Funding for Women Candidates
Women continue to be severely underrepresented in decision-making processes and bodies across the world at all levels. In fact, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) reports only 23% of members of parliament (MPs) are women. A major contributing factor to this is the unequal access to the resources needed to successfully seek nominations or participate in electoral campaigns. It has been increasingly recognized that politics dominated by money, more often than not, is politics dominated by men. IPU conducted a survey in 2008 of 300 MPs affirming that campaign financing was one of the biggest obstacles faced by women. This was later confirmed in research done by UN women in 2013 [1], wherein over 80% of the respondents identified access to financing as one of the biggest barriers to enter politics. The costs of running for office varies greatly across countries and the barriers faced by women differ depending on context. Systemic issues such as lower economic status and lack of economic independence affect women globally, effectively placing barriers for women’s participation in politics [2].
While there are several factors that affect women’s political participation, electoral systems are key among them. Majority-based and candidate-centered systems tend to require more self-funding from candidates, putting women at a disadvantage. Costs will often be incurred in attempting to win a primary election, and then in the election period. Party primaries can be very expensive and act as an obstacle for women’s participation as they often require significant self-funding. Proportional systems typically require less fundraising from the individual candidate and are therefore considered favorable to women. This is due to political parties bearing the biggest costs for campaigning. However, political parties often stand as gate-keepers, nominating men they believe are more likely to attract more private funding due to ingrained gender stereotypes.
In many countries, the role of private funding is diminished due to the provision of public funding from the state. Around 30 countries have introduced public funding measures that promote the nomination and election of women into decision-making bodies. This may include earmarking funds for activities supporting women’s participation, such as providing direct funding for women’s wings; withholding funding for parties that do not reach a threshold of women nominated; or increasing funding for parties with higher levels of gender equality. International IDEA’s latest report on the matter indicates that gender targeted public funding is only effective in countries where the funding amounts are high in relation to private funding; when the potential losses in public funding for not nominating women is high; and the connection between public funding and gender equality is sufficient to overcome gender prejudices within political parties. In contexts where parties do not rely on public funding, the penalties for not complying are low and gender-targeted public funding is unlikely to be effective.
Objective of the e-Discussion
iKNOW Politics and its partners are convening this e-Discussion from May 15 to June 19, 2018 to seek input from political party leaders and members, politicians, experts, practitioners, and researchers on the challenges and opportunities of funding for women candidates and its role in promoting women’s political participation. The submissions will contribute to the elaboration of a Consolidated Reply that will augment the knowledge base available on campaign funding and its impact on women’s political participation.
Questions:
- In your experience, what are the main challenges women encounter in raising funds for elections in your country?
- Are there any examples of innovative ways of fundraising used by women candidates?
- What are the good practices in political parties to support the nomination and fundraising for women candidates?
- What measures can governments establish to financially support women candidates? And how can these be effectively enforced?
- Use the below comment section below.
- Send your contribution to connect@iknowpolitics.org so that we can post it on your behalf.
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[1] UN Women undertook an assessment of parliamentarians and activists during the 57th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York in March 2013, and with members of the iKNOW Politics network, http://www.iknowpolitics.org. A total of 70 respondents provided their views on the issue of political financing.
[2] For a comprehensive analysis of the challenges in receiving funding faced by women across the world, please see the chapter “Women in Politics: Financing for Gender Equality” in Funding of Political Parties and Election Campaigns: A Handbook on Political Finance
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What can political parties do?
At NIMD, we recognize that financial resources are a prerequisite for competing in elections. This often represents an obstacle for women who wish to enter into politics, as the socio-economic situation of women in most countries is lower that of men.
We work with women politicians and political parties to start to even the playing field.
We have put together a roadmap of steps political parties can take to facilitate the equal participation of women and men: https://nimd.org/programmes/gender/
Government measures to financially support women candidates
Governments have a key role to play. Some recommendations are:
- Limit the amounts that can be spent on campaign financing. Ensure transparency in campaign financing to limit the use of black money and of illegal networks and companies.
- Strengthen the mandate of the Electoral Management Body (EMB) to monitor campaign spending and hold political parties to account regarding their financial reports. Ensure sufficient financial and human resources for the EMBs to be able to effectively implement their task.
- Explore possibilities for financial incentives to increase women’s political participation.
- Provide financial incentives for political parties to identify women candidates and put them on the list. Gender Electoral Financing and Gender Quota can reinforce each other.
Contribution by Dr. Ameena Al-Rasheed, UK
Posted on behalf of Dr. Ameena Al-Rasheed, iKNOW Politics Expert, Consultant, former Assistant Professor and UN Regional Advisor, UK.
In your experience, what are the main challenges women encounter in raising funds for elections in your country?
Prior to including women in the political process and standing for offices and being candidates in elections, it is very imperative to explore and understand the current women's position vis a vis society economic social and political settings. We have known for quite some time and across the globe that poverty has a feminine face, and it is a reflect that the wide majority of women are among the big strata of poor people in our planet. Having said that, for women acquire a position in political offices, specific economic power and finances are needed, and not to overlook the social and political dimension of women's presence at the decision-making process, there are also many other obstacle the hinder women from assuming powerful and decision making position in politics in general. Now as we discuss the election procedure itself and finance for political campaign, it not easy to deal with issues in isolation of the whole political process, elections rules, political party engagement etc. All in all there is a certain and a specific need for affirmative actions to secure women's position in the political process, this task should be performed by all relevant parties, i.e political parties, election committee, the rules, the regulations and the election nature.
Are there any examples of innovative ways of fundraising used by women candidates?
May be there are many example of how women thrive to raise fund and to support their campaign and to stand for office, nonetheless, without political parties commitment, and without sound measures that allows women to take part, even finances cannot guarantee women's selection, nonetheless, women often made huge efforts to raise fund and to support their campaigns and i believe a comprehensive perspective into women's inclusion in politics and political offices need to be followed, including funding issues, affirmative action, election rules adjustment, and allowing platforms for women to take part and to be visible in the public sphere so that women's image in politics can smoothly been normalised.
What are the good practices in political parties to support the nomination and fundraising for women candidates?
Affirmative actions should be well in place to secure women's inclusion and selection, positive discrimination in allocation of fund should be thought, as women socially and political face more challenges than men in assuming offices.
What measures can governments establish to financially support women candidates? And how can these be effectively enforced?
Collective actions are needed as:
All in all, I believe that raising fund for women, need to be simultaneously followed by commitment of all, affirmative actions well in place, inclusive election rules, that takes in to consideration the social cultural and economic set-up and women's positioning in the society.
Women's Political Fund
At the recent Mo Ibrahim Weekend in Kigali, Rwanda, The Vice President of Liberia, Madam Jewel Taylor proposed, and it was unanimously endorsed, the creation of a women's political trust fund. This was based on her experience and the shared experiences of many other female elected political officials in the room- where the issue of resources became their biggest impediment. A working group was proposed to work out a concept and modalities for this- under the leadership of the African Development Bank.
I am still curious to find out how this will work- considering campaign finance laws and regulations, combined with the multi-faceted partisan and ideological complexities. But I am sure there is a potential there to address some dimensions of the funding gap for female candidates.
In our experience at Moremi Initiative for Women's Leadership in Africa, working with young female politicians and emerging leaders throughout the continent. The situation is even more dire for them. We must find a solution to this if we are to make any meaningful headway in our fight for greater and equal representation and participation of women in our elections and democracies.
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Funding for Women Candidates
1, The main challenges are sexual harassment by potential male benefactors, lack of collateral security to obtain loans from financial institutions, unwillingness of banks to fund political projects including elections, due to uncertainty of of electoral outcomes and the ability of candidates to repay loan if not elected among others.
2. Innovative examples of raising funds may be context-specific and may not be restricted to cash only. For instance one can appeal to leaders of grassroots associations to campaign for votes with little or at no cost while candidates can also mortgage property such as lands, vehicles or houses in exchange for financial assistance by local money lenders or wealthy individuals. Political Parties can also support female candidates with major campaign materials such as vehicles, motor-bikes , outboards motors(depending on the physical terrain) and the female candidates use of effective communication skills and tools.
3. Good practices by political parties to support women candidates,, may also be context specific and depends also on the electoral system and laws in place. But the insistence of political parties on quotas for qualified female candidates and effective lobbying by the women’s wings of their political leadership for sizeable quotas for women, may be helpful.
4. Measures by governments to support women candidates may include , amendments of legal regimes in use if not favorable, enforcement of legal regimes if available,intensive lobbying by women’s groups in the Country, insistence on the implementation of UN Conventions on the political empowerment of women including provisions in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and others by Networks such as iKnowpolitics as well as more Donor support towards the political empowerment of women especially in developing Countries..
CONTRIBUTION BY DR. SANTOSH KUMAR MISHRA, INDIA
Posted on behalf of Dr. Santosh Kumar Mishra (Ph. D.), Technical Assistant, Population Education Resource Centre (PERC), Department of Continuing and Adult Education and Extension Work, S. N. D. T. Women's University (SNDTWU), India.
1. In your experience, what are the main challenges women encounter in raising funds for elections in your country?
According to my experiences, in India (I reside in) women attempting to get elected (in national and provincial electoral events) are constrained by gender related issues. Despite legislative and constitutional amendments over the years, they are, often, discouraged from participating in electoral processes. However, of late, things are taking different shape and they are attempting to move forward. In a country like India, which is second biggest (next to China) in terms of volume of population, self-funding is not always feasible solution to manage the electoral initiatives. In this context, “fund-raising for campaign management” becomes important. Funding from other sources is possible, but this will require positive attitude among male population towards women’s contribution in politics.
2. Are there any examples of innovative ways of fundraising used by women candidates?
Use of electronic media, in general, and social media, in particular, can be quite effective in fundraising management. Social media offers many advantages over traditional media tools. In addition to being free platforms with the ability to reach the public rapidly, social media sites also deflect the cost of acquiring and retaining viewers. Campaign websites and blogs may draw individuals. The power of social-media-based mobilization suggests that sites such as Facebook and Twitter might facilitate mobilization strategies (source: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/ssqu.12391, accessed on May 24, 2018).
3. What are the good practices in political parties to support the nomination and fundraising for women candidates?
Political parties gain when women not only participate in the electoral and governing processes, but also influence them. Superficial efforts to increase the number of women involved in politics that offer no real qualitative influence or decision-making powers are unlikely to produce any new or immediate benefits. Typical examples of such efforts include:
The universal trend is towards democratic governance based on parity and equality among sexes. Outreach to traditionally under-represented groups, such as women, is now considered a minimum standard for the democratic functioning of political parties and for the legislative bodies within which they operate (source: https://www.ndi.org/sites/default/files/Empowering-Women-Full-Case-Study-ENG.pdf, accessed on May 24, 2018).
4. What measures can governments establish to financially support women candidates? And how can these be effectively enforced?
It is necessary to access substantial funds to conduct an electoral campaign. In those countries where there is public funding along with quota systems and other measures that favour women, all candidates, including women generally access funds through their political parties. Thus, once they have secured nomination, funding is partially guaranteed. However in those countries where candidates themselves have to raise the funds, large amounts of money are often essential to running a successful campaign. Public funding, considered by many states to be a desirable and positive measure, has been adopted by countries in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean in order to equalize expenditures among candidates in electoral campaigns. In some cases however, women candidates have argued that it is not enough to cover their expenses for two reasons, namely,
As a result men end up being the main recipients of public funding. Social factors can also lead to a greater need for investment in electoral campaigns. Income level, race and ethnicity, level of education, dominant language skills, geographical location, sexual orientation, age, family relations, and phenotype of women candidates all tend to affect their political participation throughout their careers, especially the ability to acquire campaign funds during electoral campaigns. The poorest and most disempowered women from developing countries, including women from ethnic minorities, face a completely different economic reality when campaigning than do women from developed countries who are supported by their parties or other mechanisms.
There are three different legal financial modalities under which parties get resources: a) public finance; b) private finance; and c) combined public/private finance. Depending on the political and socio-economic context, different modalities of finance might or might not favour women. However, in order to identify what financial modality favours women, further research is needed (source: http://wedo.org/wp-content/uploads/women-candidates-and-campaign-finance-report-final.pdf, accessed on May 24, 2018).
Contribution by Senator Regina Mundi, Cameroon
Posted on Behalf of Regina Mundi, Senator and leading member of the Cameroon People's Democratic Movement.
Q1: In my country Cameroon women have many problems raising funds for elections. The first problem is that the possible donors don't see women as politicians who can deliver the goods. Why invest in someone who is not likely to win. Even if she wins she will be very objective and would not allow herself to be pocketed by the donors. Secondly one needs money to raise money. The start off funds for female politicians is usually very small and this makes the input for fundraising difficult.
Q2: This is a method I have tried and it worked. I sat down with my daughters and made a list of all my acquaintances. I was surprised it was a lo g list. I called those I could and wrote simple letters to some. The response was good. Some sent me airtime credit. Others fuel for my car. This method did not only get financial support for me but now from a base for political support.
Q3: All elections except Presidential are on the list system. Political parties and the body that oversees elections will not accept lists without the required % of women. Now it is 30%. The most difficult challenge for women becomes how to get on the list. Once on the party list the political party raises funds as a party for the campaign. Even so the candidates still must have money of her own for the campaign. The difficulties in finding this campaign money is a stumbling block. The thought of it puts off many efficient women from running for office.
Q4: I suggest Governments can give interest free loans to women who have won their party's nomination. Also, governments can give outright subsidies to such women knowing that women in any decision making level brings in meaningful change.
Contribution by Fatma Aytac, Turkey
Posted on behalf of Fatma Aytac, Co-Chairwoman of the Women's Party, Turkey.
1. The existing political system and political party law have a lot of challenges for women candidates. The party leader and a number of core group people decide on the candidates. Even the application fee for candidate is not affordable for most of the women. There is women’s quota (gender quota) in some party’s bylaws. Neither they do not apply it nor they put women candidates to the level that they can not be elected.
2. Fundraising is only possible in election time, otherwise you have to have permission from city governor. I didn’t see any innovative example in Turkey, but we are thinking how to apply the American System to Turkey. There are individual efforts but I didn’t see a successful result until now.
3. There are good practices which was applied to support women reeve (muhtar) during the last local elections. Women’s Associations supported the women candidates, which was a part of the project. We achieved good results. (The details can be shared if requested.)
4. We ask government to include parity system to the law. It needs to be assured by law. And government banks can provide compaign credit to women, or supporting women candidates can be tax deductible.
The nomination system needs to change from A to Z. There is an oligarchy in all main-stream parties. Others do not have any chance to enter to the parliament, because there is 10% election treshold, which is totally antidemocratic.
About Women’s Party
Women’s Party of Turkey was inaugurated on Jun 25, 2014. Since then we are trying to survive and raise our voice. Women’s Party is demanding change of the political rant system, to have a liberal democracy where the women and young people become esteemed members of the economic, social and political life. Women’s Party was established to show that different politics is possible.
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Albanian experience: from 7 to 28% in 13 years
The recent IDEA report "Gender-targeted public funding for political parties" includes a series of country specific cases. For example, in Albania, the proportion of women in parliament used to be very low, typically languishing at around 5%. Following the 2005 election, women constituted only 7% of the elected members of parliament.
In 2008, the country enacted regulations mandating that political parties nominate at least 30% of either gender, or otherwise the party would see its public funding reduced. Further sanctions were enacted against parties that failed to nominate women for at least one of the top three positions in the party lists.
In the elections following the enactment of these rules in 2009, the country experienced an immediate and significant increase of women nominated within parties, growing from 9% to 32% between elections. The number of women nominated and elected have risen every year, reaching 40% nominated and 28% elected in 2017.
Albanian example provides some insights as to under what conditions gender-targeted public funding may work to promote gender equality in politics.
1. The share of total party income received from public sources is high. In Albania, political parties rely on public funding for upwards of 90 per cent of their total funding. Therefore, the incentive to nominate women is significant. This is not the case in other countries, decreasing the effect of the regulations.
2. There was a strong connection between the gender balance achieved and the level of public funding provided. In Albania, parties risk significant financial loss for failing to follow the legislation. After the 2017 elections, the country’s second largest party, the Democratic Party, lost 57% of the funding ahead of the elections due to its failure to adhere to the regulations in some districts.
3. With the increasing number of women in parliament over the years, psychological barriers/gender prejudices to nominate women within the Albanian political parties might be gradually decreasing, contributing to foster a culture of more gender sensitive political culture.
The IDEA report (available at https://www.idea.int/sites/default/files/publications/gender-targeted-pu...) also includes detailed case studies in Croatia, France, Haiti and Portugal. We would welcome any comments, analysis and suggestions from other experts in this e-discussion group !
Tall poppies
One of the barriers in many countries, including my own (the USA), is Tall Poppy syndrome: too often, people want to cut down the tallest poppy, the one that dares to try to stand out, to be noticed - and in this case, that poppy is a woman seeking a leadership position/political office. We need to work on this root cause in order to create not just a willingness, but a passion, for people to financially support (and otherwise support) female candidates.
Funding for women candidates
In Australia around about 25 years ago we were concerned about the low number of women in our Parliaments. We set up EMILYs List Australia to support progressive Australian Labor Party women into our Parliaments. Based on EMILYs List USA we provide ‘early money’ , to a supported women’s campaign ( money to help her with campaign expenses as well as personal expense such as child care so she can attend campaign meetings) and we also circulate her information to our members who can make ‘direct donations’ into her campaign funds. We also provide training, campaign mentors and a feminist support network. Since then we have supported over 250 women into our Parliaments. We also have a temporary special measure quota, so with the help of EMILYs List Australia and our quota, the Labor Party now has women at approximately 44% of MPs. This is double the percentage for Australia’s other major party.
Contribution by Ana Kadovic, Albania
Posted on behalf of Ana Kadovic, Resident Director, NDI Albania.
Q1: In your experience, what are the main challenges women encounters in raising funds for elections in your country?
In October 2016, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) initiated a program in Albania with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to assist political parties in strengthening and sustaining internal practices on financial management, accountability, and transparency; and to advance public debate on political finance through cross-party efforts for reform and public monitoring. NDI analyzed financial chapters of political party statutes and decisions and regulations pertaining to finance made available to it. The experts explored challenges of women wings to access party funds and collected feedback from women political activists and members of parliament (MPs) on how women could increase access to party resources
One of the main findings was that women and youth wings of political parties have limited access to party funding, which prevents them from planning their outreach, policy development and other activities with any predictability. Consequently, securing winnable places on party candidates lists remains challenging in the absence of access to financial resources and clear candidate nomination and selection procedures.
The assessment team heard that access to funding is particularly important during the nomination stage for potential candidates in Albania. Individuals with access to resources that can be used for the party or the campaign and those who are seen to be most loyal to party leaders are often given priority. Women are often overlooked, even if they are proven organizers and leaders. Thus, the lack of transparency in party’s candidate recruitment and nomination process, as well as circumvention of the women’s wings or other party forums in this process, are some of the factors that shape the current context in this regard.
Highly centralized decision making systems hamper party wings in raising funds independent of party headquarters. Wings are completely dependent on party headquarters for funding of their activities. They are either discouraged from or unable to fundraise independent of their parties. As one respondent noted during the NDI assessment, “Even the banners and hall that we use for the women’s wing congress is printed and provided for us by the party. We cannot choose.” If it is not for NDI, IRI, KAS, FES, Olof Palme or other similar foundations, women and youth wings could hardly be able to organize/mobilize their activists independently due to the lack of funds.
Opacity of budgetary processes and of spending by category makes it difficult for women and youth to advocate for budgetary allocations. One party has committed to allocate specific percentages of its budget to women’s and youth wings. Given limited transparency within parties in how budgets are designed, wings have limited information about expenditures within their own parties and find it difficult to advocate for specific amounts or allocations.
Q 2: Are there any examples of innovative ways of fundraising used by women candidates?
It is evident that political success depends on women candidates’ ability to create a solid interaction with voters through intense campaigning and networking that demands time and money. Self-financing, including donations from family members, is an important source of funding for women candidates’ campaigns based on the findings of the research on women’s candidates access to finance conducted by NDI’s partner Equality in Decision Making (EDM). Meanwhile, donations from individual citizens, friends and/or business is reportedly lower.
The same research finds that Albania society lacks a culture of political fundraising. In the EDM’s study, 28% of women candidates interviewed reported that fundraising is necessary, but considered it to be a responsibility of the party. Of those who agree that fundraising is necessary, only 13% reported that they know how to raise funds compared to 24% who reported that they lack the capacity to raise funds. Only 7% overall reported that fundraising during the electoral campaign is not necessary.
Q3: What are the good practices in political parties to support the nomination and fundraising for women candidates?
In Albania no public funding is earmarked for gender related purposes. Nevertheless, political parties failing to meet the decided level of gender balance among candidates on candidates lists would receive reduced public funding, therefore, making a connection between public funding and gender quotas, which is explained in new IDEA’s publication on Gender Targeted Public Funding.
Political parties could introduce voluntarily measures to earmark a certain percentage of the overall budget that a party has at its disposal to the women’s wing, which is the case with the Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI) in Albania. Women’s wing could then use this money wisely in election year to support the trainings for women candidates or offer other priority support. The Albanian experience also shows that it is important to establish accountability and enforcement mechanisms that would monitor the implementation of such provisions and alert in case of any inconsistencies or difficulties in applying this provision.
Q4: What measures can governments establish to financially support women candidates? And how can these be effectively enforced?
NDI Party finance Assessment report recommended political parties that the introduction of dedicated budgets for women and youth wings would help ensure that these units play meaningful roles in party activities and plan with some predictability. Women and youth, ages 18 to 35, respectively account for 49 and at least 30 percent of Albania’s population. Meaningful funding of women’s and youth wings could help political parties to improve their vote share among these significant portions of the electorate.
The government should consider introducing special measures or incentives for political parties to increase the number of women candidates, instead of the current penalties for non-compliance to the gender quota, which have proven to be ineffective. In lieu of penalizing parties for non-compliance, they should incentivize parties by linking the amount of public funding or refunding of election campaign expenses to the percentage of women candidates elected to Parliament.