Parliaments & Representatives
The growing discourse on deepening democracy around the world is increasingly being anchored around democratic decentralisation and meaningful local governance which is also being linked to greater social accountability and public participation. Governance is not just about government but is now seen as a much wider process that involves how the idea of “public good” is both framed and contested which involves both private sector actors as well as ordinary citizens and civil society besides the government. The idea of local politics rather than local government provides space to examine how multiple actors – among them political parties - connect and contest for power in the formal and informal local spaces in a scenario where local governments have to increasingly live up to the expectation that they can indeed be responsive, accountable and participatory.
If being participatory is one of the principles informing the call to decentralize it follows that inclusion of women in local politics has to be ensured and actively encouraged – through political parties, organisations, movements, etc. Involvement of women in local politics is critical for their political and economic empowerment. Yet across the world there are several impediments to this process. Patriarchies cut across cultures and institutions across the world, sometimes in more open forms, at other times in a more subtle hidden manner even as it may differ in the degree in which it can affect women’s participation in politics.
Through this discussion iKNOW Politics invites participation from women and men in local government structures and civil society actors working with women in local politics and communities to share their insights and experiences on the following questions:
- Insights on local politics: what constitutes the arena of local politics, what roles do women play not just in the formal but also informal spaces within local politics and what is the impact of the latter?
- Participation: What are the factors that enable women to participate in local politics (including political parties) and what factors inhibit their participation? Are these different for the factors that enable/hinder their participation at the national level politics?
- Change Stories: Have there been studies to assess the quality of women’s participation in local politics in terms of the change they have made and the kind of difference they are making (or not making) in terms of their leadership roles, their contribution to development work, their hold over decision making, their empowerment within households and at the community level?
- Advocacy Strategies and best practices: what are some of the best practices at the level of advocacy strategies that promote the role of women in local politics, including political parties?
We look forward to hearing your views on some/all of these questions and sharing your experiences on this important issue with our users worldwide. To submit your contributions on one or several discussion questions mentioned above, please visit our website at www.iknowpolitics.org and register for the E-Discussion at http://iknowpolitics.org/en/node/40161.
iKNOW Politics Team
This discussion is aimed to shed light on the following questions:
1. What strategies have women’s caucuses developed to shape national policy agendas in different thematic areas (e.g. economy, security, health, environment, education and others( in ways that are gender-responsive? What are opportunities and challenges in this respect? What further measures are recommended to strengthen the capacities of women’s caucuses to promote gender equality and sustainable, equitable development in their daily work? What specific measures are recommended that target young women leaders as future agents of change?
2. What strategies have other formal and informal platforms developed and implemented to advocate for gender-sensitive policy and law making? What are challenges and opportunities in this respect? Which institutions are represented in these platforms (e.g. civil society, Parliament, political parties, public administration and Electoral Management Bodies) and what were some of their main achievements? What strategies are applied to ensure young women are being represented in and contributing to such platforms?
This discussion circle was moderated between Monday 13 and Friday 2 March 2012, with the formal part of the discussion ending on March 2.
Those who which to add further contributions and comments are welcome !
The consolidated response of the discusion is availabe below.
In the spirit of celebration of Nigeria’s 63rd Independence anniversary, northern women in Adamawa State have called for more inclusion in the political space.
While commemorating with Nigerians, a member representing Demsa constituency Kate Raymond Mamuno reiterated the need for involvement of more women in politics, stating that women who were able to break the barrier of culture and religion have made meaningful contributions in the governance of communities, states and country at large.
Click here to read the full article published by Business Day on 3 October 2023.
Dawn Hastings-Williams is a prominent political figure from Guyana. With a tenure in the National Assembly dating back to 2011, she has held key roles in various governmental positions. Notably, she has served as Minister within the Ministry of Communities from 2015 to 2017, Minister of Public Affairs from 2017 to 2019, and Minister of State from 2019 to 2020.
Interview conducted by iKNOW Politics during the 145th Inter-Parliamentary Union’s Assembly in Kigali, Rwanda, in October 2022.
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE
DefSemiHidden="false" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="376">
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
Name="index 1"/>
Name="index 2"/>
Name="index 3"/>
Name="index 4"/>
Name="index 5"/>
Name="index 6"/>
Name="index 7"/>
Name="index 8"/>
Name="index 9"/>
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 1"/>
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 2"/>
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 3"/>
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 4"/>
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 5"/>
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 6"/>
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 7"/>
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 8"/>
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 9"/>
Name="Normal Indent"/>
Name="footnote text"/>
Name="annotation text"/>
Name="header"/>
Name="footer"/>
Name="index heading"/>
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
Name="table of figures"/>
Name="envelope address"/>
Name="envelope return"/>
Name="footnote reference"/>
Name="annotation reference"/>
Name="line number"/>
Name="page number"/>
Name="endnote reference"/>
Name="endnote text"/>
Name="table of authorities"/>
Name="macro"/>
Name="toa heading"/>
Name="List"/>
Name="List Bullet"/>
Name="List Number"/>
Name="List 2"/>
Name="List 3"/>
Name="List 4"/>
Name="List 5"/>
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
Name="List Number 2"/>
Name="List Number 3"/>
Name="List Number 4"/>
Name="List Number 5"/>
Name="Closing"/>
Name="Signature"/>
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
Name="Body Text"/>
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
Name="List Continue"/>
Name="List Continue 2"/>
Name="List Continue 3"/>
Name="List Continue 4"/>
Name="List Continue 5"/>
Name="Message Header"/>
Name="Salutation"/>
Name="Date"/>
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
Name="Note Heading"/>
Name="Body Text 2"/>
Name="Body Text 3"/>
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
Name="Block Text"/>
Name="Hyperlink"/>
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
Name="Document Map"/>
Name="Plain Text"/>
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
Name="HTML Address"/>
Name="HTML Cite"/>
Name="HTML Code"/>
Name="HTML Definition"/>
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
Name="HTML Sample"/>
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
Name="HTML Variable"/>
Name="Normal Table"/>
Name="annotation subject"/>
Name="No List"/>
Name="Outline List 1"/>
Name="Outline List 2"/>
Name="Outline List 3"/>
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
Name="Table List 1"/>
Name="Table List 2"/>
Name="Table List 3"/>
Name="Table List 4"/>
Name="Table List 5"/>
Name="Table List 6"/>
Name="Table List 7"/>
Name="Table List 8"/>
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
Name="Table Elegant"/>
Name="Table Professional"/>
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
Name="Table Web 1"/>
Name="Table Web 2"/>
Name="Table Web 3"/>
Name="Balloon Text"/>
Name="Table Theme"/>
Name="List Paragraph"/>
Name="Intense Quote"/>
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
Name="Intense Reference"/>
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
Name="Mention"/>
Name="Smart Hyperlink"/>
Name="Hashtag"/>
Name="Unresolved Mention"/>
Name="Smart Link"/>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:107%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}
Professor Rose Aziza of Deltas State University has advised that the Nigerian political system should do everything thing humanly possible to discourage money politics in order to encourage the youths to come and contribute their quota towards the development of the country stating that the youths have a lot to offer.
Professor Aziza who was the former Deputy Vice-Chancellor of administration in the university and presently a classroom lecturer said that money politics was still on ground in Nigeria.
Click here to read the full article published by New Telegraphng on 1 August 2023.
Fatima Payman is a Senator in the Australian Senate following the 2022 federal election. She was officially elected to represent Western Australia in the Senate on June 20, 2022, and commenced her term on July 1. Notably, she made history as the first Muslim woman to wear a hijab in the Australian Parliament.
Interview conducted by iKNOW Politics during the 145th Inter-Parliamentary Union’s Assembly in Kigali, Rwanda, in October 2022.
Hadija Ndangiza Murangwa is a Rwandan Senator. She is a senator in the Third legislature of the Rwandan Senate appointed by the Rwanda National Forum of Political Parties Organizations (NFPO).
Interview conducted by iKNOW Politics during the 145th Inter-Parliamentary Union’s Assembly in Kigali, Rwanda, in October 2022.
Hon Catherine Zainab Tarawally is a journalist by profession. A member of the opposition party the All people’s Congress Party (APC), she won a seat in Parliament in 2018, representing constituency 037 Kambia District in the Northern Region. She is Deputy Chair of the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee, Chair of the Gender Affairs Committee, and Advisor to the Women Caucus.
Video provided by UN Women Sierra Leone.
This online resource will guide you in implementing the OECD Recommendation on Gender Equality in Public Life. In addition to better familiarising you with the Principles, the Toolkit lets you compare indicators and good practices in use in numerous countries. The self-assessment tools will help governments assess the strengths and weaknesses of their gender policies, which in turn, will help policy makers set priorities for improvement.
Source: OECD
This action kit is a practical tool for unpacking gender responsive budgeting (GRB) and engaging parliaments and parliamentarians in strengthening scrutiny and oversight of gender responsive budget formulation, execution, and evaluation. As a result of their interventions, the budget process can be more participatory, inclusive, and effective.
This publication is directed primarily to actors who want to build an effective system for integrating GRB into the annual state budget process. This includes Members of Parliament (MPs), parliamentary staff and committees, caucuses of women MPs, as well as other actors, including UN Women or other United Nations entities who may want to initiate and support a stronger role for parliament and MPs in GRB.
The action kit is divided into sections:
- Building government systems to support GRB through the budget cycle;
- Parliament’s role in engaging with GRB in the budget process; and
- Programmatic interventions to support parliaments in the GRB process.
To ensure the guidance and information provided in the publication are grounded in practice, country examples of GRB implementation and entry points for parliamentary engagement are included.
Click here to access the publication.
The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) today published a “Participatory Gender Audits of Parliaments, a Step-by-Step Guidance Document,” which offers comprehensive tools and detailed steps on how parliaments can fully capitalize on their potential to implement a gender-sensitive and intersectional approach to legislative processes.
The PA and ODIHR collaborated on the publication, which sets out how to implement participatory gender audits through a clear framework and step-by-step process. The Guide recognizes that each parliament is unique and will undertake the audit in unique circumstances and it allows parliaments to choose the scope of the audit, the format and the timescale within which it will be conducted. As such, it adds to the extensive OSCE acquis in support of all parliaments of the region and it is in line with institutions’ respective mandates to advocate for ensuring transparency and accountability of all parliamentary procedures, practices, and standards, including those aimed at gender mainstreaming and conducting gender audits or assessments.
The “Participatory Gender Audits of Parliaments, a Step-by-Step Guidance Document” complements the “Realizing Gender Equality in Parliament: A Guide for Parliaments in the OSCE Region,” published in December 2021, which brought together lessons learned and good practices from 46 national parliaments in North America, Europe and Central Asia on introducing and improving gender sensitivity in parliaments, on which the two Institutions have also closely co-operated.
Click here to access the report.
The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s Gender Sensitising Parliamentary Guidelines: A Seven-Step Field Guide (‘Field Guide’) provides a blueprint for Commonwealth parliaments interested in undertaking a Gender Sensitive Parliament (GSP) review of their institutions with the objective of making their parliaments more representative and inclusive. The Field Guide builds on earlier Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and Commonwealth Women Parliamentarian’s (CWP) gender sensitising reports, in which a GSP is defined as a place that responds to the needs and interests of women in its structures, operations, methods, and work and is a workplace that removes barriers to women’s full participation.
GSP reviews have the potential to respond to the needs of parliamentary members and staff who identify as women or as belonging to another marginalised group, and in some Commonwealth contexts, this includes people with intersecting identities, such as Indigenous People, Black People, and People of Colour, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer+ People (LGBTQ+), and people living with disabilities.
Click here to access the guide.
This course, written by Dr Sonia Palmieri, explores why and how to build gender sensitive parliaments. Rich in case studies, it sketches the international framework for action and outlines opportunities for shaping contextually-appropriate parliamentary processes and norms.
Click here to access the course.
Parliaments have a key role in ensuring not only that everyone is properly represented in decision-making, but also that legislation and government actions take account of the needs and experiences of women and men on an equal basis. However, the achievement of gender equality requires more than commitments and good intentions. It is reliant on action.
This Guide is designed to help parliamentarians, officials, civil society and democracy-support organizations undertake gender-sensitive scrutiny. It provides a model for gender-sensitive scrutiny and demonstrates how the techniques can be used when carrying out pre- and post-legislative scrutiny, conducting oversight and monitoring budgets. It also provides case studies and resources.
Click here to access the guide.
This guide is designed to help Members and staff of the Parliament of Malaysia undertake gender-sensitive scrutiny of laws, budgets, and policies.
Click here to download the guide published by INTER PARES.
This guide is designed to help Members and staff of the Parliament of Bhutan undertake gender-sensitive scrutiny of laws, budgets, and policies.
Click here to download the guide published by INTER PARES.
This practical guide is intended to support the full range of parliamentary actors — from parliamentary leadership teams, members of parliament, and political and parliamentary staff, to parliamentary practitioners and civil society organizations dealing with gender equality issues — in transforming these institutions into gender-sensitive parliaments.
Click here to access the guide.
This Primer highlights practical ways Members of Parliament (MPs) and parliamentary staff can take action to ensure COVID-19 response and recovery decision-making address women’s needs. It is informed by the differential impacts of the disease on women as documented to date, and the common needs and challenges expressed by MPs and parliamentary staff adapting to new priorities and ways of working around the world. A Checklist is included to guide MPs and parliamentary staff on gender-sensitive options for COVID-19 response and recovery both during and beyond the pandemic.
Click here to see the primer.