New York – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Huairou Commission, a global network of grassroots women’s organizations, convened a global dialogue to discuss how supporting women can further contribute to building transparent and effective governance, including the context of the Post-2015 development agenda.

The event also presented the UNDP’s and Huairou Commission’s e-Learning course on gender equality, women’s empowerment and anti-corruption.

The Women in Politics Map 2014 launched by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women today shows that while progress on women’s political participation continues to be largely positive across the world, glass ceilings remain firmly in place for women at the highest levels.

The Map, which presents the latest data on women in executive government and in parliament, reveals similar regional trends in women’s representation in both spheres with the Americas, Europe and Africa outperforming the Arab, Asia and Pacific regions.

As we are approaching the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and negotiating the Post-2015 Agenda, there is no other sub-region that better confirms that gender equality and women’s empowerment are a prerequisite, a means, and an objective of inclusive and sustainable development than Sub-Saharan Africa.   

Women account for over 52 per cent of the total population of Haiti and are very active in the economic and social sectors. Yet their political participation and representation in Parliament is very limited. Only seven of the 144 political parties are headed by women. Women represent less than five per cent of the Haitian parliament, and there are no women at all in the current Senate. Now that the gender quota is included in the amended constitution, what are the best strategies to ensure its effectiveness?