance women’s political participation, the Handbook will provide strategies for putting these measures into action through practical incentives, attention to sequencing, and options tailored to different political and electoral systems.