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Closing the Gender Gap in Politics

BackgroundMore than 40 years after the entry into force of CEDAW and 26 years after the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, progress around women’s full and equal political participation has stalled and gender balance remains a long way off. Women only make up 25% of all...

IKP

Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of CEDAW

BackgroundThe Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is the most important treaty on women’s human rights. Adopted in December 1979 and ratified by 189 States, it is a leading tool in eliminating all forms of discrimination against women and...

Violence Against Women in Politics

For more than one year, the groundbreaking #MeToo movement and related Time’s Up initiative have broken taboos and sparked an unprecedented global conversation about the sexism, harassment and violence many women face in professional environments.Women politicians have also been saying #MeToo in...

Youth Political Participation

Young people are often excluded or overlooked as political candidates. Politics is typically regarded as a space for politically experienced men, and while women are often disadvantaged in accumulating experience to run for office, young people are systematically marginalized because of their young...

Violence Against Women in Politics

Recently, elected women from France, Canada, Scotland and Israel, to name a few examples, publicly condemned misogynist and violent political cultures. Not only did they expose acts of harassment and violence in politics, they made the case that violence should not be the price of participating in...

Eliminating Discriminatory Laws and Closing Gender Gaps

Worldwide, several challenges to the full realization of women's rights persist, and women continue face discrimination in access to education, work, social protection, inheritance, economic assets, productive resources and participation in decision-making and society at large.Gender discrimination...

iKNOW Politics

CSW 67 side-event: Achieving equality in decision-making by 2030: What will it take?

The Inter-parliamentary Union hosted this CSW 67 side-event on 8 March 2023 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. The session informed the new General Recommendation of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) on Equal and Inclusive...

Bernadette Lahai

Dr. Bernadette Lahai

Hon Dr Bernadette Lahai is Agriculturist by profession. In the 2002 general elections, she was elected to the Sierra Leone House of Parliament under the Sierra Leone People’s Party. She won re-election in the 2007 and in the 2012 Parliamentary elections, with 69.15%. Dr. Bernadette Lahai was the...

The Saturday Paper

Julia Banks on how politics fails women

When Liberal MP Julia Banks quit the Morrison government in 2018, her resignation was cited as an example of how hostile the political environment can be towards women.But Banks’ story and her resignation happened to coincide with a landmark report: Respect @ Work.That report, and the changes...

How did Rwanda become no.1 for gender equality? IPU

How did Rwanda become no.1 for gender equality?

In 2008, the Rwanda Chamber of Deputies was the first elected national parliament where women were the majority. The proportion of MPs who are women is at 61.25% today, way above the current global average of 26.4%. Rwanda has been at the top of the IPU’s monthly ranking of women in national...

Ala Talabani

Ala Talabani

Ala Talabani is a Member of the Council of Representatives of Iraq. She is the President of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan bloc in the Iraqi Parliament and a co-founder of the High Council for Iraqi Women.This interview was conducted on 7 September 2021, in Vienna (Austria), during the Fifth...

What is a gender-sensitive parliament? (IPU)

What is a gender-sensitive parliament?

What are the criteria that make a parliament gender-sensitive? Which parliaments are more gender-sensitive than others? How can your parliament become more gender-sensitive? Answers in this short video.Click here to access the video.

OECD

OECD Toolkit for Mainstreaming and Implementing Gender Equality

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...

UN Women

Action kit: Engaging parliaments in gender responsive budgeting

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...

Guide for participatory gender audits of parliaments published by OSCE PA and Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE)

Guide for participatory gender audits of parliaments published by OSCE PA and Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights

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...

CWP gender-sensitising parliaments

CWP gender-sensitising parliaments

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...

The role of Parliament in achieving gender equality - INTER PARES

The role of Parliament in achieving gender equality

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...

Gender-sensitive scrutiny: A guide to more effective law-making and oversight

Gender-sensitive scrutiny: A guide to more effective law-making and oversight

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...

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iKNOW Politics Partners Resources

UN Women, Inter-Parliamentary Union

Women in politics: 2023

UN Women and IPU

UN Women, Inter-Parliamentary Union

Women in politics: 2023

UN Women and IPU

Inter-Parliamentary Union

Women in parliament 2022: The year in review

Inter-parliamentary Union

Inter-Parliamentary Union

IPU statement on violence in the Senegal Parliament

A session in the Senegal Parliament, CARMEN ABD ALI / AFP

Related Websites

UN Women's Global Gender Equality Constitutional Database

City 50-50 Platform encourages gender parity in power spheres in Brazil

Violence against Women in Politics

E-learning Portal for Parliaments

Women’s Caucus Fact Sheet