Partner News

A study conducted by the UNDP and Albanian partners, published on Wednesday, shows that women in Albanian politics still face routine discrimination, abuse and offensive language.

The findings of a study on “Violence against women in politics”, conducted by UNDP in cooperation with Albania’s Ombudsman and Commissioner for Protection from Discrimination, were published on Wednesday at a roundtable held in the Albanian parliament.

Within the context of the ongoing Constitutional Review Process and the background of extremely low participation and representation of women in Nigerian politics, the Government of Canada in partnership with UN Women signed a grant agreement of $8 Million Canadian Dollars (CAD) to implement a programme titled ‘The ADVANCE: Women’s Political Participation in Nigeria’. 

At a special event hosted by Mr. Abdulla Shahid, President of the General Assembly, on the sidelines of the 66th Commission on the Status of Women, leaders came together to call for concrete actions and responses to end violence against women in politics around the world.

The Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel, Ms Giovanie Biha, chaired the first edition of the annual Women's Forum for Peace and Security in West Africa and the Sahel, held on 14 and 15 March in Nouakchott, capital of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.

Top UN officials on Tuesday gathered with government and civil society representatives to draw attention to the scourge of violence against women worldwide who are involved in politics, which is increasingly seeing women parliamentarians, human rights defenders and electoral observers silenced, and intimidated. 

As the world commemorates the 2022 International Women's Day, the plummeting of women's representation in elective office in Africa is alarming. According to the first Women's Political Participation (WPP) Africa Barometer 2021, women constitute 24 per cent of the 12,113 parliamentarians in Africa - 25 per cent in lower legislative houses and 20 per cent in the upper houses of parliament. Based on data from 19 sampled countries, women constitute 21 per cent of councilors in local councils.

Quotas are critical in ensuring greater representation of women, according to the latest IPU Women in Parliament report.

The numbers are clear. In 2021, countries with some form of gender quotas elected 31.9 per cent women on average to their lower/single house, while those without quotas elected 19.5 per cent women cumulatively.

On International Women’s Day, UNDP and UN Women launched the Gender Justice Platform to leverage their partnership on gender justice. Since 2020, UN Women and UNDP have joined together to enable access to justice for 42,000 individuals. In 14 conflict-affected contexts across Africa and the Middle East, UNDP and UN Women facilitated access to justice services and led advocacy initiatives to support women’s leadership.

The launch of the Gender Justice Platform marks the extension of the scope of the partnership.

International IDEA has made women's participation one of its main axes in improving the inclusiveness of electoral processes in the Arab region.