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A Practical Guide to Constitution Building

A Practical Guide to Constitution Building provides an essential foundation for understanding constitutions and constitution building. Full of world examples of ground-breaking agreements and innovative provisions adopted during processes of constitutional change, the Guide offers a wide range of examples of how constitutions develop and how their development can establish and entrench democratic values. Beyond comparative examples, the Guide contains in-depth analysis of key components of constitutions and the forces of change that shape them.

Chapter 2 includes a section on "Principles related to gender" and Chapter 3 includes a section on "The rights of women".

Empowering Women for Stronger Political Parties

How women participate in political parties – and how those parties encourage and nurture women’s involvement and incorporate gender-equality issues – are key determinants of women’s political empowerment. They are also key to ensuring gender-equality issues are addressed in the wider society. If strategies to promote women’s involvement in the political process are to be effective, they should be linked to steps parties can take across the specific phases of the electoral cycle – the preelectoral, electoral and post-electoral phases – and to the organization and financing of the parties themselves. 
 
The most effective strategies to increase women’s participation in political parties combine reforms to political institutions with targeted support to women party activists within and outside party structures, women candidates and elected officials. These strategies require the cooperation of a variety of actors and political parties from across the political spectrum.
 
The Guide identifies targeted interventions that political parties can take to empower women. It is structured according to four phases, following an electoral cycle approach.

iKNOW Politics attended the workshop on the analysis of political parties’ policy documents

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Wed, 2011-06-15 01:37

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From June 9 to 10 iKNOW Politics participated to the workshop on the analysis of political parties’ policy documents from a gender perspective.

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The objective of this meeting was to examine the role of political parties in achieving gender equality and diversity in political leadership and decision making. Sub-Regional Seminar is to leverage for effective measures to promote equal access in political processes and participation in decision making by both men and women. The specific objectives were to:

  • Define priority actions and mechanisms to accelerate progress towards gender equality in political leadership;
  • Identify strategies and share good practices for gender-sensitive transformation of political spaces and processes;
  • Strengthen national and sub-regional alliances and partnerships to increase accountability on gender equality.

The beginning of the meeting was streamed on iKNOW Politics and some women were interviewed.


South Africa: The women who made the elections

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Fri, 2011-06-03 10:19

Summary: 

“This will be a very important meeting for the party, we need to look at the results and analyse them. We have big decisions to make, especially with municipalities where the ANC or IFP did not win an outright majority,” Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi says.

It is Friday afternoon and just hours before the Independent Electoral Commission releases the final official results for the May 18 elections, and kaMagwaza-Msibi is already planning a meeting to analyse her party’s results.

Her three-month-old party, which broke away from the Inkatha Freedom Party, bagged 2.58 percent of the votes nationally; a better showing than the two-year-old Cope, which only netted 2.33 percent. In KwaZulu-Natal, the NFP’s presence brought a virtual wipe-out of the IFP.

The NFP also won two wards in Mpumalanga and North West.

“I criss-crossed the country and campaigned in eight out of nine provinces. It has been the most hectic days of my life.”

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To read the complete news story please visit The Star.


South Africa: Women Candidates Struggle in Local Government Elections

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Tue, 2011-05-31 02:01

Summary: 

Political parties should be forced, through changes in legislation, to bring more women into government. This is the call from the Commission on Gender Equality (CGE) after the country’s local government election saw only 17.25 percent of women elected as councilors out of the total number of candidates standing in the election. Of the candidates running for election, only 37 percent were women.

 

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For more information, please visit: IPS news


IDEA: RESEARCHERS’ WORKSHOP ON THE ANALYSIS OF POLITICAL PARTIES’ POLICY

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Sun, 2011-05-29 22:00
2011-06-09
2011-06-10
US/Eastern
Click here
City & Province/State: 
Pretoria
Country: 
South Africa
Venue: 


Pretoria, South Africa- Follow the webcast here

Description: 

Watch live streaming video from iknowpolitics at livestream.com

 

International IDEA (www.idea.int) is an inter-governmental organization established in 1995 with Member States from all regions of the world. The African Member States of International IDEA are Botswana, Carpe Verde; Ghana; Mauritius; Namibia and South Africa. International IDEA’s mission is to support democracy building through providing comparative knowledge, assisting in democratic reform and influencing policies and politics. International IDEA views democracy as a political system marked by public participation and inclusion, representative and accountable government, responsiveness to citizens’ needs and aspirations, the rule of law and equal rights
of all citizens without regard to class, sex, gender, ethnic, race or religious background.


The purpose of the workshop to be held in Pretoria, South Africa is to bring together the Researchers from the different countries and distil the trends on gender issues in political processes and systems, facilitate an understanding of the Terms of Reference for the analysis, signing of the Contributor’s Agreement and defining the expected outputs of the analysis.

For more informations, please contact David Rosen, Administrative Assistant (Democracy and Gender Programme), d.rosen@idea.int or +46 8 6983730 and Nana Kalandadze, Programme Officer (Democracy and Gender Programme),


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South-Africa: Women’s Issues Missing from Election Manifestos

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Tue, 2011-05-24 00:51

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South Africans will take to the polls on May 18 to vote in the country’s fourth local government elections but women’s issues are glaringly absent from many of the party manifestos, observers say. 

This is despite the fact that 45 percent of female-headed households live below the poverty line, according to Statistics South Africa. 

Janine Hicks from the Commission on Gender Equality says that none of the five major parties have mainstreamed the issue of gender. "We have looked at a sample of party manifestos and we did a scan and analysis and in the main parties have not mainstreamed gender in their manifestos. Their main focus seems to be on service delivery," she says. 

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For more information, please visit IPS.  


South Africa: Women’s Issues Missing from Election Manifestos

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Thu, 2011-05-19 00:43

Summary: 

South Africans will take to the polls on May 18 to vote in the country’s fourth local government elections but women’s issues are glaringly absent from many of the party manifestos, observers say. Janine Hicks from the Commission on Gender Equality says that none of the five major parties have mainstreamed the issue of gender. "We have looked at a sample of party manifestos and we did a scan and analysis and in the main parties have not mainstreamed gender in their manifestos. Their main focus seems to be on service delivery," she says.



 

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For more information, please visit: IPS


South Africa: Woman Navigating a Tough Political System

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Thu, 2011-05-19 00:36

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Victoria Zanele KaMagwaza-Msibi admits she is no angel. But for 30 years she’s navigated through South Africa’s tough political landscape, mainly as a member of a male-dominated party, and now as the leader of her own political party.

''I'm not an angel. I haven't forgotten. It left pain in my heart to leave a party that I invested 30 years of (my) life in. But I have tried to channel that pain into a constructive realm. I insist on the idea that democracy and women’s advancement must be promoted within a political organisation," KaMagwaza- Msibi says.



 

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For more information, please visit: IPS


South Africa: Do More Women Politicians Mean Better Politics?

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Thu, 2011-05-12 06:18

Summary: 

Since the first democratic elections in 1994, women representation in Parliament has soared, owing partly to the ruling party's 50/50 principle at national and provincial spheres of government. After the 2009 elections, women’s representation in cabinet increased from 34 percent to 43 percent, a nine percent increase, and the country saw the accession of five women to the positions of premier in the country's nine provinces.

However, women continue to struggle to make headway in political circles since many are still buried far down in the political hierarchy of most political parties due to the daunting conservatism of the South African political culture and its political institutions.

 

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For more information, please visit: IPS