Partner News

The Ethiopian Chapter of the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN) is launched on Monday at an event attended by United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed, President of Ethiopia, Sahle-Work Zewde.'

President Zewde said the launch of the chapter was a major milestone that will benefit all Ethiopian women and ensure their voice is better heard and their issues better addressed.

“We now have the Ethiopian Chapter of the AWLN which will contribute to ensuring there is financial inclusion in the country. It will empower rural women, mentor young women, and achieve gender equality. We have to achieve the Africa We Want, where women have the same economic, political and social rights as men,” she said.

President Zewde underscored that achieving gender equality calls for strong political will, which while can bring about miracles, would need to be sustained.

“On the continent we are still very far away from achieving gender parity. We must build on the positive strides that we are making today to achieve that,” she added.

Click here to read the full article published by New Business Ethiopia on 23 October 2019.

The Ethiopian Chapter of the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN) is launched on Monday at an event attended by United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed, President of Ethiopia, Sahle-Work Zewde.'

President Zewde said the launch of the chapter was a major milestone that will benefit all Ethiopian women and ensure their voice is better heard and their issues better addressed.

“We now have the Ethiopian Chapter of the AWLN which will contribute to ensuring there is financial inclusion in the country. It will empower rural women, mentor young women, and achieve gender equality. We have to achieve the Africa We Want, where women have the same economic, political and social rights as men,” she said.

President Zewde underscored that achieving gender equality calls for strong political will, which while can bring about miracles, would need to be sustained.

“On the continent we are still very far away from achieving gender parity. We must build on the positive strides that we are making today to achieve that,” she added.

Click here to read the full article published by New Business Ethiopia on 23 October 2019.

The Ethiopian Chapter of the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN) is launched on Monday at an event attended by United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed, President of Ethiopia, Sahle-Work Zewde.'

President Zewde said the launch of the chapter was a major milestone that will benefit all Ethiopian women and ensure their voice is better heard and their issues better addressed.

“We now have the Ethiopian Chapter of the AWLN which will contribute to ensuring there is financial inclusion in the country. It will empower rural women, mentor young women, and achieve gender equality. We have to achieve the Africa We Want, where women have the same economic, political and social rights as men,” she said.

President Zewde underscored that achieving gender equality calls for strong political will, which while can bring about miracles, would need to be sustained.

“On the continent we are still very far away from achieving gender parity. We must build on the positive strides that we are making today to achieve that,” she added.

Click here to read the full article published by New Business Ethiopia on 23 October 2019.

International IDEA organized the Inter-Regional Roundtable on the Intersections between Gender and Political Finance in Brussels on 16-17 October 2019. The Roundtable provided a forum for female and male politicians and practitioners from about 20 countries to discuss the interlinked dimensions of gender and political financing and how they influence gender equality in politics at all levels.

The Secretary-General of International IDEA, Dr Kevin Casas-Zamora opened the Roundtable highlighting that women’s limited access to finance for campaigns is often identified as a key barrier hindering greater gender balance in parliaments and political parties. “A political sphere dominated by money is almost certainly a political sphere dominated by men”—it is often not the lack of able women, but rather the economic inequality, including access to resources to finance political campaigns, between men and women and limited opportunities for women to exhibit their skills that perpetuate their uneven representation in politics.

The two-day Roundtable focused on a number of thematic issues relating to gender and political finance, including the use of gender-targeted public funding, gender-sensitive intraparty measures, the role of male leaders, and opportunities to use ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising and campaigns. Bringing together participants, including male and female politicians from about 20 countries, the roundtable enabled an interactive exchange of experiences, good practices and challenges on how political finance can influence the access of women to elected positions in different countries around the world.

While there is a lot of work to be done to break down the social and cultural barriers in order to fully enable women to enter politics, the discussion highlighted that developing gender sensitive political finance regulations such as gender-targeted public funding proved to be useful in some countries. In addition, participants agreed that political parties with effective internal gender policies were one of the crucial success factors in achieving gender parity and ensuring equal access to political funding, as presented by the case of Belgium where women account for 43 per cent of the Parliament. The importance of involvement of male leaders in the development of such policies was highlighted with examples in Bhutan and Chile.

The roundtable also featured two sessions that focused on the potential of ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising opportunities. While women politicians and candidates are often subject to disinformation campaigns, examples of Kenya and Myanmar suggested that social media could provide women a platform to directly engage with the voters and set their narratives. However, the use of social media and ICTs by female politicians for fundraising were not yet a common practice in many countries. Online tools such as crowdfunding could be further explored and utilised in order to facilitate women to raise political funding.

Increasing women’s participation and representation in politics requires multi-dimensional efforts to address political, economic, social and cultural constraints. It is crucial to address women’s underrepresentation in politics through the linkages found between political finance and gender. Gender-neutral or gender-blind political finance regulations may inadvertently produce an unbalanced playing field among actors and thus impact the quality of democracy. Political finance regulations need to be introduced from a gender equality perspective. Detailed summary of the roundtable and video footage will be released in the coming weeks.

Source: International IDEA.

International IDEA organized the Inter-Regional Roundtable on the Intersections between Gender and Political Finance in Brussels on 16-17 October 2019. The Roundtable provided a forum for female and male politicians and practitioners from about 20 countries to discuss the interlinked dimensions of gender and political financing and how they influence gender equality in politics at all levels.

The Secretary-General of International IDEA, Dr Kevin Casas-Zamora opened the Roundtable highlighting that women’s limited access to finance for campaigns is often identified as a key barrier hindering greater gender balance in parliaments and political parties. “A political sphere dominated by money is almost certainly a political sphere dominated by men”—it is often not the lack of able women, but rather the economic inequality, including access to resources to finance political campaigns, between men and women and limited opportunities for women to exhibit their skills that perpetuate their uneven representation in politics.

The two-day Roundtable focused on a number of thematic issues relating to gender and political finance, including the use of gender-targeted public funding, gender-sensitive intraparty measures, the role of male leaders, and opportunities to use ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising and campaigns. Bringing together participants, including male and female politicians from about 20 countries, the roundtable enabled an interactive exchange of experiences, good practices and challenges on how political finance can influence the access of women to elected positions in different countries around the world.

While there is a lot of work to be done to break down the social and cultural barriers in order to fully enable women to enter politics, the discussion highlighted that developing gender sensitive political finance regulations such as gender-targeted public funding proved to be useful in some countries. In addition, participants agreed that political parties with effective internal gender policies were one of the crucial success factors in achieving gender parity and ensuring equal access to political funding, as presented by the case of Belgium where women account for 43 per cent of the Parliament. The importance of involvement of male leaders in the development of such policies was highlighted with examples in Bhutan and Chile.

The roundtable also featured two sessions that focused on the potential of ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising opportunities. While women politicians and candidates are often subject to disinformation campaigns, examples of Kenya and Myanmar suggested that social media could provide women a platform to directly engage with the voters and set their narratives. However, the use of social media and ICTs by female politicians for fundraising were not yet a common practice in many countries. Online tools such as crowdfunding could be further explored and utilised in order to facilitate women to raise political funding.

Increasing women’s participation and representation in politics requires multi-dimensional efforts to address political, economic, social and cultural constraints. It is crucial to address women’s underrepresentation in politics through the linkages found between political finance and gender. Gender-neutral or gender-blind political finance regulations may inadvertently produce an unbalanced playing field among actors and thus impact the quality of democracy. Political finance regulations need to be introduced from a gender equality perspective. Detailed summary of the roundtable and video footage will be released in the coming weeks.

Source: International IDEA.

International IDEA organized the Inter-Regional Roundtable on the Intersections between Gender and Political Finance in Brussels on 16-17 October 2019. The Roundtable provided a forum for female and male politicians and practitioners from about 20 countries to discuss the interlinked dimensions of gender and political financing and how they influence gender equality in politics at all levels.

The Secretary-General of International IDEA, Dr Kevin Casas-Zamora opened the Roundtable highlighting that women’s limited access to finance for campaigns is often identified as a key barrier hindering greater gender balance in parliaments and political parties. “A political sphere dominated by money is almost certainly a political sphere dominated by men”—it is often not the lack of able women, but rather the economic inequality, including access to resources to finance political campaigns, between men and women and limited opportunities for women to exhibit their skills that perpetuate their uneven representation in politics.

The two-day Roundtable focused on a number of thematic issues relating to gender and political finance, including the use of gender-targeted public funding, gender-sensitive intraparty measures, the role of male leaders, and opportunities to use ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising and campaigns. Bringing together participants, including male and female politicians from about 20 countries, the roundtable enabled an interactive exchange of experiences, good practices and challenges on how political finance can influence the access of women to elected positions in different countries around the world.

While there is a lot of work to be done to break down the social and cultural barriers in order to fully enable women to enter politics, the discussion highlighted that developing gender sensitive political finance regulations such as gender-targeted public funding proved to be useful in some countries. In addition, participants agreed that political parties with effective internal gender policies were one of the crucial success factors in achieving gender parity and ensuring equal access to political funding, as presented by the case of Belgium where women account for 43 per cent of the Parliament. The importance of involvement of male leaders in the development of such policies was highlighted with examples in Bhutan and Chile.

The roundtable also featured two sessions that focused on the potential of ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising opportunities. While women politicians and candidates are often subject to disinformation campaigns, examples of Kenya and Myanmar suggested that social media could provide women a platform to directly engage with the voters and set their narratives. However, the use of social media and ICTs by female politicians for fundraising were not yet a common practice in many countries. Online tools such as crowdfunding could be further explored and utilised in order to facilitate women to raise political funding.

Increasing women’s participation and representation in politics requires multi-dimensional efforts to address political, economic, social and cultural constraints. It is crucial to address women’s underrepresentation in politics through the linkages found between political finance and gender. Gender-neutral or gender-blind political finance regulations may inadvertently produce an unbalanced playing field among actors and thus impact the quality of democracy. Political finance regulations need to be introduced from a gender equality perspective. Detailed summary of the roundtable and video footage will be released in the coming weeks.

Source: International IDEA.

International IDEA organized the Inter-Regional Roundtable on the Intersections between Gender and Political Finance in Brussels on 16-17 October 2019. The Roundtable provided a forum for female and male politicians and practitioners from about 20 countries to discuss the interlinked dimensions of gender and political financing and how they influence gender equality in politics at all levels.

The Secretary-General of International IDEA, Dr Kevin Casas-Zamora opened the Roundtable highlighting that women’s limited access to finance for campaigns is often identified as a key barrier hindering greater gender balance in parliaments and political parties. “A political sphere dominated by money is almost certainly a political sphere dominated by men”—it is often not the lack of able women, but rather the economic inequality, including access to resources to finance political campaigns, between men and women and limited opportunities for women to exhibit their skills that perpetuate their uneven representation in politics.

The two-day Roundtable focused on a number of thematic issues relating to gender and political finance, including the use of gender-targeted public funding, gender-sensitive intraparty measures, the role of male leaders, and opportunities to use ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising and campaigns. Bringing together participants, including male and female politicians from about 20 countries, the roundtable enabled an interactive exchange of experiences, good practices and challenges on how political finance can influence the access of women to elected positions in different countries around the world.

While there is a lot of work to be done to break down the social and cultural barriers in order to fully enable women to enter politics, the discussion highlighted that developing gender sensitive political finance regulations such as gender-targeted public funding proved to be useful in some countries. In addition, participants agreed that political parties with effective internal gender policies were one of the crucial success factors in achieving gender parity and ensuring equal access to political funding, as presented by the case of Belgium where women account for 43 per cent of the Parliament. The importance of involvement of male leaders in the development of such policies was highlighted with examples in Bhutan and Chile.

The roundtable also featured two sessions that focused on the potential of ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising opportunities. While women politicians and candidates are often subject to disinformation campaigns, examples of Kenya and Myanmar suggested that social media could provide women a platform to directly engage with the voters and set their narratives. However, the use of social media and ICTs by female politicians for fundraising were not yet a common practice in many countries. Online tools such as crowdfunding could be further explored and utilised in order to facilitate women to raise political funding.

Increasing women’s participation and representation in politics requires multi-dimensional efforts to address political, economic, social and cultural constraints. It is crucial to address women’s underrepresentation in politics through the linkages found between political finance and gender. Gender-neutral or gender-blind political finance regulations may inadvertently produce an unbalanced playing field among actors and thus impact the quality of democracy. Political finance regulations need to be introduced from a gender equality perspective. Detailed summary of the roundtable and video footage will be released in the coming weeks.

Source: International IDEA.

International IDEA organized the Inter-Regional Roundtable on the Intersections between Gender and Political Finance in Brussels on 16-17 October 2019. The Roundtable provided a forum for female and male politicians and practitioners from about 20 countries to discuss the interlinked dimensions of gender and political financing and how they influence gender equality in politics at all levels.

The Secretary-General of International IDEA, Dr Kevin Casas-Zamora opened the Roundtable highlighting that women’s limited access to finance for campaigns is often identified as a key barrier hindering greater gender balance in parliaments and political parties. “A political sphere dominated by money is almost certainly a political sphere dominated by men”—it is often not the lack of able women, but rather the economic inequality, including access to resources to finance political campaigns, between men and women and limited opportunities for women to exhibit their skills that perpetuate their uneven representation in politics.

The two-day Roundtable focused on a number of thematic issues relating to gender and political finance, including the use of gender-targeted public funding, gender-sensitive intraparty measures, the role of male leaders, and opportunities to use ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising and campaigns. Bringing together participants, including male and female politicians from about 20 countries, the roundtable enabled an interactive exchange of experiences, good practices and challenges on how political finance can influence the access of women to elected positions in different countries around the world.

While there is a lot of work to be done to break down the social and cultural barriers in order to fully enable women to enter politics, the discussion highlighted that developing gender sensitive political finance regulations such as gender-targeted public funding proved to be useful in some countries. In addition, participants agreed that political parties with effective internal gender policies were one of the crucial success factors in achieving gender parity and ensuring equal access to political funding, as presented by the case of Belgium where women account for 43 per cent of the Parliament. The importance of involvement of male leaders in the development of such policies was highlighted with examples in Bhutan and Chile.

The roundtable also featured two sessions that focused on the potential of ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising opportunities. While women politicians and candidates are often subject to disinformation campaigns, examples of Kenya and Myanmar suggested that social media could provide women a platform to directly engage with the voters and set their narratives. However, the use of social media and ICTs by female politicians for fundraising were not yet a common practice in many countries. Online tools such as crowdfunding could be further explored and utilised in order to facilitate women to raise political funding.

Increasing women’s participation and representation in politics requires multi-dimensional efforts to address political, economic, social and cultural constraints. It is crucial to address women’s underrepresentation in politics through the linkages found between political finance and gender. Gender-neutral or gender-blind political finance regulations may inadvertently produce an unbalanced playing field among actors and thus impact the quality of democracy. Political finance regulations need to be introduced from a gender equality perspective. Detailed summary of the roundtable and video footage will be released in the coming weeks.

Source: International IDEA.

International IDEA organized the Inter-Regional Roundtable on the Intersections between Gender and Political Finance in Brussels on 16-17 October 2019. The Roundtable provided a forum for female and male politicians and practitioners from about 20 countries to discuss the interlinked dimensions of gender and political financing and how they influence gender equality in politics at all levels.

The Secretary-General of International IDEA, Dr Kevin Casas-Zamora opened the Roundtable highlighting that women’s limited access to finance for campaigns is often identified as a key barrier hindering greater gender balance in parliaments and political parties. “A political sphere dominated by money is almost certainly a political sphere dominated by men”—it is often not the lack of able women, but rather the economic inequality, including access to resources to finance political campaigns, between men and women and limited opportunities for women to exhibit their skills that perpetuate their uneven representation in politics.

The two-day Roundtable focused on a number of thematic issues relating to gender and political finance, including the use of gender-targeted public funding, gender-sensitive intraparty measures, the role of male leaders, and opportunities to use ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising and campaigns. Bringing together participants, including male and female politicians from about 20 countries, the roundtable enabled an interactive exchange of experiences, good practices and challenges on how political finance can influence the access of women to elected positions in different countries around the world.

While there is a lot of work to be done to break down the social and cultural barriers in order to fully enable women to enter politics, the discussion highlighted that developing gender sensitive political finance regulations such as gender-targeted public funding proved to be useful in some countries. In addition, participants agreed that political parties with effective internal gender policies were one of the crucial success factors in achieving gender parity and ensuring equal access to political funding, as presented by the case of Belgium where women account for 43 per cent of the Parliament. The importance of involvement of male leaders in the development of such policies was highlighted with examples in Bhutan and Chile.

The roundtable also featured two sessions that focused on the potential of ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising opportunities. While women politicians and candidates are often subject to disinformation campaigns, examples of Kenya and Myanmar suggested that social media could provide women a platform to directly engage with the voters and set their narratives. However, the use of social media and ICTs by female politicians for fundraising were not yet a common practice in many countries. Online tools such as crowdfunding could be further explored and utilised in order to facilitate women to raise political funding.

Increasing women’s participation and representation in politics requires multi-dimensional efforts to address political, economic, social and cultural constraints. It is crucial to address women’s underrepresentation in politics through the linkages found between political finance and gender. Gender-neutral or gender-blind political finance regulations may inadvertently produce an unbalanced playing field among actors and thus impact the quality of democracy. Political finance regulations need to be introduced from a gender equality perspective. Detailed summary of the roundtable and video footage will be released in the coming weeks.

Source: International IDEA.

International IDEA organized the Inter-Regional Roundtable on the Intersections between Gender and Political Finance in Brussels on 16-17 October 2019. The Roundtable provided a forum for female and male politicians and practitioners from about 20 countries to discuss the interlinked dimensions of gender and political financing and how they influence gender equality in politics at all levels.

The Secretary-General of International IDEA, Dr Kevin Casas-Zamora opened the Roundtable highlighting that women’s limited access to finance for campaigns is often identified as a key barrier hindering greater gender balance in parliaments and political parties. “A political sphere dominated by money is almost certainly a political sphere dominated by men”—it is often not the lack of able women, but rather the economic inequality, including access to resources to finance political campaigns, between men and women and limited opportunities for women to exhibit their skills that perpetuate their uneven representation in politics.

The two-day Roundtable focused on a number of thematic issues relating to gender and political finance, including the use of gender-targeted public funding, gender-sensitive intraparty measures, the role of male leaders, and opportunities to use ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising and campaigns. Bringing together participants, including male and female politicians from about 20 countries, the roundtable enabled an interactive exchange of experiences, good practices and challenges on how political finance can influence the access of women to elected positions in different countries around the world.

While there is a lot of work to be done to break down the social and cultural barriers in order to fully enable women to enter politics, the discussion highlighted that developing gender sensitive political finance regulations such as gender-targeted public funding proved to be useful in some countries. In addition, participants agreed that political parties with effective internal gender policies were one of the crucial success factors in achieving gender parity and ensuring equal access to political funding, as presented by the case of Belgium where women account for 43 per cent of the Parliament. The importance of involvement of male leaders in the development of such policies was highlighted with examples in Bhutan and Chile.

The roundtable also featured two sessions that focused on the potential of ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising opportunities. While women politicians and candidates are often subject to disinformation campaigns, examples of Kenya and Myanmar suggested that social media could provide women a platform to directly engage with the voters and set their narratives. However, the use of social media and ICTs by female politicians for fundraising were not yet a common practice in many countries. Online tools such as crowdfunding could be further explored and utilised in order to facilitate women to raise political funding.

Increasing women’s participation and representation in politics requires multi-dimensional efforts to address political, economic, social and cultural constraints. It is crucial to address women’s underrepresentation in politics through the linkages found between political finance and gender. Gender-neutral or gender-blind political finance regulations may inadvertently produce an unbalanced playing field among actors and thus impact the quality of democracy. Political finance regulations need to be introduced from a gender equality perspective. Detailed summary of the roundtable and video footage will be released in the coming weeks.

Source: International IDEA.

International IDEA organized the Inter-Regional Roundtable on the Intersections between Gender and Political Finance in Brussels on 16-17 October 2019. The Roundtable provided a forum for female and male politicians and practitioners from about 20 countries to discuss the interlinked dimensions of gender and political financing and how they influence gender equality in politics at all levels.

The Secretary-General of International IDEA, Dr Kevin Casas-Zamora opened the Roundtable highlighting that women’s limited access to finance for campaigns is often identified as a key barrier hindering greater gender balance in parliaments and political parties. “A political sphere dominated by money is almost certainly a political sphere dominated by men”—it is often not the lack of able women, but rather the economic inequality, including access to resources to finance political campaigns, between men and women and limited opportunities for women to exhibit their skills that perpetuate their uneven representation in politics.

The two-day Roundtable focused on a number of thematic issues relating to gender and political finance, including the use of gender-targeted public funding, gender-sensitive intraparty measures, the role of male leaders, and opportunities to use ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising and campaigns. Bringing together participants, including male and female politicians from about 20 countries, the roundtable enabled an interactive exchange of experiences, good practices and challenges on how political finance can influence the access of women to elected positions in different countries around the world.

While there is a lot of work to be done to break down the social and cultural barriers in order to fully enable women to enter politics, the discussion highlighted that developing gender sensitive political finance regulations such as gender-targeted public funding proved to be useful in some countries. In addition, participants agreed that political parties with effective internal gender policies were one of the crucial success factors in achieving gender parity and ensuring equal access to political funding, as presented by the case of Belgium where women account for 43 per cent of the Parliament. The importance of involvement of male leaders in the development of such policies was highlighted with examples in Bhutan and Chile.

The roundtable also featured two sessions that focused on the potential of ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising opportunities. While women politicians and candidates are often subject to disinformation campaigns, examples of Kenya and Myanmar suggested that social media could provide women a platform to directly engage with the voters and set their narratives. However, the use of social media and ICTs by female politicians for fundraising were not yet a common practice in many countries. Online tools such as crowdfunding could be further explored and utilised in order to facilitate women to raise political funding.

Increasing women’s participation and representation in politics requires multi-dimensional efforts to address political, economic, social and cultural constraints. It is crucial to address women’s underrepresentation in politics through the linkages found between political finance and gender. Gender-neutral or gender-blind political finance regulations may inadvertently produce an unbalanced playing field among actors and thus impact the quality of democracy. Political finance regulations need to be introduced from a gender equality perspective. Detailed summary of the roundtable and video footage will be released in the coming weeks.

Source: International IDEA.

International IDEA organized the Inter-Regional Roundtable on the Intersections between Gender and Political Finance in Brussels on 16-17 October 2019. The Roundtable provided a forum for female and male politicians and practitioners from about 20 countries to discuss the interlinked dimensions of gender and political financing and how they influence gender equality in politics at all levels.

The Secretary-General of International IDEA, Dr Kevin Casas-Zamora opened the Roundtable highlighting that women’s limited access to finance for campaigns is often identified as a key barrier hindering greater gender balance in parliaments and political parties. “A political sphere dominated by money is almost certainly a political sphere dominated by men”—it is often not the lack of able women, but rather the economic inequality, including access to resources to finance political campaigns, between men and women and limited opportunities for women to exhibit their skills that perpetuate their uneven representation in politics.

The two-day Roundtable focused on a number of thematic issues relating to gender and political finance, including the use of gender-targeted public funding, gender-sensitive intraparty measures, the role of male leaders, and opportunities to use ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising and campaigns. Bringing together participants, including male and female politicians from about 20 countries, the roundtable enabled an interactive exchange of experiences, good practices and challenges on how political finance can influence the access of women to elected positions in different countries around the world.

While there is a lot of work to be done to break down the social and cultural barriers in order to fully enable women to enter politics, the discussion highlighted that developing gender sensitive political finance regulations such as gender-targeted public funding proved to be useful in some countries. In addition, participants agreed that political parties with effective internal gender policies were one of the crucial success factors in achieving gender parity and ensuring equal access to political funding, as presented by the case of Belgium where women account for 43 per cent of the Parliament. The importance of involvement of male leaders in the development of such policies was highlighted with examples in Bhutan and Chile.

The roundtable also featured two sessions that focused on the potential of ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising opportunities. While women politicians and candidates are often subject to disinformation campaigns, examples of Kenya and Myanmar suggested that social media could provide women a platform to directly engage with the voters and set their narratives. However, the use of social media and ICTs by female politicians for fundraising were not yet a common practice in many countries. Online tools such as crowdfunding could be further explored and utilised in order to facilitate women to raise political funding.

Increasing women’s participation and representation in politics requires multi-dimensional efforts to address political, economic, social and cultural constraints. It is crucial to address women’s underrepresentation in politics through the linkages found between political finance and gender. Gender-neutral or gender-blind political finance regulations may inadvertently produce an unbalanced playing field among actors and thus impact the quality of democracy. Political finance regulations need to be introduced from a gender equality perspective. Detailed summary of the roundtable and video footage will be released in the coming weeks.

Source: International IDEA.

International IDEA organized the Inter-Regional Roundtable on the Intersections between Gender and Political Finance in Brussels on 16-17 October 2019. The Roundtable provided a forum for female and male politicians and practitioners from about 20 countries to discuss the interlinked dimensions of gender and political financing and how they influence gender equality in politics at all levels.

The Secretary-General of International IDEA, Dr Kevin Casas-Zamora opened the Roundtable highlighting that women’s limited access to finance for campaigns is often identified as a key barrier hindering greater gender balance in parliaments and political parties. “A political sphere dominated by money is almost certainly a political sphere dominated by men”—it is often not the lack of able women, but rather the economic inequality, including access to resources to finance political campaigns, between men and women and limited opportunities for women to exhibit their skills that perpetuate their uneven representation in politics.

The two-day Roundtable focused on a number of thematic issues relating to gender and political finance, including the use of gender-targeted public funding, gender-sensitive intraparty measures, the role of male leaders, and opportunities to use ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising and campaigns. Bringing together participants, including male and female politicians from about 20 countries, the roundtable enabled an interactive exchange of experiences, good practices and challenges on how political finance can influence the access of women to elected positions in different countries around the world.

While there is a lot of work to be done to break down the social and cultural barriers in order to fully enable women to enter politics, the discussion highlighted that developing gender sensitive political finance regulations such as gender-targeted public funding proved to be useful in some countries. In addition, participants agreed that political parties with effective internal gender policies were one of the crucial success factors in achieving gender parity and ensuring equal access to political funding, as presented by the case of Belgium where women account for 43 per cent of the Parliament. The importance of involvement of male leaders in the development of such policies was highlighted with examples in Bhutan and Chile.

The roundtable also featured two sessions that focused on the potential of ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising opportunities. While women politicians and candidates are often subject to disinformation campaigns, examples of Kenya and Myanmar suggested that social media could provide women a platform to directly engage with the voters and set their narratives. However, the use of social media and ICTs by female politicians for fundraising were not yet a common practice in many countries. Online tools such as crowdfunding could be further explored and utilised in order to facilitate women to raise political funding.

Increasing women’s participation and representation in politics requires multi-dimensional efforts to address political, economic, social and cultural constraints. It is crucial to address women’s underrepresentation in politics through the linkages found between political finance and gender. Gender-neutral or gender-blind political finance regulations may inadvertently produce an unbalanced playing field among actors and thus impact the quality of democracy. Political finance regulations need to be introduced from a gender equality perspective. Detailed summary of the roundtable and video footage will be released in the coming weeks.

Source: International IDEA.

International IDEA organized the Inter-Regional Roundtable on the Intersections between Gender and Political Finance in Brussels on 16-17 October 2019. The Roundtable provided a forum for female and male politicians and practitioners from about 20 countries to discuss the interlinked dimensions of gender and political financing and how they influence gender equality in politics at all levels.

The Secretary-General of International IDEA, Dr Kevin Casas-Zamora opened the Roundtable highlighting that women’s limited access to finance for campaigns is often identified as a key barrier hindering greater gender balance in parliaments and political parties. “A political sphere dominated by money is almost certainly a political sphere dominated by men”—it is often not the lack of able women, but rather the economic inequality, including access to resources to finance political campaigns, between men and women and limited opportunities for women to exhibit their skills that perpetuate their uneven representation in politics.

The two-day Roundtable focused on a number of thematic issues relating to gender and political finance, including the use of gender-targeted public funding, gender-sensitive intraparty measures, the role of male leaders, and opportunities to use ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising and campaigns. Bringing together participants, including male and female politicians from about 20 countries, the roundtable enabled an interactive exchange of experiences, good practices and challenges on how political finance can influence the access of women to elected positions in different countries around the world.

While there is a lot of work to be done to break down the social and cultural barriers in order to fully enable women to enter politics, the discussion highlighted that developing gender sensitive political finance regulations such as gender-targeted public funding proved to be useful in some countries. In addition, participants agreed that political parties with effective internal gender policies were one of the crucial success factors in achieving gender parity and ensuring equal access to political funding, as presented by the case of Belgium where women account for 43 per cent of the Parliament. The importance of involvement of male leaders in the development of such policies was highlighted with examples in Bhutan and Chile.

The roundtable also featured two sessions that focused on the potential of ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising opportunities. While women politicians and candidates are often subject to disinformation campaigns, examples of Kenya and Myanmar suggested that social media could provide women a platform to directly engage with the voters and set their narratives. However, the use of social media and ICTs by female politicians for fundraising were not yet a common practice in many countries. Online tools such as crowdfunding could be further explored and utilised in order to facilitate women to raise political funding.

Increasing women’s participation and representation in politics requires multi-dimensional efforts to address political, economic, social and cultural constraints. It is crucial to address women’s underrepresentation in politics through the linkages found between political finance and gender. Gender-neutral or gender-blind political finance regulations may inadvertently produce an unbalanced playing field among actors and thus impact the quality of democracy. Political finance regulations need to be introduced from a gender equality perspective. Detailed summary of the roundtable and video footage will be released in the coming weeks.

Source: International IDEA.

International IDEA organized the Inter-Regional Roundtable on the Intersections between Gender and Political Finance in Brussels on 16-17 October 2019. The Roundtable provided a forum for female and male politicians and practitioners from about 20 countries to discuss the interlinked dimensions of gender and political financing and how they influence gender equality in politics at all levels.

The Secretary-General of International IDEA, Dr Kevin Casas-Zamora opened the Roundtable highlighting that women’s limited access to finance for campaigns is often identified as a key barrier hindering greater gender balance in parliaments and political parties. “A political sphere dominated by money is almost certainly a political sphere dominated by men”—it is often not the lack of able women, but rather the economic inequality, including access to resources to finance political campaigns, between men and women and limited opportunities for women to exhibit their skills that perpetuate their uneven representation in politics.

The two-day Roundtable focused on a number of thematic issues relating to gender and political finance, including the use of gender-targeted public funding, gender-sensitive intraparty measures, the role of male leaders, and opportunities to use ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising and campaigns. Bringing together participants, including male and female politicians from about 20 countries, the roundtable enabled an interactive exchange of experiences, good practices and challenges on how political finance can influence the access of women to elected positions in different countries around the world.

While there is a lot of work to be done to break down the social and cultural barriers in order to fully enable women to enter politics, the discussion highlighted that developing gender sensitive political finance regulations such as gender-targeted public funding proved to be useful in some countries. In addition, participants agreed that political parties with effective internal gender policies were one of the crucial success factors in achieving gender parity and ensuring equal access to political funding, as presented by the case of Belgium where women account for 43 per cent of the Parliament. The importance of involvement of male leaders in the development of such policies was highlighted with examples in Bhutan and Chile.

The roundtable also featured two sessions that focused on the potential of ICTs and social media for women’s fundraising opportunities. While women politicians and candidates are often subject to disinformation campaigns, examples of Kenya and Myanmar suggested that social media could provide women a platform to directly engage with the voters and set their narratives. However, the use of social media and ICTs by female politicians for fundraising were not yet a common practice in many countries. Online tools such as crowdfunding could be further explored and utilised in order to facilitate women to raise political funding.

Increasing women’s participation and representation in politics requires multi-dimensional efforts to address political, economic, social and cultural constraints. It is crucial to address women’s underrepresentation in politics through the linkages found between political finance and gender. Gender-neutral or gender-blind political finance regulations may inadvertently produce an unbalanced playing field among actors and thus impact the quality of democracy. Political finance regulations need to be introduced from a gender equality perspective. Detailed summary of the roundtable and video footage will be released in the coming weeks.

Source: International IDEA.

At the 141st IPU Assembly in Belgrade, Serbia, IPU Member Parliaments condemned human rights violations against a record number of new cases of abused MPs. The IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, the only international body with an exclusive remit to support MPs in danger, examined the cases of 305 parliamentarians in 10 countries whose human rights had been allegedly violated.

Full details of all the decisions are available here.

Over half the cases are new complaints – mainly from Venezuela, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone and Libya. Most of the cases concern opposition MPs (83%) and a fifth are women MPs (21%).

Click here to read the full article published by IPU on 17 October 2019.

At the 141st IPU Assembly in Belgrade, Serbia, IPU Member Parliaments condemned human rights violations against a record number of new cases of abused MPs. The IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, the only international body with an exclusive remit to support MPs in danger, examined the cases of 305 parliamentarians in 10 countries whose human rights had been allegedly violated.

Full details of all the decisions are available here.

Over half the cases are new complaints – mainly from Venezuela, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone and Libya. Most of the cases concern opposition MPs (83%) and a fifth are women MPs (21%).

Click here to read the full article published by IPU on 17 October 2019.

At the 141st IPU Assembly in Belgrade, Serbia, IPU Member Parliaments condemned human rights violations against a record number of new cases of abused MPs. The IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, the only international body with an exclusive remit to support MPs in danger, examined the cases of 305 parliamentarians in 10 countries whose human rights had been allegedly violated.

Full details of all the decisions are available here.

Over half the cases are new complaints – mainly from Venezuela, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone and Libya. Most of the cases concern opposition MPs (83%) and a fifth are women MPs (21%).

Click here to read the full article published by IPU on 17 October 2019.

At the 141st IPU Assembly in Belgrade, Serbia, IPU Member Parliaments condemned human rights violations against a record number of new cases of abused MPs. The IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, the only international body with an exclusive remit to support MPs in danger, examined the cases of 305 parliamentarians in 10 countries whose human rights had been allegedly violated.

Full details of all the decisions are available here.

Over half the cases are new complaints – mainly from Venezuela, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone and Libya. Most of the cases concern opposition MPs (83%) and a fifth are women MPs (21%).

Click here to read the full article published by IPU on 17 October 2019.

At the 141st IPU Assembly in Belgrade, Serbia, IPU Member Parliaments condemned human rights violations against a record number of new cases of abused MPs. The IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, the only international body with an exclusive remit to support MPs in danger, examined the cases of 305 parliamentarians in 10 countries whose human rights had been allegedly violated.

Full details of all the decisions are available here.

Over half the cases are new complaints – mainly from Venezuela, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone and Libya. Most of the cases concern opposition MPs (83%) and a fifth are women MPs (21%).

Click here to read the full article published by IPU on 17 October 2019.

At the 141st IPU Assembly in Belgrade, Serbia, IPU Member Parliaments condemned human rights violations against a record number of new cases of abused MPs. The IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, the only international body with an exclusive remit to support MPs in danger, examined the cases of 305 parliamentarians in 10 countries whose human rights had been allegedly violated.

Full details of all the decisions are available here.

Over half the cases are new complaints – mainly from Venezuela, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone and Libya. Most of the cases concern opposition MPs (83%) and a fifth are women MPs (21%).

Click here to read the full article published by IPU on 17 October 2019.

At the 141st IPU Assembly in Belgrade, Serbia, IPU Member Parliaments condemned human rights violations against a record number of new cases of abused MPs. The IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, the only international body with an exclusive remit to support MPs in danger, examined the cases of 305 parliamentarians in 10 countries whose human rights had been allegedly violated.

Full details of all the decisions are available here.

Over half the cases are new complaints – mainly from Venezuela, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone and Libya. Most of the cases concern opposition MPs (83%) and a fifth are women MPs (21%).

Click here to read the full article published by IPU on 17 October 2019.

At the 141st IPU Assembly in Belgrade, Serbia, IPU Member Parliaments condemned human rights violations against a record number of new cases of abused MPs. The IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, the only international body with an exclusive remit to support MPs in danger, examined the cases of 305 parliamentarians in 10 countries whose human rights had been allegedly violated.

Full details of all the decisions are available here.

Over half the cases are new complaints – mainly from Venezuela, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone and Libya. Most of the cases concern opposition MPs (83%) and a fifth are women MPs (21%).

Click here to read the full article published by IPU on 17 October 2019.

At the 141st IPU Assembly in Belgrade, Serbia, IPU Member Parliaments condemned human rights violations against a record number of new cases of abused MPs. The IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, the only international body with an exclusive remit to support MPs in danger, examined the cases of 305 parliamentarians in 10 countries whose human rights had been allegedly violated.

Full details of all the decisions are available here.

Over half the cases are new complaints – mainly from Venezuela, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone and Libya. Most of the cases concern opposition MPs (83%) and a fifth are women MPs (21%).

Click here to read the full article published by IPU on 17 October 2019.

At the 141st IPU Assembly in Belgrade, Serbia, IPU Member Parliaments condemned human rights violations against a record number of new cases of abused MPs. The IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, the only international body with an exclusive remit to support MPs in danger, examined the cases of 305 parliamentarians in 10 countries whose human rights had been allegedly violated.

Full details of all the decisions are available here.

Over half the cases are new complaints – mainly from Venezuela, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone and Libya. Most of the cases concern opposition MPs (83%) and a fifth are women MPs (21%).

Click here to read the full article published by IPU on 17 October 2019.