Elections and Quotas

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The right to vote and the right to stand for election are two fundamental tenets of democracy. Notably, many countries did not afford women the right to vote until the 20th Century. Even today, universal suffrage is not a given right in all countries, and women often face obstacles that undermine their participation in political and electoral processes.

Such obstacles can be political in nature, specific to the electoral system in use or a lack of a given political party’s support for female candidates. Obstacles can also be socio-economic, such as poverty, unemployment and lack of education, all of which result in an inferior social standing and affect women’s financial ability to engage in politics. Other obstacles can be of an ideological nature: Cultural norms, fixed gender roles, the lack of confidence among women to engage in politics and media portrayal of women in politics all have an influence on women’s participation.

There are various ways to support women in overcoming these obstacles. Such methods include revising the electoral system used, applying affirmative action mechanisms such as quotas, improving voter education for women and training political candidates. These are a few of the modes available to strengthen women’s political participation.

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From the Library

E-Learning Course: Getting to the Gate

Equal Voices present 'Getting to the Gate', our online campaign school for women interested in getting into politics. This course is free of charge; however, all users must register to access the course.

This online course aims to increase the number of elected women by providing practical tools for women of all ages, backgrounds and walks of life interested in running for public office.

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UNESCO & IGNOU - Gender Training Kit

This gender training kit brings you resources on gender and development drawn from the World Wide Web and audio/video/print materials. There are seven gender training modules in the kit. They are designed in self-instructional format and include lessons, self assessment and tests for evaluation. The content areas include:

Module 1: Dimensions of Empowerment and Gender Training
Module 2: Gender-sensitive Policies, Interventions and Institutions
Module 3: Media, Methods and Approaches in Gender Training
Module 4: Education and Research
Module 5: Leadership
Module 6: Governance
Module 7: Entrepreneurship

To find out details about the training kit please visit the URL below.

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E-learning Courses: Anti Corruption

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark - Competence Centre has recently launched the E-learning Portal, which is a new edition of our web platform for distribution of e-learning courses and related online activities. This notice informs external users about the changes while more general information about the launch can be found in a separate notice on the e-learning portal. External users in this regard are defined as everybody, who are not registered as MFA staff.

The access to the E-learning Portal and the new design might be the first noticeable change for external users. External websites like the Train4Dev website now links directly to the new E-learning Portal and you can use your existing username and password to access your e-learning courses.

Please click on the URL below to access information about the ecourses and the process of signing up.

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BRIDGE Civic Education Development Project

The BRIDGE Civic Education Development Project (CEDP) is a professional development project to build capacity in people working in areas of democracy and governance.

This project developed from the concept of establishing a civics and governance component within the umbrella of BRIDGE. BRIDGE stands for Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections and the CEDP aims to expand the current BRIDGE elections (E) curriculum to include the Democracy and Governance (D and G) of BRIDGE.

To find out details about the program please click on the URL below.

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Gender Training Wiki

The UN INSTRAW Gender Training Wiki is intended to provide a centralized resource centre for gender trainers, academics, gender mainstreaming, knowledge management & development experts and practitioners , as well as individuals and organizations in general looking for gender training opportunities and resources and funding for their activities.

UN INSTRAW staff regularly updates the information in the Gender Training Wiki. However, the Wiki is a participatory resource centre and the intention is that this site will be self sustaining and the community of registered users will upload and comment on content as well as benefiting from content uploaded by others.

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eLearning Course on Effective Electoral Assistance

The European Commission (EC), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) are pleased to announce the arrival of the pioneer eLearning Course on Effective Electoral Assistance. The Course has been developed within the Train4Dev initiative and in collaboration with International Organization for Migration (IOM), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Organization for American States (OAS) and the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affiars.

The overarching objective of the eLearning Course on Effective Electoral Assistance is to make the electoral assistance community to deliver more effective assistance in line with the main principles informing the Paris Declaration (2005) and the Accra Agenda for Action (2008) regards ownership, alignment, harmonization, results and accountability. Development of the capacities of electoral assistance providers (multilateral and bilateral agencies and international organizations) as well those receiving assistance (national electoral management bodies and other electoral stakeholders) is vital in improving assistance effectiveness.

The eLearning Course is developed on the basis of the face-to-face Joint EC-UNDP-IDEA Joint Training on Effective Electoral Assistance. The first training of this type was organized in September 2006 in Brussels and since then the training has developed tremendously in terms of the audience, the experts contributing and the curriculum.

To find further details please visit E-Learning Portal.

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Women in Politics 2010 (Poster)

This poster-sized map is a "snapshot" of the presence of women in executive and legislative branches of government as of January 2010. The poster provides information on the percentage of women in ministerial ranks, women in parliaments and women in the highest decision-making bodies, as well as information on the ministerial portfolios held by women throughout the world.

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Monitoring Electronic Technologies in Electoral Processes

This guide aims to increase the understanding of civic and political activists regarding what transparency measures to demand in establishing safeguards concerning electronic electoral technologies, as well as what skills their organizations will need to develop to verify the integrity of electronic electoral technologies. Specifically, it covers the types of technologies employed, the potential challenges for electoral integrity brought by such technologies, issues to consider in deciding whether to introduce electronic technologies and transparency that should be employed when electronic technologies are utilized.

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Consolidated Response on the Prevention of Family Voting

This consolidated response includes descriptions of family and proxy voting and provides recommendations on how to eliminate family voting through holding trainings and public awareness campaigns, strengthening legislative frameworks, and sensitizing election commissioners and observers on issues faced by women.

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The Implementation of Voluntary Gender Quotas by the Australian Labor Party

This presentation describes the background of the Australian Labor Party and highlights the party's experiences with introducing affirmative action measures in Australia.

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