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Enhancing Women’sPolitical Participation:
A Policy Note for Europeand the Commonwealthof Independent States
Copyright © 2010By the UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.All rights reserved.
Cover and design: Valeur s. r. o.
Cover Photo: UNDP
ISBN 978-92-95092-02-0
The views expressed in this publication are those of the authorsand do not necessarily represent those of the United Nations,including UNDP, or their Member States.
Foreword
Transition and development processes in the Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States(ECIS) region have proceeded without the full participation of women, weakening their posi-
tion in political and socio-economic life. These trends need to be reversed in order to ensure thatwomen and men equally contribute to, and benefit from, the transition process, especially where thetransition is expected to lead to more inclusive democracy. The proportion of women members ofparliament in most of the region is slowly rising. Nevertheless, with a regional average of just over15 percent, the proportion of women in parliament is still below the critical mass of 30 percent con-sidered necessary for women to contribute meaningfully to politics. But increasing women’s polit-ical participation also needs to go beyond the numbers, making sure gender issues become anintegral part of political agendas. Women's equal participation in decision-making is not only ahuman rights issue but also a prerequisite for a democratic society where the interests, needs andconcerns of both women and men are taken into account in political decision-making. By improv-ing gender balance in governance institutions, governance structures will be strengthened, makingthem less vulnerable in crisis situations, including times of economic downturn.
This Policy Note for Europe and CIS: Enhancing Women’s Political Participation is intended to re-spond to the need for measures to counteract the low participation of women in political decision-making. Building upon an analysis of regional data and detailed outcomes from six national roundtables (Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Turkey and Ukraine) held in 2008and a subsequent regional conference held in Istanbul in December 2008, this Policy Note is in-tended for parliamentarians, civil servants at decision-making levels and civil society organizationspromoting democratic governance in the region with a focus on ways to promote and strengthenwomen’s political participation, tailored to the regional context. This publication illustrates the prac-tical value of parliaments/governments’ engagement in promoting women’s political participation.It seeks to advance parliament’s own institutional capacity to promote women’s political participa-tion and to equip parliamentarians with examples from other countries in the region. Finally, thePolicy Note is a resource for practitioners engaged in programming to enhance the political partic-ipation of women.
Women’s political participation is an internationally agreed women’s human right. The Conventionon the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) stipulates equality be-tween women and men in terms of access to, and opportunities in, political and public life, includ-ing the right to vote and stand for election. As the Convention celebrates its 30th anniversary thisyear, the Policy Note is expected to facilitate the design and adoption of measures to further the fullimplementation of the Convention. Women in power and decision-making was also identified asone of the 12 areas of concern in the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA).
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The tool draws on the expertise of members of parliament, government officials and civil societyrepresentatives from the six roundtable countries and beyond, as well as from UNDP practitioners.The production of this Policy Note has demanded the work and devotion of many people. We aretremendously grateful to all who have shared their experience, knowledge and insights to makethis publication a rich compilation of knowledge and data.
Jens Wandel Winnie Byanyima
Deputy Regional Director, Bureau for Europe Director, Gender Team and the Commonwealth of Independent States Bureau for Development Policyand Director, Bratislava Regional Centre, UNDP UNDP
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Acknowledgements
This Policy Note benefited from the contributions of many people. It was developed by Koh Miyaoi(Practice Manager), Louise Sperl and Paula Jojart. Together they make up the Gender Practice
Team of UNDP’s Bratislava Regional Centre (BRC).
The report was initially conceived by Barbara Limanowska, who served as Gender Practice Managerfrom 2007-2008. Klelija Balta of UNDP Bosnia and Herzegovina coordinated the initial project phase.Wendy Harcourt researched and wrote major sections of the publication.
The Policy Note also greatly benefited from helpful inputs and comments provided through a peerreview process, as well as from six national roundtables conducted in 2008 and from a regional con-ference in Istanbul/Turkey in December 2008, with contributions made and advice provided by:Selma Acuner/Ayse Gonuglu, Medea Badashvili, Jasminka Dzumhur, Malgorzata Fuszara, KaterynaLevchenko and Anara Moldosheva (National Rapporteurs); Nurgul Asylbekova, Klelija Balta, IlariaCarnevali, Natia Cherkezishvili, Ulrika Richardson-Golinski, Orria Goni, Larysa Kobelyanska, AsliSahin, Leyla Sen (UNDP representatives from participating countries); Blerta Cela, Randi Davis, An-nie Demirjian, Erika Kvapilova, Osnat Lubrani, Louise Nylin, Agi Veres and Rastislav Vrbensky (Advi-sory Board Members); Anita Vandenbeld (iknowpolitics Network); as well as Beata Balinska, PaulinaKaczmarek, and Mamura Nasirova. Peter Serenyi served as language editor.
Winnie Byanyima, Director, UNDP Gender Team, and Jens Wandel, RBEC Deputy Regional Bureau Di-rector and Bratislava Regional Centre Director, provided guidance and support throughout the process.
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Contents
Foreword III
Acknowledgements V
List of Abbreviations VII
Executive Summary 1
Introduction 5
I. Regional Overview 7
II. Behind the Figures: Country-specific Practices Relating
to Women’s Political Participation in the ECIS region 22
II.1. Legal and Institutional Frameworks to Promote Women’s Political Participation 22
II.2. Mechanisms and Strategies to Promote Women’s Political Participation 32
II.3. Partnerships for Women’s Political Participation: Civil Society
Organizations and the Media 41
III. Recommended Measures for Enhanced Gender Equality
and Women’s Political Participation 49
III.1. Recommendations for Legal and Institutional Frameworks
to Promote Women’s Political Participation 49
III.2. Recommendations for Mechanisms and Strategies
to Promote Women’s Political Participation 51
III.3. Recommendations for Partnerships for Women’s Political Participation:
Civil Society Organizations and the Media 55
IV. Resources 57
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List of Abbreviations
BiH Bosnia and HerzegovinaCEE Central and Eastern EuropeCIS Commonwealth of Independent StatesCSO Civil Society OrganizationECIS Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent StatesEU European UnionCEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against WomenGEL Gender Equality LawIDEA International Institute for Democracy and Electoral AssistanceILO International Labour OrganizationMDGs Millennium Development GoalsMEP Member of European ParliamentMP Member of ParliamentNGO Non-governmental OrganizationODIHR Office for Democratic Institutions and Human RightsOSAGI UN Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the Advancement of WomenOSCE Organization for Security and Co-operation in EuropeUNDP United Nations Development ProgrammeUNECE United Nations Economic Commission for EuropeUNFPA United Nations Population FundUNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for WomenUNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
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Women have seen their status improve sub-stantially over the past decade in the ECIS
region. The legislative and electoral reforms intro-duced during the transition process have made so-cieties more inclusive. A larger number of womenare now participating in decision-making processesas parliamentarians, political party members, seniorcivil servants, and as representatives of civil societyand the media. Legal and policy frameworks havebeen established to promote and protect the civil,political, economic and social rights of women.
However, no country in the ECIS region hasachieved gender balance in high-level decision-making bodies. Furthermore, the integration ofgender perspectives in policy formulationprocesses has been insufficient and ineffective.Meaningful participation of women in public liferequires more than just an additional numberof women in visible and responsible positions. Itrequires strengthened capacities of both maleand female policy makers, e.g., parliamentariansand government officials, to implement policiesthat promote gender equality. It also requiresenhanced capacities of civil society organiza-tions and media to support an environment inwhich women are empowered to claim and ex-ercise their right to participate in public life.
This Policy Note presents a set of pragmatic rec-ommendations that will enable policy makersto enhance women’s political participation in theregion. These measures are the product of sixnational roundtable discussions organized in2008 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kyr-gyzstan, Poland, Turkey and Ukraine as well as aregional conference in Turkey in December 2008.As a comprehensive set of practical and relevantguidance for the region, these measures clearlydemonstrate the ways forward in promotingwomen’s political participation.
This Policy Note also presents the current statusof, and opportunities for, women’s participationin leadership and decision-making processes inthe region. Based on the evidence and regionaldata collected and analysed through the six na-tional roundtables and the subsequent culmi-nating regional conference of 2008, this PolicyNote is for parliamentarians, government offi-cials, legislators, political party members, civilsociety organizations working on enhancingwomen’s political participation and media withthe recommended policy and action options inthe following three areas:
• Legal and institutional frameworks to pro-mote women’s political participation;
• Mechanisms and strategies to promotewomen’s political participation; and
• Partnerships for women’s political participa-tion: civil society organizations and the media.
These recommendations aim to help to removebarriers to women’s political participation. In orderto create an enabling environment for women tofully and equally participate in public life at alllevels, it is crucial to : 1.) increase women’s partic-ipation and representation in formal politics; 2) as-sist women in becoming effective political actors;3) ensure that governments are accountable towomen; and 4) mainstream gender equality andsocial inclusion in all policies.
Legal and Institutional Frameworksto Promote Women’sPolitical Participation
The formulation of Gender Equality Laws to serveas an overarching binding framework to encom-pass all spheres of life and putting gender equal-ity laws into practice at all levels are prerequisites
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Executive Summary
for an environment enabling women to partici-pate meaningfully in politics. Political Party Lawsand Elections Laws are further pillars thatstrongly affect women’s political participation inthe region. Regional databases capturing genderequality legislation, its implementation and bestpractices, can help to facilitate related policiesand efforts.
Harmonizing national laws with Gender EqualityLaws, international standards promoting and ad-vancing gender equality, as well as implement-ing the recommendations from the Committeeon the Elimination of Discrimination againstWomen (CEDAW) is instrumental for strength-ened legal and institutional frameworks forwomen’s political participation.
Assigning adequate authority to national genderequality machineries can be a way to effectivelyovercome existing challenges in monitoring andimplementing national gender equality com-mitments. Where they exist, Gender EqualityCommissions in parliament have proven to bekey mechanisms to monitor gender equalityachievements including gender parity within theexecutive, legislative and judicial branches.
Furthermore, a strong and active public and civilsociety remains a precondition for holding gov-ernments accountable to national gender equalitylegislation. Temporary special measures are in-strumental for promoting women’s political par-ticipation, but throughout the region require sup-portive activities to strengthen the understandingof temporary special measures as an integral partof efforts to achieve gender equality and demo-cratic governance. Quotas – legal, constitutionaland voluntary – are beginning to be adopted togood effect in the region, though it is important tocontinuously monitor their implementation.
Policies aimed at promoting equal participationof women and men in decision-making processesneed to address the complex economic, financialand social obstacles women face in political life.
This is particularly true during times of financialand economic crisis, which have the potential toexacerbate gender inequalities. The promotion ofequality between women and men in decision-making also requires stronger commitment andpartnership at all political levels.
Physical or psychological violence can under-mine women’s ability to enter, or stay in, politics.Such violence can take on a variety of forms, in-cluding hindering women’s efforts to carry outtheir official duties, or silencing women, charac-ter assassination and defamation, harassmentby the media, insults and slander, sexual vio-lence, assault, degrading treatment, as well astargeting of relatives and supporters.
Mechanisms and Strategiesto Promote Women’s PoliticalParticipation
Voluntary quotas in candidate lists as well as agender equality and women’s empowermentagenda in parties’ electoral platforms can signif-icantly strengthen women’s status in politicalparties. The latter can be enhanced by sharingsuccessful experiences of those parties in the re-gion that have introduced gender equalitystrategies or established women’s party sections.Political parties can further work towards genderparity by promoting women to governing bod-ies within party structures.
Alliances across party lines have proven to be akey strategy to promote gender equality in po-litical life, through more formal committees tomore informal dialogue. Women’s party sectionshave proved to be important mechanisms forexerting influence on party policies and for gal-vanizing women’s political participation.
However, women in politics also require furthersupport to develop their capacities to be effec-tive in their roles and to overcome gender-basedbarriers and obstacles in taking up political lead-
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ership. Women politicians need to be empow-ered to bring their voices to public forums and todevelop their capacities to promote an agendaof gender equality. In this context, mobilizingand capitalizing on knowledge and capacityavailable within civil society organizations can bea driving force for nurturing a new generation ofwomen leaders. They can also raise awareness ofthe importance of women’s political participa-tion as well as draw attention to the barriers andobstacles women face in public life.
Still, adequate and sustainable financial re-sources remain crucial. This argues for nationalprogrammes and action plans that promote gen-der equality and women’s empowerment, for na-tional machineries for gender equality andwomen’s empowerment, civil society partnersfor building platforms for greater political par-ticipation of women, as well as for women’s al-liances across party lines to join forces to pursuea gender equality agenda, and for women can-didates to ensure gender-balanced representa-tion in elections.
Last but not least, measures and policies to pro-mote a work/life balance are needed to create anenabling environment for women to engage inpolitics: This includes adequate policies and lawsthat promote an equal sharing of family respon-sibilities of men and women in all sectors (in-cluding financial incentives for men to takegreater responsibility in family life), appropriatecare facilities and services, tax-incentives, finan-cial allowances, flexible work arrangements, andparental leave, tailored to the personal and pro-fessional needs of women to enable them to bemore active in political life.
Partnerships for Women’s PoliticalParticipation: Civil SocietyOrganizations and the Media
The promotion of equality between women andmen in decision-making requires strong part-nerships between governmental and non-gov-ernmental actors at all levels. The benefits ofsuch partnerships in this region were particu-larly evident in the accelerated progress made inachieving gender equality and women’s em-powerment around the time of the Fourth WorldConference on Women in 1995. A significant con-tribution has been made in upholding interna-tional commitments and agreements onwomen’s political participation confirmedthrough UN processes.
The involvement of civil society organizations indecision-making processes is instrumental forincorporating women’s concerns and needs inpolicy formulation and implementation, as wellas to further knowledge sharing and joint plan-ning at national and local levels among womenin parliament, government, political and publicoffices and representatives of civil society or-ganizations working for gender equality andwomen’s empowerment.
Non-governmental organizations that are exclu-sively promoting gender equality and women’sempowerment can also play a key role instrengthening the capacity of women leaders aswell as raising public awareness of the impor-tance of women’s social and political participa-tion in modern democracies. Providing themwith secured and sustained financial resourcesdespite the difficulties caused by the recent fi-nancial downturn will yield greater success inachieving gender-responsive, democratic gov-ernance.
Strengthening existing networks of womenpoliticians, civil society organizations, media andacademia across countries can enhance women’spolitical participation through the exchange of
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lessons learned and best practices. This also in-cludes opportunities for experience sharing andnetworking among women leaders across theregion as well as international and regional gen-der experts.
Media organizations are instrumental for por-traying women in political and public offices fo-cusing on their competencies and politicalachievements as policy makers instead of per-petuating traditional gender stereotypes. Theyalso have an important role in ensuring equalrepresentation of women and men political lead-ers in policy debates. Media campaigns haveproven vital in challenging negative or stereo-typical portrayals of women. The media have alsoplayed an important role in partnerships withcivil society organizations to hold governmentsand political parties responsible for putting inplace a gender equality agenda. The media canalso promote women’s electoral achievementsand their political visions, which can be importantmeasures to raise awareness about discriminationagainst women in politics and in the media.
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This booklet is intended as a Policy Note forenhancing women’s political participation
in the ECIS region, intended for parliamentarians,government officials, legislators, political partymembers, civil society organizations and the me-dia in order to support their efforts to promotegreater participation of women in governance.
This short document presents the status, obsta-cles, challenges and opportunities for women’sleadership and their participation in politics anddecision-making in the region. It presents waysforward for governments, legislators, parlia-mentarians, political parties, civil society organ-izations, the private sector, trade unions and themedia to redress the challenges of transition andimprove processes that have been occurring inthe region without the full participation ofwomen, weakening women’s position in politicaland socio-economic life.
This guide, which features practices on women’spolitical participation in the region, is based onan in-depth survey of data and literature onwomen’s political participation as well as sixroundtables held in Ankara, Turkey; Bishkek, Kyr-gyzstan; Tbilisi, Georgia; Warsaw, Poland; Sara-jevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Kyiv, Ukraine andat an International Conference on Women andGovernance in Eastern Europe and the CIS, heldin Istanbul, Turkey. The events took place fromSeptember to December 2008 (http://europe-andcis.undp.org/gender/genderandgover-nance).
The region, where an average of 16.4 percent ofwomen participate in parliament, falls below theglobal average of 18 percent, and far below the30 percent target of the 1995 Beijing Platform forAction. This is also of particular importance giventhe upcoming review of this target in 2010. Be-
sides the 30 percent target, key benchmarks forachieving women’s equal representation in pub-lic life include the enactment and implementa-tion of gender equality legislation as well as gen-der parity in governmental bodies, publicadministrative entities and the judiciary. In theECIS region, women’s share of power in the ex-ecutive branch of government is low and evenlower in legislative bodies. In the majority ofcountries in the region, women have less than 15percent of ministerial positions.
This Policy Note identifies reasons for women’slow political participation and provides recom-mendations to support greater engagement ofwomen in political processes in the region. Itaims to provide the data and information thatcan support governments in implementing gen-der equality laws and mechanisms to supportthe election of women within parties and to par-liament. It also outlines ways to mobilize publicparity campaigns to support women’s politicalparticipation and practical ways to enlist civil so-ciety organizations and the media to build thepolitical will required to meet the challenges. In-creasing women’s participation in political liferequires efforts both to address the constraints(economic, social, cultural and religious) ofwomen’s political involvement, and initiatives toempower women and develop their capacity toparticipate within a range of political spaces,both formal (national and local) and informal.
The Policy Note is divided into four sections. Thefirst section provides a contextual overview ofwomen’s political participation in the region, pre-senting current trends in political, economic andsocial differences between men and women inthe region, in particular from Bosnia and Herze-govina, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Turkey andUkraine.
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Introduction
The second section introduces country-specificpractices related to women’s political participa-tion: how women have tried to take on a greaterrole in political processes. It does this 1) by ex-amining legal and institutional frameworks topromote greater women’s political participation,looking at gender equality laws, election lawsand other specific laws affecting women’s polit-ical participation such as laws on gender-basedviolence and the European Community’s gen-der acquis; 2) by providing examples of strategiesto promote women’s political participation suchas quotas and proportional representation,women-only parties and alliances across partylines; and 3) by examining partnerships forwomen’s political participation, looking at howcivil society organizations and the media cansupport the promotion of women’s political par-ticipation, presenting successful models and ex-periences as well as existing challenges.
The third section presents a set of recommen-dations for gender equality and women’s politi-cal participation addressed to governments, leg-islators, parliamentarians, political parties, civilsociety organizations, the media, the private sec-tor and trade unions to promote women’s polit-ical participation in the areas of: 1) legal and in-stitutional frameworks to promote women’spolitical participation; 2) strategies to promotewomen’s political participation; and 3) partner-ships for women’s political participation, such aswith civil society organizations and the media.
The fourth section provides a list of on-line re-sources with links to UNDP publications andother UN and institutional publications and web-sites working on expanding women’s politicalparticipation, both regionally and globally.
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The Convention on the Elimination of AllForms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW) mandates that there be equality be-tween women and men in terms of access to,and equal opportunities in, political and publiclife, including the right to vote and stand forelection. The essential quality of enhancingwomen’s political participation is also capturedin the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action. The Mil-lennium Development Goals (MDGs) call for rep-resentative democracy as the key to good gov-ernance. The importance of ensuring women arerepresented in democracy is critical to helpachieve the MDGs and bring about change ingovernance structures.
This brief overview of women’s political partici-pation in the region presents some major trendsin political, economic and social differences be-tween men and women affecting women’s po-litical participation. The review draws in particu-lar on six in-depth country studies from Bosniaand Herzegovina, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Poland,Turkey and Ukraine. In addition, the review alsoincludes relevant examples and lessons fromother countries in the region.
The overview addresses women’s political par-ticipation and leadership positions in democratictransition, legislative frameworks and quota sys-tems as well as economic and social challengesto women’s political participation. It sketchesout the economic and social changes during thetransition period since 1989, reviewing their im-pact on women’s political leadership and partic-ipation in the region.
The economic and political changes played outdifferently across the region. The New MemberStates of the European Union have aimed tocomply with the highly sophisticated EU genderequality laws and measures. The EU’s roadmapfor equality between women and men sets outthe priorities for the period 2006-2010. It pro-vides for both gender-specific initiatives as wellas for the integration of gender equality con-cerns into all EU policies and activities (‘gendermainstreaming’). In contrast, Central Asia is deal-ing with poverty and political volatility and isworking to eliminate discrimination againstwomen and to put in place democratic pro -cesses. The South Caucasus has experiencedeconomic and social upheavals with uneven re-sults for democracy and women’s political par-ticipation. Southeast Europe has undergone ma-jor violent conflict which has causedgeopolitical, economic and social disruptionsfrom which the countries are still emerging, withnegative consequences for women’s politicalparticipation. Russia and the Western CIS are ex-periencing significant changes on the geopo-litical level, marked by natural resource chal-lenges, growing social and economic gaps anduneven development for men and women.Turkey is an emerging economic leader as evi-denced by a rapidly growing market, and char-acterized by a progressive women’s movement,as well as traditional social and economic struc-tures. Such structures continue to restrictwomen’s active participation in politics and tohinder the growth of women in both local andnational assemblies.
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I. Regional Overviewof Women’s PoliticalParticipation in ECIS
Women’s Political Participationand Democratic Transition
Despite economic and social challenges,progress in bringing women into political posi-tions is being made. The proportion of womenmembers of parliament in most countries of theregion is slowly rising, though it is still below thecritical mass of 30 percent considered neces-
sary for women to meaningfully influence po-litical debates. Figure One shows the radicalchanges in the region during the transition pe-riod on women’s opportunities to participate inpolitical pro cesses. The average number ofwomen members of national parliaments in theECIS region is just above 15 percent. This figure,however, masks considerable regional variation.Women in Georgia and Albania hold only
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Terminology and Concepts: Gender and Gender Equality1
Gender: refers to the social attributes and opportunities associated with being male and femaleand the relationships between women and men and girls and boys, as well as the relations be-tween women and those between men. These attributes, opportunities and relationships (i.e.gender roles) are socially constructed and are learned through socialization processes. They arecontext/time-specific and changeable. In everyday life, gender determines what is expected, al-lowed and valued in a women or a man in a given context. In most societies there are differencesand inequalities between women and men in responsibilities assigned, activities undertaken, ac-cess to and control over resources, as well as decision-making opportunities. In other words, gen-der is part of the broader socio-cultural context and as such, gender systems are institutional-ized through education systems, political and economic systems, legislation, and culture andtraditions. In utilizing a gender approach, the focus is not on individual women and men but onthe system which determines gender roles / responsibilities, access to and control over re-sources, and decision-making potentials. Other important criteria for socio-cultural analysis in-clude class, race, poverty level, ethnic group and age.
Equality between Women and Men (Gender Equality): refers to the equal rights, responsibilities andopportunities of women and men and girls and boys. Equality does not mean that women and menwill become the same but that women’s and men’s rights, responsibilities and opportunities will notdepend on whether they are born male or female. Gender equality implies that the interests, needsand priorities of both women and men are taken into consideration, recognizing the diversity of dif-ferent groups of women and men. Gender equality is not a women’s issue but should concern andfully engage men as well as women. Equality between women and men is seen both as a humanrights issue and as a precondition for, and indicator of, sustainable people-centred development.
Gender equality has quantitative as well as qualitative aspects. The quantitative aspect impliesan equal distribution of women and men in all areas of society, such as education, work, recre-ation, and position of power. The qualitative aspect implies that the knowledge, experiences andvalues of both women and men are given equal weight and used to enrich and direct all socialareas and endeavours.
1 For working definitions of gender equality see UN Office of the Special Advisor on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women (OSAGI), www.un.org/wom-enwatch/osagi/conceptsandefinitions.htm. as well as http://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/pdf/factsheet2.pdf.
around 6-7 percent of seats, in Turkey, Armeniaand Romania, women currently hold approxi-mately 9 percent of seats, while in Kyrgyzstan,The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia3
and Belarus they hold just below 30 percent ofseats.
Women in Leadership Positions
Throughout the region, women hold too fewsenior-level political positions. The numbers
range from Bulgaria with over 30 percent ofwomen in ministerial positions, Poland with 28percent, to Romania and Turkey, where less than10 percent of ministers are women (although inTurkey two Vice Presidents of parliament arewomen). In Kyrgyzstan, three women hold cabi-net-level positions (Vice-Prime-Minister, Minis-ter of Labour and Social Development, and theChair of the State Agency on Migration and Em-ployment). Women also hold the following postsin Kyrgyzstan: the Chair of the Supreme Court,the Constitutional Court and the National Acad-emy of Science. As of May 2009, women have
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2 Data extracted from IDEA, 2008: http://www.idea.int.3 Hereafter Macedonia.
Figure 1: Regional Comparison of Women’s Political Participation in the Lower Houseof Parliament in the ECIS region (1989, 1994 and 2008)2
0%
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% of women elected before 1989 % of women elected after 1989 (around 1994) % of women elected in 2008
presided over parliament in the following coun-tries: Albania, Estonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina,Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Turkmenistan andUzbekistan.6
Women ministers tend to be assigned to manageportfolios related to socio-cultural functions (so-cial affairs, health, women and children, sport,youth, age, education, science, culture, labour)rather than economy (finance, trade, industry,
agriculture), infrastructure (transport, commu-nications, environment) or basic functions (for-eign and internal affairs, defence, justice). Thishas also been underlined by a review of EU coun-tries in the region7 that shows that almost half ofall women ministers were given responsibilityfor socio-cultural functions and less than 15 per-cent responsibility for economy or basic func-tions. The perception that defence, police and se-curity are ’men’s issues is widespread. Women
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4 See Kateryna Levchenko, Women and Management: Participation in Political Processes and Women’s Leadership in Ukraine. Presented at the UNDP Roundtable ‘WomenLeadership and Participation of Women in the Political Life of Ukraine,’ 6th November 2008, Kiev, Ukraine http://europeandcis.undp.org/gender/gendermainstream-ing/show/A40239DE-F203-1EE9-BE0F195553D2CDA9.
5 Jasminka Džumhur, A Survey of Political Participation of Women in BiH (Pregled političkog učešća žena u BiH). Sarajevo/Bosnia & Herzegovina, 11. November 2008.6 www.ipu.org/wmn-el/speakers/htm.7 European Commission, Women and Men in Decision-Making, Analysis of the Situation and Trends, 2007 http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/publica-
tions/2008/ke8108186_en.pdf.
Country Example: Women’s Leadership in Ukraine
Ukraine is ranked at 110 out of 188 countries in terms of the number of women in parliament.The proportion of women rose from 4.0 percent in 1994 to 8.4 percent in 1998. However, afterthe 2002 elections, women’s representation dropped back to 5.1 percent, only to slightly riseagain after the snap parliamentary elections of 2007 to 8.5 percent of female Members of Par-liament. In 2009, two women held posts in the Cabinet of Ministers (including the Prime Minis-ter). The gender difference between women and men among people’s representatives varies ac-cording to the responsibility and power of the positions, with women more represented atlower levels. For example, in 2006, 8.5 percent of representatives in the national parliament werewomen, while they made up 12 percent of regional councils, 21 percent of district councils, 24percent of city councils and 40 percent of village councils.4
Country Example: Women’s Political Representation in Bosnia and Herzegovina
The war in the former Yugoslavia from 1992-1995 resulted in massive imprisonment and killing,rape and other forms of torture of civilians. According to some estimates, more than 200,000 peo-ple were killed. At one point, almost 50 percent of the population lost their homes. The armedconflict ended in November 1995 and the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia andHerzegovina, commonly known as the Dayton Peace Agreement, transformed the country intoa complex and decentralized State composed of two Entities, the Federation of Bosnia andHerzegovina and the Republic of Srpska and District Brcko. Although women were actively in-volved in the peace process, they have been sparsely represented in the new political structures.In 2008, women constituted 13.33 percent of deputies in the House of Peoples and only 11.90percent of deputies in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia andHerzegovina.5
generally fill administrative posts and are presenton boards when the issues are considered suit-able for women. Typically, neither the police normilitary are regarded as occupations suitable forwomen. Also at parliamentary level, planning forpolice reform is often confined to the politicalparty leaders, over which women have littlepower or influence.
Women are better represented in regional as-semblies or parliaments or councils, though it isdifficult to make broad comparison as there aredifferent levels of regional and local structures in
different countries. There are no women leadersof regional assemblies in the Czech Republic andSlovakia. In countries where there is an executivebody with members nominated from electedrepresentatives, there are fewer women thanmen. In 2007, for example, women at executivelevels in Slovakia and Hungary made up less than15 percent, but over 30 percent were women atthe executive level in Latvia.8
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8 European Commission, Women and Men in Decision Making, Analysis of the Situation and Trends, 2007 http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/publica-tions/2008/ke8108186_en.pdf.
9 KADER. Women’s Political Participation and their Leadership in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.’ Ankara, October 2008.
Country Example: Women’s Political Status in Turkey9
Turkey has both modern and traditional social, economic and political structures. With its foun-dation as a Republic in 1923, modernization led to major social transformations. One of the im-portant instruments of the modernization movement was the creation of the modern womanas a role model, breaking traditional social norms. The Republic encouraged the presence ofwomen in education, health care and civil service. While many of these policies were success-ful, women’s participation in local and national politics and their presence in key state bodiesremain weak.
Women’s political representation and participation has been a challenge. Women in Turkeygained the right to vote in 1934 – which was much earlier than in many European countries. In1935, the year of the first elections in which this right was used, women entered parliament atthe rate of 4.6 percent. This rate was not achieved again until the general elections of 2007. Therate of women’s representation, which stood at 4.36 percent before those elections, doubled to50 women, reaching 9.1 percent of the total seats in parliament. Although this increase is far fromthe 17 percent target set by the government for MDG Goal 3 by 2015, it is a positive sign ofprogress towards equality between men and women, and also constitutes a clear step forwardcompared with some other countries of the region.
The situation of women’s political participation is even more challenging in local governments.Contrary to the rest of the region, the rate of women’s representation is much lower in local as-semblies than in parliament: Following the 2009 local elections only 0.9 percent of mayors werewomen (26 out of 2877), 3.5 percent of women were members of the provincial council (115 outof 3166) and 4.5 percent were municipal council members (1471 out of 30921).
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Country Example: Fall in the Political Participation of Women in Georgia10
During the transition period, the number of women in the Georgian parliament has decreased. Sixparliamentary elections and three local elections have been held since 1992, with a very small num-ber of women elected. Even the ‘Rose Revolution’ of 2003 did not ensure women’s active involvementin the political life of the country. The number of women elected to parliament in 2004 reached 9.4percent. During the struggles for power which have dominated the Georgian political scene, manyindividuals, especially women, have been discouraged from engaging in politics. In 2008, the over-all percentage of women members of parliament declined to 5 percent. The number of women inlocal self-governance bodies has also decreased at each successive election. In local elections thepercentage of women dropped from 14 percent in 1998 to 12 percent in 2002. In May 2006 no citiesin Georgia had women mayors, none of the 66 local administration heads (gamgebeli) were women,and only 5.5 percent of the chairs of local councils (sakrebulo) were women. After the elections of2006, held under the new election law, only 11.14 percent of those elected were women.
Example: Challenges and Opportunities in the New and Old Member States of the EU
While the pre-accession period may have provided attractive reform opportunities, gender equalitymeasures and institutions in the new Member States have not always enjoyed strong support fromexisting political groupings. Most new Member States boast few ‘gender champions’ within the ad-ministration who remain actively engaged post-accession. Indeed, the fact that gender equality leg-islation was often ‘fast-tracked’ through parliament with little time for debate exacerbated problemsof inadequate support from domestic constituencies. Many gender-equality bodies in the newMember States have therefore seen their roles and budgets slashed, or their work criticized by the gov-ernment.
Although the EU has committed itself to mainstreaming gender through all its activities, no consensusexists about how this should be done. The picture of gender equality in the new Member States isone of patchy implementation and progress. Accession is the beginning, rather than the end, of a de-bate about the role of the EU as a promoter of equality in Central and Eastern Europe. Further debateis also needed within the ‘old’ Member States about future gender equality policy – not least due tothe increasing dependence of those states on migrants from new Member States to fill gaps in theemployment market, often in low-paid occupations, with serious repercussions for family and do-mestic life. Recent moves to extend the scope of EU gender policy to cover areas such as domesticviolence and health require the development of wider and more inclusive processes. However,progress on gender equality within Member States – especially the new Member States and candi-date countries – will depend on the more gradual evolution of domestic attitudes, public institutions,and behaviour. Improved statistics, new laws and regulations, and new gender equality bodies willhelp, but common efforts from many actors are required for any real improvements to emerge.11
10 Medea Badashvili. Country Report on Women and Governance: Political Participation of Women and Women’s Leadership in Georgia. Tbilisi, December 2008.
11 Fiona Beveridge, Gender and EU Enlargement – Potential and Progress., In: Development and Transition Newsletter, Issue Number: 08/2007: Gender In Tran-sition, http://www.developmentandtransition.net/index.cfm?module=ActiveWeb&page=WebPage&DocumentID=662.
Legislationfor Women’s Political Participation
Gender Equality Laws provide an important ba-sis for ensuring women’s rights and politicalparticipation in the region. During the transi-
tion period, Gender Equality Laws have beenput in place in many countries of the region. Atthis stage, emphasis needs to be put on har-monizing legislation and related proceduresand institutions to ensure the implementationof gender equality laws.
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12 Sources: www.quotaproject.org, http://www.stopvaw.org. Websites visited in Summer 2009.
CountryExamples
AffirmativeActions
GenderEqualityLaws
Laws on Genderbased Violence
Institutional Frameworkfor Gender Equality
Bosniaand Herzegovina
Election Law QuotaRegulation/Nationalparliament;Legislative Quota/Sub-National Level
The GenderEquality Lawof Bosniaand Herze-govina(2003)
Law on Protectionfrom Domestic Vio-lence (Entity of Fed-eration Bosnia andHerzegovina) andLaw on Protectionfrom Domestic Vio-lence (Entity of Re-publika Srpska), 2005
The Agency for Gender Equal-ity; Entity Gender Centres; Gen-der Commissions in Municipali-ties; Gender Commissions inthe parliaments of Bosnia andHerzegovina (State level parlia-ment and Entity levels)
Georgia No State Con-cept on Gen-der Equality(2006)
Georgian Law on Do-mestic Violence(2006)
Governmental Commission onGender Equality and GenderAdvisory Council under theChair of parliament
Kyrgyzstan Presidential DecreeOn Measures to Im-prove Gender Poli-cies targeting theIntroduction of a30% Quota forWomen in PoliticalPositions, 2006
Law on BasicState Guar-antees forEnsuringGender Eq-uity (2003)
Law on Social and Le-gal Protectionagainst Family Vio-lence (2003)
National Council on Women,Family and Gender Affairs un-der the President and its work-ing body
Poland No constitutionalquota/ NationalParliament and noElection Law QuotaRegulation/Na-tional Parliament.However, three po-litical parties havevoluntarily appliedquotas.
Equality pro-visions in theLabour Code(harmoniza-tion with re-quirementsset by the EU(2002))
Bill on CounteractingViolence in Close Re-lations (2005)
The Office of the GovernmentalPlenipotentiary on Equal Op-portunities for Women andMen in Poland
Table 1: Legislative and National Institutional Frameworks for Gender Equalityand Women’s Political Participation12
Special Temporary Measures
The results of the latest elections in the region con-firm that proportional representation together withsome form of quota system and accompanyingmeasures to reduce obstacles to women enteringpolitics are key to women’s election to parliament.Throughout the region with the exception of Be-larus13, the countries which have the most womenin political positions (Macedonia, Kyrgyzstan and
Moldova) combine proportional representation to-gether with some form of quota system.
Economic Challengesto Women’s Political Participation
Prior to 1989, women had benefited from ampleaccess to vocational training and had assumed ahigh share of employment in many countries of
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AffirmativeActions
Gender Equality Laws
Laws on Genderbased Violence
Institutional Frameworkfor Gender Equality
Turkey Law for the Es-tablishment of anEqual Opportuni-ties Commissionin the Parliament;Gender EqualityAction Plan ofthe General Di-rectorate on theStatus of Women2008-2013
Amendmentsto the Constitu-tion on theEquality ofWomen andMen (2004)
Law on the Protec-tion of the Family(1998)
Directorate General on the Sta-tus of Women
Ukraine No The Law ofUkraine ‘On En-suring theEqual Rightsand Opportuni-ties of Womenand Men’(adopted bythe parliamentin 2005). TheState Pro-gramme on En-suring GenderEquality inUkrainian Soci-ety (2006-2010)- adopted bythe Cabinet ofMinisters in2006.
Law ‘On the Preven-tion of Violence in theFamily’ (2001)
Ministry of Family, Youth andSports, Department of FamilyAffairs andGender Equality
13 Belarus has no quota system in place but a simple majority/winner system. For more information on Belarus and gender equality please see UNDP proj-ects on gender equality in Belarus http://un.by/en/undp/focus-areas/women/.
the region, even if they had less access to powerand resources than men. The Soviet period of in-tense industrialization, urbanization and scientific-technological revolution had been built on theprinciple of equality with men in the economicand social spheres. Women’s issues were dealt withby women’s committees and through laws legit-imizing the equality of women and men in edu-cation and professional activities. Women partici-pated in large numbers in the labour force.Throughout the region, women made up the ma-jority of professions such as teachers, physiciansand engineers. Maternity leave and child caremade it possible for women to work.
The economic transition that started in 1989 causeda major decline in the participation of women onthe labour market. Large differentials between thewages paid to women and men, and the declining
access women have to jobs, have coincided with arising burden for women at home, due to shrinkingsocial safety nets and child care provisions.
According to the United Nations Economic Com-mission for Europe (UNECE), the vast majority ofwomen have suffered economic setbacks, in theform of increasing poverty and unemployment,as well as growing economic insecurity and ex-ploitation15. Some of the national MDG reports inthe region call attention to the glass ceiling inbusiness and the need to stimulate women’s in-terest in seeking public office.16
Women’s increased economic dependence alongwith a lack of access to economic resources has dis-couraged them from actively engaging in politics.For more data on women’s economic status, seeTable 2 on page 17.
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14 See also Anara Moldosheva. Kyrgyzstan National Report on Women & Governance. Bishkek, November 2008.15 UNECE, Countries in Figures, http://www.unece.org/stats/profiles2009/Welcome.html, June 2009; and European Commission, http://www.unece.org/stats/
gender/genpols/keyinds/genpols-2work.htm, June 2009.16 For example, see the project ‘Expand Public Space for Women in Belarus as part of the 2006-2010 National Plan of Action on Gender Equality in Belarus’.
The project has worked to draw public attention to the problem of discrimination against women and to sensitize media on this issue through trainingsfor local journalists in Belarus http://europeandcis.undp.org/poverty/mdghdpm/show/A4CC9CFB-F203-1EE9-BC7CA9898E0D574B.
17 UNDP Roundtable ‘Women and governance: political participation and female leadership’ 25 September 2008, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Discussion led by AinuraKenjebaeva, Member of Parliament, Irina Karamushkina, Member of Parliament, Cholpon Baekova, Deputy Speaker of the Kyrgyz Parliament http://eu-ropeandcis.undp.org/gender/gendermainstreaming/show/66F1EDBD-F203-1EE9-B3F12FEA5C87F079.
Country Example: Kyrgyzstan Elects Highest Percentage of Womento Parliament in Central Asia
In Kyrgyzstan’s 2005 election, no women were elected to parliament. Quotas, together with thelong-term involvement of civil society organizations, helped to increase women’s political par-ticipation. Thanks to the quota system and the new Elections Code adopted in 2007, women nowmake up 26.6 percent of representatives in parliament. This is the highest percentage of any Cen-tral Asian state and second place in the CIS region.14
Country Example Kyrgyzstan: Employment for Women in Transition
In Kyrgyzstan, the economic transition has seen an increase in the economic marginalization ofwomen. Women must bear heavy workloads, especially in rural areas. Women typically earn lowwages and are forced to work in the informal sector in such areas as small-scale trade. The highlevel of poverty among women and their lack of access to economic resources have excludedwomen from privatization and the redistribution of resources.17
Financial Barriers for Womento Engage in Politics andRun as Candidates
Women often lack access to adequate funds, whichlimits their ability to run for political office. This is alsotrue of the ECIS region, where women lack the eco-nomic resources and corporate and business net-works that men have to raise money. Women arealso often kept outside the existing party establish-ments, their professional fundraisers and politicalnetworks. In addition, socialization sometimesmakes women reluctant to ask for money, or to gainfundraising skills and experience.19
The Financial and Economic Crisisand its Implication for Women’sPolitical ParticipationAs pointed out by many experts and organiza-tions,20 the economic crisis will have serious con-sequences for women. The crisis will hamperprogress made so far in terms of achieving gen-der equality. Even though the current global fi-nancial crisis is still unfolding, and it is too earlyto comprehend the full social implications,21 thegender-specific impact of the crisis could affectwomen in such areas as employment and socialsafety networks, unpaid care work, health, edu-cation, migration, and also in terms of gender vi-olence.22 This also seriously affects the enablingenvironment, which is fundamental for women’sparticipation in public life.
16
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18 European Commission, IP/08/1449 and MEMO/08/592, Brussels, 3 October 2008.19 See iKNOW politics, Summary from the E-Discussion Forum on Financing Women in Politics (October 22-29, 2008), http://www.iknowpolitics.org/en/
node/7944.20 See for example the 53rd Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, March 2009; World Bank, The Global Financial Crisis. Assessing Vulnera-
bility for Women and Children, 2009b; Sylvia Walby, Gender and the Financial Crisis. Paper for UNESCO Project on Gender and the Financial Crisis, April2009.
21 Written statement submitted by Shamika Sirimanne to the Interactive Expert Panel of the Commission on the Status of Women, 53rd session on the Emerg-ing Issue: The Gender Perspectives of the Financial Crisis, 2-13 March 2009, p.2. http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/csw53/panels/financial_cri-sis/Sirimanne.formatted.pdf.
22 See also Louise Sperl, The Crisis and its Consequences for Women, in: Development and Transition Newsletter, 2/2009, http://www.developmentandtran-sition.net/index.cfm?module=ActiveWeb&page=WebPage&DocumentID=728.
Terminology and Concepts - Work/life Balance in the EU Context
Although women are still under-represented in economic and political decision-making positions in theNew EU Member States, their share of power has increased over the last decade. Nevertheless, the di-vision of family responsibilities still remains unequally distributed between women and men and therisk of poverty remains higher for women than for men. Equal participation of women and men in po-litical decisions was a priority under the Slovenian Presidency in 2008, as part of the follow-up to the Bei-jing Platform for Action. EU countries have focused on taking better advantage of women’s and men’sskills, including ensuring a better work/life balance. Improving work/life balance is at the core of Europe’sstrategy for growth and jobs and the European Parliament has consistently called for more action to im-prove work/life balance, as have national governments in the Council. European Commission Policy andlegislative developments for women’s political participation have focused on ways to support a betterwork/life balance including provisions for adequate maternity protection, family-related leave other thanmaternity leave, family policies and work/life reconciliation issues. The aim of these policies is to helpbalance professional, private and family life, improve the quality of life for both women and men andincrease participation in the labour market, particularly for women. Policies to support work/life balanceinclude maternity/paternity leave, equal treatment for the self-employed and spouses, adequate pro-vision of childcare facilities, entitlement to leave, and flexible working arrangements.18
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23 Source of data: Gender, Institutions and Development Database 2009 (GID-DB), http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DatasetCode=GID&lang=en# (Naviga-tion: Social and Development Statistics / Gender, Institutions and Development Database 2009 / Political and economic status of women). Data extractedon 2 September 2009.
24 No separate data are available yet under the OECD Gender, Institutions and Development Database 2009 (GID-DB) for Montenegro and Serbia.
Country Ratio of estimatedfemaleto male earnedincome
Estimatedearned income(PPP US$),female
Estimatedearned income(PPP US$),male
Female profes-sional andtechnical workers(as % of total)
Turkey 28% 4,959 17,988 33%
Georgia 33% 2,044 6,185 62%
Macedonia 49% 5,184 10,643 51%
Armenia 55% 3,524 6,420 65%
Albania 55% 4,171 7,599 ..
Serbia and Montenegro24 56% 6,752 12,133 56%
Kyrgyzstan 58% 1,333 2,306 62%
Ukraine 58% 4,648 8,045 64%
Tajikistan 58% 1,182 2,041 ..
Slovak Republic 59% 13,311 22,583 58%
Czech Republic 60% 16,603 27,585 53%
Poland 60% 11,084 18,466 61%
Uzbekistan 60% 1,646 2,727 ..
Slovenia 62% 19,246 31,010 56%
Estonia 63% 15,122 23,859 68%
Russian Federation 63% 10,360 16,474 64%
Moldova 63% 1,865 2,969 64%
Turkmenistan 64% 3,461 5,420 ..
Belarus 64% 7,722 12,028 ..
Azerbaijan 66% 4,915 7,495 51%
Bulgaria 66% 8,219 12,459 62%
Hungary 67% 14,658 21,951 61%
Latvia 67% 12,530 18,704 64%
Bosnia and Herzegovina 67% 5,282 7,866 ..
Kazakhstan 68% 8,039 11,782 67%
Croatia 69% 11,753 17,025 51%
Romania 70% 8,648 12,286 57%
Lithuania 72% 13,265 18,533 71%
Table 2: Economic Status of Women According to OECD Gender, Institutions and DevelopmentDatabase 2009 (GID-DB) (from the greatest gender income gap to the smallest)23
The economic and financial crises of the 1990s inEastern Europe hit women particularly hard, asone of the most vulnerable social groups.Women in particular found themselves with abigger burden of unpaid work. This is likely to berepeated again in the current crisis as the re-gion’s governments look to cut spending, asgrowth and budget revenues fall. In order toavoid a similar scenario, support for social pro-tection is required, along with appropriatemacroeconomic policies.
According to the issues paper prepared for the53rd session of the UN Commission on the Statusof Women 2009: ‘Economic recessions put a dis-proportionate burden on women, who are con-centrated in vulnerable employment, are morelikely to be unemployed than men, tend to havelower unemployment and social security bene-fits, and have unequal access and control overeconomic and financial resources. Women alsotake on additional responsibilities to providenon-market substitutes for market goods thattheir families are no longer able to afford.’25 Dur-ing difficult times, families also often rely onwomen to care for the sick, elderly, and extendedfamily. This means longer work hours and heav-ier workloads for women.26 This ‘social repro-duction’ work is likely to present women in manycases with difficult choices about reconciling in-tra- and extra-household labour,27 which makesit more difficult for women to engage in poli-tics. In its ‘Global Employment Trends for Women’200928 the International Labour Organizationwarned that the global jobs crisis is expected toworsen sharply in 2009. The global economic cri-sis will place new hurdles in the path towardssustainable and socially equitable growth, mak-ing decent work for women increasingly diffi-
cult.29 The ILO Report also highlighted the gap inwages earned by women and those earned bymen. In its analysis of labour markets in Europeand Central Asia it concluded that although thereduction of the gender pay gap is a major po-litical objective for governments and social part-ners, progress remains slow and the situationwill deteriorate with the crisis.
The overall challenge is to find efficient and sus-tainable responses to the financial crisis and in-evitable economic slowdown and reduce themultiple short- and long-term impact onwomen’s economic and social roles. Genderequality concerns need to be integrated into theresponses given to these challenges.
An equal participation of women and men indecision-making processes is a democratic andeconomic necessity. In the current economic sit-uation the skills of both women and men shouldbe mobilized. The financial and economic crisiscould be an important opportunity to invest inthe region, righting the gender balance in gov-ernment, business and management in order toimprove governance institutions as well as cor-porate governance and profitability. This alsoimplies making governance structures less vul-nerable, which is particularly important duringtimes of economic and financial downturn.Greater equality in sharing of power makes so-ciety more resilient because economic responsi-bility is borne more widely, and economic re-sources are distributed more broadly andcomprehensively. Partnerships between gov-ernments and civil society organizations will bekey in order to identify local responses to thecrises, fostering and developing the capacitiesrequired in a given country context.
18
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25 53rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women, Emerging issues, trends and new approaches to issues affecting the situation of women or equal-ity between women and men http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/csw53/papers/Emerging%20issue-%20financial%20crisis%2023Feb09.pdf.
26 Sirimanne, p5.27 Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, The Human Impact of the Financial Crisis on Poor and Disempowered People and Countries, 2008, p5. http://www.un.org/ga/presi-
dent/63/interactive/gfc/sakiko_p.pdf.28 International Labour Organization, Global Employment Trends for Women 2009, Geneva, March 2009, www.cinterfor.org.uy/public/english/region/am-
pro/cinterfor/temas/gender/doc/trends09.htm.29 Kanaga Raja, Economic Crisis to Put more Women out of Work this Year, South-North Development Monitor (SUNS, No. 6655, 9 March 2009).
Social Challenges to Women’sPolitical Participation
Throughout the region, policies aimed at pro-moting the equal participation of women andmen in decision-making processes and positionshave to take into account how to challenge ex-isting stereotypes and perceptions that have af-fected women’s participation in political life.These stereotypes influence the unequal sharingbetween women and men of work time, incomeand family responsibilities. They also constitutebarriers to women’s career advancement and ap-pointment to decision-making positions.
The transition to modern democracy has af-forded the opportunity to challenge genderstereotypes through gender mainstreaming,helping to change visible and invisible discrimi-natory practices and structures.
Gender mainstreaming aims to change genderstereotypes and perceptions, which are at theroot of traditional barriers to women enteringpolitical life. The stereotype that politics is not awomen’s place makes it difficult for women totake up political positions. Politics is assumed tobe a hostile environment for women, where theworld of politics has been arranged by men and
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30 UN Office of the Special Advisor on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women (OSAGI), Gender Mainstreaming. An Overview. New York, 2001www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/conceptsandefinitions.htm.
31 United Nations Development Programme, Gender Mainstreaming in Practice: A Toolkit (part I), 2007, p. 143.
Terminology and Concepts - Gender Mainstreaming
The Council of Europe defines gender mainstreaming as the ‘(re)organization, improvement, de-velopment and evaluation of policy processes, so that a gender equality perspective is incorporatedin all policies at all levels and at all stages, by the actors normally involved in policy making’. The UNhas defined the concept of gender mainstreaming as ‘the process of assessing the implications forwomen and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areasand at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences anintegral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and pro-grammes in all political, economic and societal spheres, so that women and men benefit equally andinequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality.’ 30
Country Example Albania: Gender Mainstreaming in the National MDG Report31
Through UNDP’s support to the national Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Report (2004),gender mainstreaming was identified as one of the four principles of the government’s ap-proach to achieve the MDGs. The MDG report highlighted gender inequality as one of the keyobstacles to the country’s development, and specific measures were suggested to increasewomen’s representation in decision-making bodies, to empower women to participate in eco-nomic development and to reduce school dropout rates for girls, especially in rural areas. Civilsociety organizations took an active part in the formulation of local goals and development pri-orities.
Source: http://intra.undp.org.al/ext/elib/download/?id=659&name=Albania%20National%20MDG%20Report%202004%20%28English%29.pdf.
adapted to their way of behaviour, the so-calledold boys’ network, the unofficial bonding of men,in which there is simply no place for women.Family demands are another reason why poli-tics is not chosen by women who are mothers.Their families often don’t welcome the demand-ing hours and travel. As a result, many womenpoliticians wait until they are over 50, when theirfamilies are grown, to enter politics. The domi-nant model of political leadership is the tradi-tional one – competitive and masculine - whichlimits the opportunities not only of women butalso of younger men who are low in the hierarchyof patriarchal authority. Women remain tradi-tionally concentrated at low decision-makinglevels as well as at low levels of state adminis-tration.
Violence Against Women in Politics
Violence, or the threat of violence, has beenidentified as a significant impediment towomen’s political participation. While crimes ofviolence against women in politics are receivingincreasing international attention, the attentionis often limited to high-profile cases, while theoverall scale of such violence – including vio-lence occurring at the local level – remains un-derreported and under documented.32
The root causes of violence against women inpolitics include persisting cultural stereotypes,abuse of religious and traditional practices, pa-triarchal societal structures and the role womenhave historically played as the followers of maleleaders. Women can become victims of violencein political life, just because they are women. Vi-olence can take on a wide range of forms, bothphysical and psychological. This includes hin-dering women in their duties or silencing them,
character assassinations and defamation, ha-rassment by the media, insults and slander, sex-ual violence, assault, economic control, domes-tic violence, degrading treatment, illegalalternating of positions and targeting of rela-tives and supporters. Women are de facto alsooften left out of key decision-making processes,for example those taking place during informalgatherings outside regular working hours.Women’s lack of mobility due to family respon-sibilities often hinders their participation in suchinformal gatherings, which can be easily instru-mentalized by others.
Some experts distinguish violence againstwomen that is used as a tool for political powerfights from violence that is unleashed on womenbecause they attempt to put in place so-calledtransformative politics.33 In the conflict that re-sulted in the break up of the former Yugoslavia,violence against women, including systematicmass rape, was used as a tool in political powerfights between men. However, violence againstwomen is also used to silence women who followtransformative political agendas. For example,when women activists spoke against the war inthe former Yugoslavia, they were demonized asnational traitors.34
The implementation of laws to prevent gender-based violence is a prerequisite for providing apositive environment for gender equality andfor overcoming barriers to women’s political par-ticipation, and for mobilizing women to becomemore involved in political life.
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33 See for example Sonja Lokar, in http://www.iknowpolitics.org/files/Consolidated%20reply%20_violence%20against%20women%20in%20politics_.pdf.34 Ibid.
Summary
Though uneven and uncertain at times, the ECISregion has made progress in achieving genderequality over the last decade. At the same time,ensuring women’s equal participation in politicalprocesses remains a challenge, especially as theinformal criteria for political positions are set inways that may exclude women. Women are notyet equally represented in decision-making po-sitions across the board. Nevertheless, politicaland economic transition has introduced legisla-tive and electoral reform to include women, inline with the democratic principles of pluralismand inclusiveness. Women are now increasinglyparticipating in political processes as parlia-mentarians, political party members, and civilservants at decision-making levels. They are alsobecoming increasingly involved in civil societyorganizations and the media.
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35 Pinar Ilkkaracan and Liz Ercevik Amado, Good Practices in Legislation on Violence against Women in Turkey and Problems of Implementation,EGM/GPLVAW/2008/EP.13. Presented at an Expert Group Meeting organized by UNDAW/DESA and UNODC on good practices in legislation on violenceagainst women, Vienna, Austria, 26 to 28 May 2008, http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/vaw_legislation_2008/vaw_legislation_2008.htm).
Country Example: Violence against Women in Turkey
A recent study on violence against women in Turkey reports a groundbreaking shift in the legalapproach to such violence. The primary driving force for these reforms has been the efforts of astrong women’s movement. The reforms have not only promoted significant legislative ad-vances, but also have led to a visible shift in terms of public discussion and attention to violenceagainst women and challenging prevalent attitudes and constructs.
Examples include a case from April 2007 related to sexual harassment in the workplace, whenthe High Court penalized a perpetrator with an eight-month prison sentence and approxi-mately US$ 5,000 fine. This was a precedent case because the woman had no witness of the ha-rassment. In April 2008, a marital rape case under the new penal code was approved by the HighCourt and the perpetrator was sentenced to 10 years. A parliamentary commission was formedin 2006 to investigate violence against women, in particular honour killings, and issued a report.As a result, the Prime Minister issued an official circular to all public institutions on combatingviolence against women, and the General Directorate has launched a training programme for po-lice and health personnel (2008).35
This section introduces country-specificpractices related to women’s political par-
ticipation in the ECIS region. First, it examines thelegal and institutional frameworks to promotewomen’s political participation through an analy-sis of the existing practices, successes and chal-lenges of Gender Equality Laws, election lawsand other specific laws impacting on women’spolitical participation such as political party lawsand laws addressing gender-based violence aswell as the European gender acquis. Second, thesection looks at mechanisms and strategies topromote women’s political participation such asquotas and proportional representation, women-only parties and alliances across party lines. Fi-nally, the section examines partnerships forwomen’s political participation by looking athow civil society organizations and the mediacan support the promotion of women’s politicalparticipation by presenting successful modelsand experiences as well as existing challenges.
II.1. Legal and InstitutionalFrameworks to PromoteWomen’s PoliticalParticipation
Legislative reform is key to fostering women’srights, particularly in a region that is still under-going economic and political transition, andwhere some countries are recovering from violent
conflict. Gender Equality Laws provide an impor-tant basis for ensuring women’s rights and polit-ical participation in the region, following the re-quirements of international obligations andagreements such as the Convention on the Elim-ination of all Forms of Discrimination AgainstWomen (CEDAW), the Beijing Platform for Actionand the Millennium Development Goals (MDG3on gender equality) as the basis. Since the tran-sition period started, the ECIS region has beenputting Gender Equality Laws into place. Now aspecial emphasis is required to ensure that theselaws are implemented.
Gender Equality Legislation
Gender Equality Laws guarantee equal treatmenton the grounds of gender, prohibiting direct andindirect discrimination based on sex, reproduc-tive status (pregnancy), marital status, and fam-ily status. These laws also often include specificsections that relate to women’s participation inpublic life. In the EU, gender equality laws are de-termined by the equality acquis, which is explic-itly written into the legislation and into the struc-ture of national equality institutions.
Gender Equality Laws have been put in place indifferent times in the region often throughstrong support of UN agencies and civil societyorganizations, and are at different stages of im-plementation.
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II. Behind the Figures:Country-specific PracticesRelated to Women’s PoliticalParticipation in the ECIS region
Poland established itself as a popular democraticregime in 1989. On 16 April 2003, Poland signedthe Treaty of Accession to the European Unionand became a member of the European Unionon 1 May 2004.
The new Constitution of the Republic of Polandwas adopted in 1997 and establishes equalitybefore the law in several provisions.37
As a member of the EU, Poland is obligated tofollow EU directives. Poland’s Plenipotentiaryfor the Equal Status of Women and Men is themost important vehicle for ensuring that thecountry’s laws follow EU directives with regardto gender. In 1992, the Plenipotentiary drafted aGovernment Action Programme for improvingthe situation of women, children and families.This lead to a National Action Programme forWomen based on the final recommendations ofthe 1995 Beijing Conference, adopted by the
Council of Ministers in April 1997. The Plenipo-tentiary for the Equal Status of Women and Menintroduced gender equality into the govern-ment’s legislative agenda and carried out severalprojects during the pre- and post-accession pe-riod, including training of judges, prosecutors,police officers and public administration offi-cials on the principles of gender mainstreamingand gender equality.
As of 2008, the government’s policy on genderequality has been handled by two offices – a De-partment in the Ministry of Labour and SocialPolicy, and the Government Plenipotentiary forEqual Treatment. The Plenipotentiary operates asa member of the Prime Minister’s chancellery.In addition to coordinating equality-oriented ac-tions of the government, these two bodies mon-itor the situation on gender equality and analyseproposed legislation from the perspective ofgender equality.
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Terminology and Concepts – CEDAW36
Since the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)was adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 1979, it has been ratified by 186 coun-tries.
Article 7 of CEDAW stipulates that all states that ratify the Convention shall take appropriate meas-ures to eliminate discrimination against women in political and public life and, in particular, shallguarantee that women have the right to:
1. vote in all elections and public referenda and to be eligible for election to all publicly electedbodies;
2. participate in the formulation of government policy and the implementation thereof and tohold public office and perform all public functions at all levels of government;
3. participate in non-governmental organizations and associations concerned with the public andpolitical life of the country.
36 For the full text of the convention see http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cedaw.htm. Updates on the status of ratification are available athttp://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-8&chapter=4&lang=en.
37 Article 32 states: 1. All persons shall be equal before the law. All persons shall have the right to equal treatment by public authorities. 2. No one shall bediscriminated against in political, social or economic life for any reason whatsoever. Article 33 states: 1. Men and women shall have equal rights in fam-ily, political, social and economic life in the Republic of Poland. 2. Men and women shall have equal rights, in particular, regarding education, employmentand promotion, and shall have the right to equal compensation for work of similar value, to social security, to hold offices, and to receive public honoursand decorations. In addition, Article 47 guarantees all persons the right to ‘legal protection of one’s private and family life, of one’s honour and good rep-utation and to make decisions about one’s personal life.’
The Gender Equality Law in Bosnia and Herze-govina was adopted in 2003 after years of policyadvocacy by women’s NGOs. The Law establishedthe Agency for Gender Equality as the state gen-der equality mechanism. On the entity level,there are the Gender Centre of the Federation ofBosnia and Herzegovina and the Gender Centreof the Republic of Srpska. One of their main rolesis monitoring the implementation of the GenderEquality Law and tasks relating to state obliga-tions under CEDAW. The law prohibits direct andindirect discrimination on the basis of genderand guarantees equal opportunities in the pri-vate and public domain. The Law promotes af-firmative action, and legal measures can betaken in case of discrimination based on gen-der. The law addresses a wide range of issues,such as education, employment, social welfare,participation in decision-making, and modali-ties and responsibilities concerning the imple-mentation of the law.
The Bosnia and Herzegovina Gender Equality Ac-tion Plan, adopted in September 2006, includes aseparate chapter on gender budgeting with spe-cific recommendations. A gender-responsiveBudget Framework Paper (medium-term expen-diture framework) was prepared for the first timefor the period 2006-2008 and has intensified ef-forts to introduce gender budgeting in severalministries. The Law on Gender Equality includesprovisions for the collection, recording and pro-cessing of sex-disaggregated data and requeststhat sex-disaggregated data collection be priori-tized in accordance with the Gender Equality Law.
In Georgia the Gender Equality Advisory Council,made up of members of parliament, representa-tives of governmental and non-governmental or-ganizations, under the parliament of Georgia wasestablished in 2004 with the support of the UNDPproject ‘Gender and Politics’ in the South Cauca-sus. The Council’s mandate was to ensure thatgender legislation was passed based on interna-tional agreements and conventions related togender equality and women’s empowerment. In
February 2005 the Governmental Commissionon Gender Equality and the Gender AdvisoryCouncil under the Chair of the parliament ofGeorgia, with the support of UN Agencies (UNDP,UNIFEM, UNFPA) established a working groupcomposed of members of the Commission, Ad-visory Council, government representatives,members of women’s NGOs and the Ombuds-man’s office. The working group elaborated theGender Equality Strategy of Georgia that becamethe State Concept of Gender Equality adoptedby parliament in July 2006. The State Concept ofGender Equality introduces definitions of gen-der, gender equality, direct and indirect discrim-ination and gender mainstreaming, based onCEDAW and Council of Europe definitions. Theparliamentary approval of the concept estab-lishes gender equality as a policy framework forthe executive branch of government.
The concept also helped to develop the capacityof the State Commission for the Elaboration of aState Policy for the Development of Women. Italso led to the gender sensitization of the leg-islative and ministerial programmes, the creationof gender information centres; and a central gen-der resource and information centre for train-ing, research, policy advisory services, and pub-lic advocacy.
In September 2007 the government adopted athree-year action plan for implementing genderequality measures, along with recommendationsto establish permanent mechanisms to monitorand coordinate gender equality issues. With thesupport of the UNDP ‘Gender and Politics’ proj-ect, the Gender Advisory Council under the Chairof the parliament of Georgia initiated the elabo-ration of a Gender Equality Law. The workinggroup charged with preparing the draft equalitylaw was established by MPs from the AdvisoryCouncil, women NGOs, legal and gender experts/academia and UN Agencies (INDP, UNIFEM,UNFPA, UNHCR). When adopted by the Georgianparliament, the Gender Equality law will be astrong mechanism for achieving gender equality.
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Kyrgyzstan’s gender law and policy were en-dorsed following Kyrgyzstan’s signature to theBeijing Platform for Action (BPfA) in 1995 andthe Convention on the Elimination of All Forms ofDiscrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1997as well as the 2000 Millennium Declaration,where Kyrgyzstan is a pilot country in the Mil-lennium Challenge programme.38 The Law ‘Onthe Basics of the State Guarantees of GenderEquality’ was adopted by parliament and signedby the President in spring 2003. This Law pro-vides for equal rights and opportunities for per-sons of both sexes in social, political, economic,cultural, and other aspects of human life. It isdesigned to protect women and men againstdiscrimination on the basis of sex; to promoteprogressive democratic relations between menand women on the basis of national traditions;and to provide state guarantees of equality andequity to persons of both sexes.
Kyrgyzstan also developed national programmesfor gender equality. A State Commission forWomen and Family Affairs was initiated by thegovernment, and the National Programme (Ay-alzat) for the advancement of women was ap-proved for 1996-2000. In 2003, the Law on socialand legal protection from domestic violence wasapproved, and in 2006 the Presidential Decreewas signed on measures to improve gender pol-icy, which recommended a 30 percent quota ofwomen to fill decision-making positions in ex-ecutive agencies.
Further improvements on gender equality havebeen made through Kyrgyzstan’s DevelopmentStrategy for 2007-2010, which includes provi-sions for gender equality aiming at gender par-ity in the civil service. As of August 2008, 41.9percent of civil servants were women. Within thegovernment there are 5 women out of 23 mem-bers, (Vice Prime Minister of Social Affairs, Min-
ister of Finance, Minister of Education, Minister ofSocial Development, Chairperson of the StateCommittee for Migration, Labour and Employ-ment) representing 21.7 percent of the govern-ment in total. In August 2008 the Presidentsigned an amendment to the law ‘On State Guar-antees of Equal Rights for Women and Men in theKyrgyz Republic’, which introduced new meas-ures to increase women’s representation in ex-ecutive agencies.
In Ukraine, equal rights among women and menare guaranteed under the Constitution. Article 24guarantees equality of rights and freedoms for allcitizens with no gender discrimination, statingthat equal rights for women and men are en-sured by equal opportunities for women andmen in public, political, and cultural activity, ineducation and professional training, in work, andcompensation. The Law on Equal Rights and Op-portunities for Men and Women (2005) definesconcepts such as ‘equal rights of women andmen’, ‘equal opportunities of women and men’,‘discrimination based on sex’, ‘gender equality’and others. It also outlines the main directions ofstate policy concerning equal rights and oppor-tunities of women and men, assigns roles and re-sponsibilities to ensure equal rights and oppor-tunities of women and men to specific publicauthorities, institutions and organizations. Arti-cle 15 specifically guarantees equal rights andopportunities for female and male candidatesduring elections.
In Turkey important changes to legislation in-cluding laws related to political parties and elec-tions have been made in the last decade led bycivil society organizations. On 22 November 2001,the Turkish Parliament ratified a new Civil Code(No. 4721), replacing the 1926 Civil Code (No.743). The former Civil Code subordinated womento the family and fuelled a movement to change
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38 The Millennium Challenge Programme is a US Government cooperate strategy to provide aid to developing countries to promote good governance and fightcorruption. The Programme provided US$ 16 million to the Kyrgyz Republic in 2008. For more details see www.mcc.gov including the 2009 scorecard.
discriminatory provisions. The 2001 Civil Codeintroduced many changes regarding the status ofwomen in the family.39 In May 2004, Turkeypassed amendments to the Constitution whichprovide for equality of women and men (Act No.5170).40 Guarantees against discrimination arealso codified in other laws. Provisions on genderequality related to family law, maternal health,child care, discrimination, labour laws, minimumwages, honour killings and gender-based vio-lence were passed including:
• the establishment of family courts to deal withcases and affairs arising from family law; theOptional Protocol granting the Right of Indi-vidual Complaints to the CEDAW Committeeupon breach of CEDAW State obligations;
• a new Labour Law was adopted and impor-tant gains were achieved in the area ofwomen’s rights and equal opportunities inworking life including non-discriminatorytreatment, direct or indirect, on account ofgender or pregnancy;
• a Law on Turkish Citizenship which im-proved conditions for women citizens wasadopted, as well as a law prohibiting genderdiscrimination in personnel recruitment;
• new Municipalities Law introducing the ob-ligation for municipalities with a populationover 50,000 to establish shelter homes forwomen and children, as well as paid mater-nity leave and rules governing working con-ditions and protection of the family.
Additionally, the Action Plan for National Equal-ity for 2008-2013 approved by the Prime Minis-ter’s Office within the General Directorate for the
Status of Women includes concrete action forthe promotion of women in decision-makingbodies. In April 2009, a Law for the Establish-ment of an Equal Opportunities Commission wasapproved by the parliament.41 Despite theseguarantees, further legal reform is still needed. Ashadow NGO Report from 2004 on Turkey’s re-port to CEDAW emphasized the need for affir-mative action measures to ensure gender equal-ity. The shadow report urged temporary specialmeasures to increase the political participationof women, such as a gender quota system.42 In itsConcluding Comments on Turkey’s State report,the CEDAW Committee recommended introduc-ing temporary special measures to increase thenumber of women in parliament, in municipalbodies and at higher levels in the foreign serv-ice.43
Election Laws
Gender equality legislation in line with the Bei-jing Platform for Action, CEDAW and MDG3 in-cludes election codes and laws which are crucialfor ensuring women’s equal political participa-tion. The election laws throughout the regionare at different stages of implementation. A ma-jor challenge in their implementation is to en-sure that the Election Law is harmonized withGender Equality Laws and international agree-ments, in particular meeting MDG 3. This re-quires that Laws ensure that more women areelected to parliament and take more decision-making positions in public administration, the ju-diciary, and state companies by using mecha-nisms and strategies such as temporary special
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39 The old legal approach, which assigned women a legislatively subordinate position in the family with rights and duties defined in respect to the husband,has been abandoned in favour of one that defines the family as a union based on equal partnership. The husband is no longer the head of the family; spousesare equal partners, jointly running the matrimonial union with equal decision-making powers. The concept of ’illegitimate children’, which was used forchildren born out of wedlock, has been abolished.
40 The persistence of the women’s movement as advocates for affirmative action contributed to the approval of constitutional amendments that were madein May 2004.
41 Turkey does not have a Gender Equality Law, although recently Turkey established a Parliamentary Commission on Women-Men Equal Opportunities whichmay pave the way for the enactment of a Gender Equality Law. Source: UNDP Turkey.
42 For more information on shadow reports see www.wwhr.org/images/shadowreport.pdf and http://www.stopvaw.org/Turkey.html. For a complete list ofShadow Reports see http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/iwraw/resources.html.
43 UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, Concluding Comments: Turkey (2005), CEDAW/C/TUR/CC/4-5,http://www.undp.org.tr/GenderinDevelopmentDocuments/CEDAW-CC-TUR-0523813E.PDF.
measures including quotas. The CEDAW recom-mendations also require that member states sen-sitize private enterprises, trade unions and po-litical parties to promote women in thedecision-making process. CEDAW Article 744
obliges states parties to ‘take all appropriatemeasures to eliminate discrimination againstwomen in political and public life and to ensurethat they enjoy equality with men in politicaland public life’. The obligation specified in article7 extends to all areas of public and political life.The political and public life of a country is abroad concept. It refers to the exercise of politi-cal power, in particular the exercise of legislative,judicial, executive and administrative powers.The term covers all aspects of public adminis-tration and the formulation and implementationof policy at the international, national, regionaland local levels. The concept also includes manyaspects of civil society, including public boardsand local councils and the activities of organiza-tions such as political parties, trade unions, pro-fessional or industry associations, civil societyorganizations, community-based organizationsand other organizations concerned with publicand political life.45
In October 2007, largely as a result of two and ahalf years of lobbying by civil-society organiza-tions in Kyrgyzstan, a new article 13 in the Con-stitution was passed giving men and womenequal rights and freedom and equal opportuni-ties. This article was applied in the new edition ofthe Election Code of Kyrgyzstan that introduceda gender quota in the electoral lists of politicalparties that participated in parliamentary elec-tions. As a result in the national elections in De-cember 2007, 23 women-deputies (26.6 percent)
were elected to the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan.With the ratification of over 30 international con-ventions, including CEDAW and its Optional Pro-tocol, and a vast array of domestic legislation, thefoundation for gender equality was firmly es-tablished in the first decade of Kyrgyzstan’s in-dependence.46
In Ukraine equal suffrage is guaranteed by theConstitution, prohibiting privileges or restric-tions of nominees based on race, skin colour,political, religious, or other preferences, sex, ethicor social origin, property possession, place ofresidence, language or other characteristics. Thelaws such as ‘On Elections of Members of Parlia-ment of Ukraine’ (Article 3) and ‘On Elections ofMembers of Parliament of the Autonomous Re-public of Crimea, Local Councils, Village, Town,and City Heads’ (Article 4) declare equal suffrage.The 2005 Law On Guarantee of Equal Rights andOpportunities for Men and Women provides le-gal guarantees for equal rights and opportunitiesto women and men, prohibits gender discrimi-nation, and enables the implementation of spe-cial temporary measures to achieve genderequality. The State Programme on Ensuring Gen-der Equality in Ukrainian Society until 2010 in-cludes an item on the preparation and introduc-tion of amendments to the Electoral Law tointroduce quotas. However – so far, Ukraine’slegislative framework does not provide for anyspecial measures to ensure gender equality forpolitical representation since attempts to intro-duce a quota system have not been supportedby the parliament.
Election laws do not always support women’spolitical participation. In 1998 the electoral sys-
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44 Article 7 (political and public life) states that ‘Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in political and pub-lic life of the country and, in particular, shall ensure that women, on equal terms with men, have the right: (a) To vote in all elections and public referendaand to be eligible for election to all publicly elected bodies; (b) To participate in the formulation of government policies and the implementation thereofand to hold public office and perform all public functions at all levels of government; (c) To participate in non-governmental organizations and associa-tions concerned with the public and political life of the country. http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/recommendations/recomm.htm.
45 UN Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination of Women, CEDAW General Recommendation No. 23 (16th session, 1997), http://www.un.org/women-watch/daw/cedaw/recommendations/recomm.htm#recom23.
46 UN Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination of Women, Concluding Comments: Kyrgyzstan, http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/cedaw30/KyrgyzstanCC.PDF.
tem in Bosnia and Herzegovina was based onquotas. The situation in 1998 was an improve-ment compared with the elections of 1990 and1996 when there were no quotas. The problemoccurred when the lists became open in the Elec-tions of 2002, when there was not enough sup-port given to women candidates. They did nothave space in media and were not promoted ad-equately by their own political parties. The is-sue was not only a matter of quotas or lists butlack of space given to women within their par-ties, in media and little trust in women politi-cians in the transition and post-conflict period.47
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, elections since 2002have seen a decline in the percentage of womenelected to government bodies, but the quotasystem has helped to contribute to a morefavourable climate for gender equality. Women’sadvocacy groups are working with various gov-ernment bodies such as the Committee on Hu-man Rights calling for the harmonization of thequota system with the Gender Equality Law andthe implementation of special measures in con-junction with the statutory quotas in order toachieve higher representation of women in alllegislative and executive bodies.
A major challenge for women’s participation inthe elections of Georgia in 2008 was that the Con-stitution and the United Election Code changedthe election administration, campaign regulationsand complaints and appeal procedures. The newElection Code impeded women’s chances of beingelected to parliament: it decreased the total num-ber of parliamentary members, which gavewomen less chance to be included at the top ofparty lists. Also in single-mandated constituen-cies, women had fewer opportunities to partici-pate in elections. In the Georgian parliamentaryelection in 2008 all abovementioned aspects,along with the resurgent political factors (oppo-
sition parties boycotted the new parliament),caused a decrease in the number of women MPsfrom 10 percent to 6 percent.
This decline occurred despite major campaignson gender and governance supported by WorldVision Georgia and financed by the EuropeanUnion and the Council of Europe. These cam-paigns aimed to encourage women to vote inthe national elections in 2008. According to ex-perts, the reasons for women’s under-represen-tation in the 2008 elections were manifold andmainly linked to the lack of an enabling legalframework as well as to the lack of implementa-tion of gender mainstreaming policies withinpolitical parties.
Legislationon Gender-Based Violence
As outlined in Chapter I, the implementation oflaws to prevent gender-based violence are cru-cial for providing a positive environment for gen-der equality and for overcoming certain barriersto women’s political participation, such as phys-ical and psychological violence that can be facedby women in politics. Gender-based violence iseither addressed through gender-equality lawsor through laws targeting gender-based vio-lence.48 The region has devoted considerable at-tention to providing legal and social protectionto the victims of gender-based violence. Re-ponses by governments have been crucial forsupporting women’s rights and protectingwomen from violence.
On 15 November 2001, the Ukrainian Parliamentadopted the Law ‘On the Prevention of Violencein the Family.’ On 26 April 2003, the Cabinet ofMinisters issued a decree providing for a proce-dure to consider and review statements about
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47 Discussed at the UNDP Roundtable ‘Women and Governance in Eastern Europe and CIS,’ 11. November 2008, Sarajevo/Bosnia & Herzegovina.48 An example for the first scenario is the Kyrgyz case; an example for the latter the Ukraine. For further details see later parts of this section.
acts or threats of domestic violence (Decree No.616).49 The law defines domestic violence as anyintentional actions committed by a family mem-ber towards another family member, which vio-late the constitutional rights and freedoms of a
family member as a citizen and cause harm to hisor her physical, mental or moral health or to thedevelopment of a child. The definition of sexualharassment was provided for the first time in thelegislation of Ukraine in the Law ‘On Ensuring
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49 In addition, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in cooperation with the Ministry of Ukraine for Family, Youth and Sports, issued a decree in 2004 establishinga procedure of cooperation between governmental institutions to prevent violence in the family.
Terminology and Concepts - European Acquis Related to Gender Equality
Gender Equality between women and men is enshrined in the European Community Treaty and inEuropean law. EU members are obliged to follow democratic principles and defend human rights,particularly those concerning the rights and opportunities of men and women. EU member statesfollow EU directives within the acquis communautaire (the term used in European Union Law to re-fer to the total body of EU law) including those related to the attainment of equality between menand women.
The laws of the acquis communautaire can be divided into the primary law, which establishes the Eu-ropean Community (Treaty), and the secondary law, which derives from the treaties (directives andregulations). There is also a very important soft law, adopted by the EU, that guides the national poli-cies of the current Member States in employment, social affairs and gender equality.
The Gender Acquis refers to the large body of European legislative texts dedicated to equality be-tween women and men. This is made up of various Treaty provisions and Directives concerning ac-cess to employment, equal pay, maternity protection, parental leave, social security and occupationalsocial security, the burden of proof in discrimination cases and self-employment. The EU policies andlegislation on equality between women and men are part of the package which EU accessioncountries adopt before joining the EU.
Articles 2, 3, 13 and 141 integrated in the Treaty of Amsterdam, adopted in 1997, created a stronglegal basis for action and an obligation to promote equality. In accordance with Articles 2 and 3 ofthe EC Treaty (gender equality and gender mainstreaming) as well as Article 141 (equality betweenwomen and men in matters of employment) and Article 13 (sex discrimination and other types ofdiscrimination within and outside the workplace), the objective is to eliminate inequalities and pro-mote equality between women and men throughout the European Community.
In terms of political representation, there is still no provision in European Treaties for parity democ-racy (50/50 representation of men and women) or the equal representation of women and men indecision-making. However, the Gender Acquis provides an important example of legal and institu-tional practice for the whole region, particularly in the areas of employment and occupation and forthose countries that are currently in the EU accession process.
the Equal Rights and Opportunities of Womenand Men’ that entered into force on 1 January2006.50 However, public awareness on the legalframework for gender equality remains low. Ac-cording to a poll among Ukrainians in 2007, 61percent never heard of the Law ‘On Ensuring theEqual Rights and Opportunities of Women andMen’ and only 5 percent were familiar with thecontent of the law.51
Article 4 of the Gender Equality Law in Bosniaand Herzegovina defines the legal meaning ofterms such as: gender, gender-based violence,harassment and sexual harassment. In its article17, the Law forbids ‘gender-based violence in allits forms, in the private and public spheres.’ Thelegal framework for combating domestic vio-lence was improved by laws on domestic vio-lence adopted in the Federation of Bosnia andHerzegovina and the Republic of Srpska in 2005.The Bosnia and Herzegovina Gender Agency,jointly with the Entity Gender Centres and CSOs,has drafted a State Strategy to Combat Domes-tic Violence. This draft has been sent to the Coun-cil of Ministries for approval. Sexual harassmentis prohibited by law, but it remains a seriousproblem that is poorly understood by the popu-lation. The Criminal Code criminalizes sexual in-tercourse with helpless persons, juveniles andsexual intercourse by abuse of position. Themechanisms to prevent gender-based violenceare yet to be fully developed.52
The Polish government developed a programmefor counteracting violence in the family, called‘Against Violence – Ensure Equal Chances‘, whichwas carried out with the assistance of UNDP inthe late 1990s. It aimed to establish a compre-
hensive system of aid to victims of domestic vi-olence. The Government Plenipotentiary alsodrafted an Act on counteracting violence in thefamily, as a self-standing regulation designed toincrease the protection of victims of violence.This Act was adopted by parliament on 29 July2005. A National Programme of CounteractingDomestic Violence was instituted on 25 Sep-tember 2006.53 The National Programme ismeant to coordinate efforts and ensure an in-terdisciplinary approach to counteracting do-mestic violence. The National Programme willbenefit from an evaluation, where the imple-menting entities have an opportunity to intro-duce modifications and new solutions.
The first Georgian law on domestic violencecame into effect on 9 June 2006. In this law, thedefinition of domestic violence goes beyondphysical violence to include psychological, eco-nomic, and sexual violence. The law, however,does not explicitly criminalize domestic violence.Instead, perpetrators of domestic violence areprosecuted under existing criminal provisions,such as prohibitions on battery or rape. The Lawallows both for a protective order and a restric-tive order to be issued by courts as well as for po-lice to provide immediate protection for victimsof violence.
In Turkey, the Family Research Institute in thePrime Minister’s Office has stated that domesticabuse is one of the most common forms of vio-lence against women in Turkey. Traditional atti-tudes and concepts of family exacerbate theproblem of domestic abuse. Honour killings areanother violation of women’s human rights. Sex-ual assault is a serious problem. Traditional atti-
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50 According to this law, sexual harassment includes actions of a sexual nature, expressed verbally (threats, intimidation, improper remarks) or physically(stroking, pats), that humiliate or offend people. The Law obligates an employer to take measures to end cases of sexual harassment. However, it doesnot determine which exact measures must be taken, and the institutions responsible to deal with violations are not clearly specified.
51 See Kateryna Levchenko, Women and Management: Participation in Political Processes and Women’s Leadership in Ukraine. Presented at the UNDPRoundtable ‘Women Leadership and Participation of Women in the Political Life of Ukraine,’ 6th November 2008, Kiev, Ukraine http://europeandcis.undp.org/gender/gendermainstreaming/show/A40239DE-F203-1EE9-BE0F195553D2CDA9.
52 See European Parliament, Note on the Situation of Women in the Balkans, http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?language=EN&reference=A6-0435/2008.
53 Resolution No.162/2006 of the Council of Ministers pursuant to Article 10 of the Law from July 29, 2005 on Counteracting Domestic Violence.
tudes and a failure to adequately investigatecases make it difficult for women who have beenraped. The new Turkish Criminal Code has incor-porated modern provisions for gender equalityand violence against women. As a result, a par-liamentary commission in 2005 was formed to in-vestigate the causes of honour killings and ofviolence against women and children, and toidentify what responses were required. In July2006 the Prime Minister’s Communication2006/17 on Measures to be Taken to Prevent Vi-olence Against Children and Women and HonourKillings was published.
In Kyrgyzstan, bride kidnapping (ala kachuu inKyrgyz), which involves the taking of an unwillingyoung woman by a young man for the purposeof non-consensual marriage, is still prevalent.Kidnappings can occur in rural and urban areas.It has been estimated that up to a third of all eth-nic Kyrgyz women in Kyrgyzstan may have beenwedded in non-consensual bride kidnappings.The Gender Equality Law of Kyrgyzstan appliesto family members and to relatives who residewith a family member (Article 5) from whomthey experience physical, psychological or otherforms of harm.54 In 2004, the CEDAW Committeewas concerned about widespread domestic vio-lence and requested a detailed report on sexualviolence against women in the Kyrgyzstan’s nextreport. The Committee expressed strong con-cerns that patriarchal traditions and discrimina-tory practices are re-emerging in Kyrgyzstan, es-pecially those of polygamy and kidnapping ofwomen. The Committee felt strongly that eradi-cation of such discriminatory practices and thecombating of stereotypes are fundamental toeliminating discrimination against women in so-ciety.55 In its recommendations from 2007, theCEDAW Committee stated that the retention ofthe patriarchal structures and the survival of cul-
tural stereotypes still hinder the advancement ofwomen.56 It recommended an extensive publicawareness-raising campaign against violence inthe family, particularly bride kidnapping, and re-quested that the state immediately begin en-forcing the law, which penalizes such practices.
Challenges and Key Issues
Though legal instruments and institutional mech-anisms to promote women’s political participa-tion have been established, more work needs tobe done to fine-tune them and put laws intopractice. In many cases, poor implementation ofgender equality laws, including the absence ofprovision for work/life balance, account for thelow participation of women in political processes.Greater participation of women in parliamentand other decision-making bodies, together withtheir strong representation in civil society or-ganizations, are needed to ensure governmentaccountability to gender equality legislation.
Policies aimed at promoting equal participationof women and men in decision-makingprocesses need to address the complex eco-nomic, financial and social obstacles that womenface. They also need to account for genderstereotypes that hamper women’s access to po-sitions of responsibility and leadership, in addi-tion to discriminatory practices. This is particu-larly true during times of financial and economiccrisis, which can exacerbate gender inequalities.Temporary special measures, such as legislativequotas, can help to achieve gender equality.
Electoral systems affect women’s involvementand representation. Political parties and national
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54 Article 1 provides definitions of domestic violence, physical domestic violence, psychological family abuse and sexual domestic violence. Articles 23 and24 address temporary restraining orders, and Articles 25 to 27 address protective court orders. Monitoring of the law is the responsibility of the policeand court system.
55 See http://www.wilpf.int.ch/publications/CEDAW_Report_Jan_2004.html.56 http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N07/264/90/PDF/N0726490.pdf?OpenElement.
parliaments in the region should be encouragedto involve more women and improve the repre-sentation of women and men on voting lists andamong nominations for elected office.
Violence against women in the political arena isa challenge, undermining women’s capabilitiesto enter politics. It can take on a wide range offorms, both physical and psychological. The scaleof such violence is far from fully documented. In-stitutions are required to overcome gender-based violence, both in political life and beyond.
II.2. Mechanisms and Strategiesto Promote Women’s PoliticalParticipation
A number of countries in the region have devel-oped successful strategies to increase women’spolitical participation. These strategies demandmore support from governments and funding in-stitutions. Quotas, proportional representation,measures to strengthen the position of women inpolitical parties, the formation of women’s polit-ical parties, the creation of women’s party sec-
tions, and the fostering of alliances across partieshave all proved important strategies to promotewomen’s political participation.
Quotas andProportional Representation
Quotas to enhance women’s representation are be-ing implemented with increasing frequency. Gen-der quotas ensure that women constitute a spe-cific number or percentage of the members of abody, be it a candidate list, a parliamentary assem-bly, a committee or the government. There are dif-ferent types of quotas, with the main distinctionbeing between legislative and constitutional quo-tas on the one hand, and voluntary political partyquotas on the other. Legislative and constitutionalquotas are based on legal provisions, officially man-dating that all political entities participating in elec-tions apply them equally. Voluntary political partyquotas are set by the political parties themselves, inorder to guarantee the nomination of a certainnumber or proportion of women.
Quotas can be applied in the nomination processor be results-based, such as quotas that dependon how many seats a party is given. In order to
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• Gender Equality Laws are in place, but they require more funding, better implementation andmore appropriate policies for national needs as well as careful reviewing and monitoring in par-liament. Furthermore, gender mainstreaming is needed at all levels. Not only governments butpolitical parties and civil society organizations, media and educational institutions need to worktogether to implement gender equality laws.
• Election Laws: Election laws are in place but need to be harmonized with gender equality lawsin accordance with CEDAW and in order to meet MDG3 – to promote gender equality and em-power women.
• Political Party Laws: More effective legislation on women’s participation in parties is needed –including temporary special measures – in order for women to overcome the barriers towomen’s leadership.
• Laws on gender-based violence are crucial for gender equality and for overcoming certain bar-riers to women’s political participation.
• The EC gender acquis has helped establish a stronger culture of gender awareness through itswork/life legislation as well as mainstreaming economic parity into its primary and secondarylaw. It has greatly influenced work on gender equality in the ECIS region.
gain a better understanding of the types of quo-tas that work most effectively, their use shouldbe examined in the context of the electoral sys-tem.57 The most dramatic improvements in theregion have taken place when governmentshave passed laws that support women in elec-tions or on party lists and have given equal visi-bility on ballot papers and by quota systems.
Quotas can be critical to increasing women’s po-litical participation. However, they can also be con-tentious. Some people have challenged their abil-ity to increase the numbers of qualified womencandidates. In the ECIS region, quotas have provencrucial for improving women’s political participa-tion, in particular when accompanied by support-ive activities that enhance the public’s under-standing of temporary special measures such asquotas as an integral part of efforts to achievegender equality and democratic governance.
In Poland quotas have proven effective in in-creasing the numbers of women in parliament.The Polish Elections in 2001 were preceded by amajor campaign to increase women’s participa-tion with the resulting increase from 13 to 20percent. The success was due largely to threefactors: 1) Three parties guaranteed a minimumof 30 percent of women on their candidate lists;2) The election saw more left-leaning partiesgain a majority rather than right-wing parties,with the latter tending to promote more tradi-tional gender roles; 3) The women’s lobby gainedstrength as civil society organizations workedwith women politicians to increase their visibil-ity among the voting public. The election markeda change in the public attitude towards womenin politics as public opinion shifted towards ac-cepting women in leadership positions.
The most effective strategy for increasing thenumber of women in parliament was the intro-duction of quotas on ballots. These were applied
by the political parties, not by parliament. Thefirst group to apply the quota system in generalelections in Poland was the Union of Labour (UP),which already in 1993 had decided that 30 per-cent of ballot places in parliamentary electionswould be reserved for women. In 2001, the Unionof Labour and the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD)signed an Agreement to reserve at least 30 per-cent of places on their ballots for women. In 2000,the Alliance modified its own document to guar-antee a minimum 30 percent to each gender,among both the potential candidates, and onthe lists of candidates. A similar principle was en-shrined by the Democratic Left Alliance in its con-stitutional document - the Party Statute (Article16, sections 1 and 2). As a result, the ballots of theSLD – UP coalition for the 2001 elections includedmore than 36 percent of women in total, thoughin some election districts the share was less than30 percent. It should be noted, however, that inthe first five places on coalition ballots there wereonly 17 percent of women. In those electionscoalition seats were won by 161 male deputiesand 55 women deputies (50 from the DemocraticLeft Alliance and 5 from the Union of Labour), atotal of 25 percent.
As of 2008, Poland’s ruling party had not intro-duced a quota system. However, before the 2007election, a resolution was adopted that one ofthe first three positions on each candidate listmust be held by a woman. In practice, 34 out of 41electoral districts observed the rule, and threeothers included a woman in the fourth position.The strategy proved successful and women took21 percent of places on the candidate lists, andmake up 23 percent of the party caucus in parlia-ment. Only the Green Party in 2004 adopted aparity system for elections to party bodies and inthe composition of electoral ballots: In 2004, thenames on Green party election ballots and in gen-eral elections alternated between women’s andmen’s names, with women assigned odd-num-
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57 See http://www.iknowpolitics.org/en/taxonomy/term/5.
bered places on the ballot, so that there is alwaysa woman in the first position on the election bal-lot. However, in 2004 the Green Party did not winthe minimum proportion of votes needed to en-ter parliament.
Some challenged the quota system, assertingthat women with links to civil society organiza-tions found it very hard to find space on ballotsafter the introduction of quotas. Parties wouldoften choose women without links to civil soci-ety organizations.58
Kyrgyzstan saw an increase in the number ofwomen deputies in parliament in 2000 due tothe introduction of elections on the basis ofparty lists. Though the total number of womendeputies was not significant – six women out ofthe total in the bicameral parliament won seats,with three entering on the basis of party lists.These results led civil society organizations topush for a proportional system as the most con-ducive to women’s participation. However, thissystem was removed in the country under theconstitutional reform of 2003.
In 2005, under the new Constitution, politicalparties again had the opportunity to nominatecandidates to parliament. Political parties nomi-nated only nine women to parliament (out of 38women deputies), which comprised about 20percent of the total number of candidates. Out of38 women candidates, none won a parliamentaryseat in 2005. From this it became clear that spe-cial support measures were needed to overcomethe de facto exclusion of women from parliament.
Civil society organizations lobbied for the estab-lishment of temporary special measures to ensurewomen’s political participation.59 As a result, thefollowing measures were implemented: a repre-
sentative of the President on Gender Issues wasappointed in the parliament (2005); a PresidentialDecree that there be at least 30 percent women inpublic administration was passed (2006); the prin-ciple of gender equality in governance was to beincluded in the national development strategies;and quotas were introduced (for the groups whichwere under-represented – women, youth and eth-nic minorities) to parliamentary elections based onparty lists (every fourth on the list). The result washighly successful: some 27 out of 90 women werevoted to parliament in December 2007, the high-est number among Central Asian countries.
Prior to 1989, the Former Socialist Federal Re-public of Bosnia and Herzegovina had a systemof reserved seats for women officials. Womenconstituted 27 percent (during the 1980s) ofCommunist Party membership. They were alsowell represented in other political organizations,such as the Socialist League (50 percent) andthe unions (35 percent). Due to a system of re-served seats adopted by the Communist Party tosupport women’s representation in 1986, womenmade up 24.1 percent of the Peoples Assembly ofthe Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and 17.3percent of local or municipal assemblies.
In the first free multiparty elections in the early1990s, the loss of reserved seats in these elec-tions resulted in the disappearance of womenfrom elected political bodies and state institu-tions. Of the 240 elected representatives in thePeoples Assembly of the Republic of Bosnia andHerzegovina, only seven were women (2.9 per-cent). In the municipal assemblies, women se-cured 315 of 6,299 seats (5 percent).60
This continued until a quota system was estab-lished in 1998. This improved the situation, butthe establishment of an open list system in 2000
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58 Malgorzata Fuszara, Kobiety w polityce [Women in Politics], Warszawa 2007.59 Women Watch, Women’s Participation in Kyrgyzstan: Analysis of Parliamentary Elections 2005 from a Gender Perspective and Specifics of Women NGOs, 2005.60 Besima Borić, Application of Quotas: Legal Reforms and Implementation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, A paper presented at the International Institute for Democ-
racy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA)/CEE Network for Gender Issues Conference, Budapest, October 2004, http://www.quotaproject.org/CS/CS_BiH-boric.pdf.
led to a drastic reduction in women’s representa-tion in comparison with 1998. Only three women(17 percent) were elected to the Bosnia and Herze-govina House of Representatives, in contrast with39 men. A similar level of representation of womenwas reached at the Entity level as well as within themunicipal assemblies (from 17 to 18 percent).
The Bosnian case shows that closed lists areproblematic for the empowerment of womenand their participation in politics. Likewise, openlists can lead to a drastic reduction in women’srepresentation when the country lacks an en-abling environment for women candidates. Themajor lesson learned from the Bosnian experi-ence is that if a quota system is introduced, itmust be accompanied by other measures such assupport to women in election campaigns, edu-cation of women on how to lead their cam-paigns, support to media to pay more attentionto women candidates, and voter education.
Civil society organizations in Georgia lobbiedfor the establishment of temporary special meas-ures to ensure that women receive equal politi-cal participation. The Women’s NGOs Coalition ofGeorgia forwarded to parliament 32,000 signa-tures in support of amendments to the coun-try’s elections legislation in favour of a 50 percentquota. The Gender Advisory Council under theChair of the Parliament of Georgia has supportedthe initiatives, as well as the introduction of agender equality law. The process is ongoing.
In Ukraine, quotas are also not yet in place. TheLaw ‘On Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportuni-ties of Women and Men’ guarantees equal rightsand opportunities for both women and men inpolitical life, but does not indicate how to im-plement this provision. It was never translatedinto the appropriate legislative instruments, such
as electoral legislation. No special mechanismfor promoting women and gender equitythrough a quota system was agreed upon.61 At-tempts to implement changes by introducinggender quotas were made, but without success:In 2006 and 2007 a bill was introduced thatwould have changed the electoral law ofUkraine, for example mandating the nominationof at least one member of the opposite sex inevery group of five candidates. The bill failed toreceive the support of parliamentarians.
Party Political Leadership
Throughout the region, political parties don’t of-ten promote women to leadership positions. Po-litical parties are critical for ensuring women’spolitical participation. Parties are governed bothinternally and externally, sometimes with rulesand regulations that significantly influence therole of women. External rules affecting womencan include gender quotas and other candidateselection mechanisms established through con-stitutional or party laws.
In many cases, parties recruit women, engagingthem in organizational work, especially in elec-tion campaigns. However, women are often por-trayed as having little political knowledge, po-litical experience or skills.
This creates an unfavourable environment forwomen’s political participation and genderequality. As a consequence, there are manywomen party members, but few are able tomove into positions of power.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has very few womenpolitical leaders at both the state and local partylevels. It is a widespread practice that key deci-
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61 A survey was made on quotas which indicated some support among the Ukrainian public. See National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Research ofPolitical Participation of Women. Gender Quotas. Thoughts and Opinions of Ukrainian people. 2005 – 2008. Information provided by Svetlana Oksamytnain: Kateryna Levchenk, Women and Management: Participation in Political Processes and Women’s Leadership in Ukraine prepared for the UNDP Round-table ‘Women Leadership and Participation of Women in the Political Life of Ukraine,’ 6 November 2008, Kyiv, Ukraine http://europeandcis.undp.org/gen-der/gendermainstreaming/show/A40239DE-F203-1EE9-BE0F195553D2CDA9.
sions are being made within political partiesrather than in the legislative and executive bod-ies, along with the imposition of strong partydiscipline that in practice often leads to the mar-ginalization of women.
Women in politics in Kyrgyzstan include thosefew who have maintained their position in na-tional parties from the former Soviet times, re-gional women leaders who stepped in to fillposts vacated by men politicians as they movedto the national level (considered to be more pres-tigious), and then in 2005, newcomers who werevoted in sometimes with limited experience inthe political system. In the last election, 90 per-cent of women included in the electoral lists ofpolitical parties were not party members andwere at times hastily recruited before the elec-tions in order to fulfil the mandatory 30 percentquota for women.
Remaining challenges for Kyrgyzstan are clan in-fluences and traditional masculine leadershipthat can perpetuate authoritarian forms of gov-ernance and contribute to re-emerging stereo-types.62 Another challenge is the low institutionaland organizational capacity of local women’sgroups. They are marked by weak networkingbetween women’s groups at the local level andby a lack of women’s leadership capacity devel-opment programmes and policies.
In Ukraine, a challenge in party politics is thattraditional parties have a varied approach tonominating candidates to parliament. In the2007 parliamentary elections, the number ofwomen candidates ranged from 39 percent (theProgressive Socialist Party of Ukraine) to 9 per-cent (the Peasants’ Bloc Agrarian Ukraine). Dur-ing the last elections, five parties surpassed the3 percent threshold and gained representation in
parliament. The Party of Regions won a majorityof seats with only 11 percent female MPs. TheCommunist Party obtained the smallest numberof seats (17 percent female MPs).
Women party leaders in Ukraine are not consid-ered to be part of the women’s movement. Ex-amples are the Progressive Socialist Party ofUkraine (headed by Natalya Vitrenko),Batkivshchyna Party (headed by Yulia Ty-moshenko who is at the same time leader of thebloc of parties bearing her name), and the Agrar-ian Party of Ukraine (headed by KaterynaVashchuk). In 2007, the Peasants’ Bloc AgrarianUkraine (under the leadership of Lidiya Porechk-ina) and Party Viche (Inna Bogoslovska) were es-tablished. But even in the parties headed bywomen, very few women entered the list of can-didates. One reason for the absence of womenparliamentarians is the high level of bias in theselection of candidates – a process wherewomen are unable to compete with men onequal terms, due to stereotypes, less access tomoney, and less effective social networks, whichare traditionally dominated by men.
A survey conducted in Turkey among membersof political parties and parliaments within thecontext of a project on ‘enhancing women’s par-ticipation in local politics and decision making’ aswell as a public-perception survey conductedwith citizens before the 2007 general electionsunderlined the difficulty of promoting women topositions of responsibility. Instead, the rolesgiven to women politicians replicated those theyheld at home and in their communities.63
The public-perception survey polled the generalpublic’s views on women’s involvement in poli-tics in Turkey. The survey showed that under-standing public perceptions of women’s partici-
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62 Anara Moldosheva. Kyrgyzstan National Report on Women & Governance. Bishkek, November 2008.63 KADER. Women’s Political Participation and their Leadership in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.’ Ankara, October
2008..
pation in politics could have been decisive inthe 2007 general elections, especially for thoseparties that did not receive the required mini-mum percentage of votes.
The main findings of the survey include:
• 77 percent of respondents said the most im-portant reason why women are representedat a low level in politics is that ‘women arenot given a chance’;
• 82 percent of respondents would like thenumber of women politicians to rise;
• 25 percent of voters would choose to votefor the party that has the higher number offemale candidates compared to other polit-ical parties;
• 16 percent of citizens who voted in the gen-eral election in 2002 were not satisfied withthe position of the parties they had supportedon equality issues and the rights of women.64
Through the survey, challenges to women’s po-litical participation were raised openly and withbroad coverage for the first time in a pre-electionprocess.
Women’s Party Sections
Women’s party sections aim to unite womenmembers within parties. They can be importantbodies for women to exert greater influence overparty platforms and policies and to galvanizewomen’s political participation. The establish-ment of women’s party sections requires the cre-ation of an appropriate legal framework andstructure, the identification of funding options,and a well-planned strategy for how to recruitnew members and retain current ones.65
In Kyrgyzstan women account for 10 percent ofhigh-ranking party leaders. A move is now afoot
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64 For more information on activities to enhance women’s political participation in Turkey, see http://www.undp.org.tr/Gozlem2.aspx?WebSayfaNo=86.65 See iKNOW Politics, Consolidated Response on Women’s Party Sections: http://www.iknowpolitics.org/files/consolidatedresponsewomenspartysection iknow-
politics.pdf.66 Extracted from Karolina Leakovic, Political Party Quotas in the Croatian Social Democratic Party by International IDEA, http://iknowpolitics.org/en/node/3302.
Country Example: Social Democratic Party of Croatia
The Social Democratic Party of Croatia was created in 1994 after a merger of several left-wing par-ties. At the beginning, women faced resistance from party members to establish a women’s wingor organize themselves within the party. However, by January 1995, women activists founded theSDP Women’s Forum. The Forum has become an internal structure within the party and compliedwith the party’s statute that allowed women who are interested in the values and work of the Fo-rum to become a member without being a party member. The Forum held a series of seminarsentitled ‘Women Can Do It’, following the example of women in Norwegian political parties.
Initially, the strategy was to form branch offices in any place where there was a party branch.Within two to four years almost 100 branches were established across the country.
The strategy of capacity building and increasing the representation of women within the partywas essential for the forum in order to influence the national agenda and implement gender-re-lated policies once the party formed a government in 2000. As the leading party in the coalitiongovernment, the party was largely responsible for achieving 34 percent women’s representationin parliament in 2000.66
among political parties to create women’s sec-tions, as a response to the introduction of genderquotas in the election system based on party lists.
Women-only Parties
There have been several experiments withwomen-only parties when male-dominated par-ties fail to promote women or take on a genderequality agenda. Women’s parties serve to pro-mote women’s needs, but have often proventemporary and not effective in the long run.
In the 1990s, several women’s parties were cre-ated in Ukraine: Women of Ukraine, Women forthe Future, Party of Solidarity of Women ofUkraine, and the Christian-Democratic Women’sParty. One of them was headed by ValentynaDovzhenko, then Minister for Family, Youth andSport. The party participated in elections twice,but did not obtain the required number of votes.The Party of Solidarity of Women of Ukraine washeaded by Valentyna Goshovska, who had oc-cupied high positions in government (MP,Deputy Minister for Defence, Deputy Head ofthe National Security and Defence Council).However, the Ukrainian experience shows thatwomen-only parties were not able to gainenough support from the electorate.
The first decision by the newly formed GeorgiaWomen’s Party was to call for quotas on the eveof parliamentary elections in May 2008, whenthe Women’s Coalition of Georgia forwarded tothe parliament 32,000 signatures in support ofamendments to the country’s elections legisla-tion. The party founded in March 2008 by GuguliMagradz, former MP and member of the GenderEquality Advisory Council, has 80 percentwomen and consists of 2,700 members. TheWomen’s party formed a part of the ‘ElectoralBloc Traditionalists – Our Georgia and Women’sParty’, an alliance of several political parties. Thisbloc nominated one woman in every five candi-dates.
The Georgian Women’s Party advocates for im-proving women’s educational and social oppor-tunities, raising the political awareness of localcommunities among rural and urban voters, andfor creating the space for women to take up po-sitions of responsibility and power within theparty.
Kyrgyzstan can also provide a number of exam-ples of women’s parties including the Women’sDemocratic Party (1994, renamed in 2005 theDemocratic Party of Women and Youth, NewPower) and the Party of Women El-Ene (2000),which literally means mother of the people. Inaddition, women leaders founded: El Muras (Peo-ple’s Heritage 2002), Agreement (2002) and theCommunist Party of Kyrgyzstan (2000). In theparliamentary elections of 2000, the Women’sDemocratic Party won two seats in the Legisla-tive Assembly. One of the two MPs – Ms. Tok-tokan Borombaeva - became a strong advocateof two important laws on gender equality – the‘Law on State Guarantees on Equal Rights andOpportunities of Men and Women’, and the ‘Lawon Social and Legal Protection against Family Vi-olence’, which were approved by parliament in2003.
Alliances of WomenAcross Party Lines
Another strategy in some countries of the re-gion to increase women’s political participationhas been to form alliances across party lines - of-ten with support and input from civil society or-ganizations.
Georgia’s action plan to promote the social, eco-nomic and political empowerment of women in-cluded the establishment of a women’s parlia-mentary group across party lines. TheParliamentary Women’s Club in the Georgian Par-liament was established in June, 1997. Special at-tention was dedicated to the role of women inthe peace processes in the Caucasus and to the
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problem of homeless children. The backbone ofthe Parliamentary Women’s Club was the Con-sultation Council, represented by women work-ing in the executive government, members ofthe previous parliaments, deputies of the coun-cils of the autonomous republics and local gov-ernment bodies, as well as leaders of civil societyorganizations. This proved an excellent exampleof cooperation between the legislative and ex-ecutive branches of government and the non-governmental sector.
In Poland, the Parliamentary Group of Womenwas formed in 1991 to unite women across partylines. The group was an important force forchange, particularly in the beginning. Accord-ing to some experts it later lost, to some extent,its reputation as being ‘above the political fray’.The grouping has become less visible, graduallydistancing itself from civil society organizations.It will be a challenge for the group to becomemore active in the future, particularly connectingagain with civil society organizations.
In Turkey, the women’s movement has worked toestablish a network of women across party lines.This has led to the creation of the Equal Oppor-tunities Commission in parliament in 2009.
An important network supporting women in pol-itics in Central and Eastern Europe is ‘The Centraland Eastern European Network for Gender Is-sues (CEE Network)’ that aims to address theuneven progress towards gender equality in thetransition period. It targets civil society organi-zations, women MPs, and party leaders from po-litical parties in Central and Eastern Europe. Thenetwork aims to mainstream gender into partypolitics, supports special temporary measuressuch as quotas, and provides women the op-portunity to increase their capacity to make po-litical decisions within parties. Last but not least,the network is promoting the inclusion of gender
concerns in the EU enlargement process throughadvocacy, policy formulation, strategy settingand partnerships.
One major success for the CEE Network has beenits programme ‘Women in Politics’ in eight ac-cession countries – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,Hungary, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Slovakia andPoland – to ensure that women take up theirplace in the European Parliament. The average ofwomen MEPs from these eight countries rosefrom 14 percent in the former European Parlia-ment to 29.5 percent of elected women MEPs inthe current parliament, with five countries con-tributing more than 30 percent (30.3 percent):Slovenia (42 percent), Lithuania (38 percent), Slo-vakia (33 percent), Hungary and Estonia (33 per-cent, respectively). Out of ten EU commissioners(2004-2009) who are women, four came fromBulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. In 2007,the CEE network began a broad lobbying effortfor a pan-European Parity in the Law Campaigntogether with the European Women’s Lobby andEuropean Forum for Democracy and Solidarity.
The CEE Network works closely with the Euro-pean Commission Expert Group on women inpolitical decision making, established in June2008. This high-level network provides a plat-form at the EU level to exchange good practicesand successful strategies to improve gender bal-ance in decision-making positions.67
Key Issues and Challenges
Women in political parties face a number of chal-lenges. For example, they are often not pro-moted to higher party positions, they do nothave access to funding, they don’t attract the at-tention of the media, or have the social supportto promote themselves for office. Some reasonsfor their exclusion include: the patriarchal tradi-
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67 http://www.europeanforum.net/gender_network/cee_network_for_gender_issues.
tion, caring and domestic duties that are con-sidered to be women’s duties, as well as the psy-chological and physical demands of switchingfocus from motherhood. Policies aimed at pro-moting equal participation of women and menin decision-making processes and positions needto tackle the main causes of the problem. Gendermainstreaming would promote women’s greaterparticipation in decision-making through ap-propriate policies and measures, equality plans,mentoring and targeted training.
Another challenge is to convince parties that en-suring women’s rights and leadership opportu-nities are crucial for democratic development,so that parties better integrate measures for gen-der equality in their structures or platforms orboth. Engaging men as advocates and allies canalso be crucial to effectively promote women’spolitical participation.
The challenge is to build a political culture, par-ticularly during election campaigns, to promotewomen alongside men candidates. The key is to
ensure that party lists respect quota systemswhen they are in place, and go beyond the min-imum possible representation of women re-quired by law.
A candidate’s chances at election, whether thecandidate be a man or a woman, depend to alarge extent on political parties and coalitions.Parties and coalitions decide who will be listedon the ballot and in what place. Such outcomesare determined by how people are recruited forelection ballots. It is therefore important to en-courage parties to place women candidates highon party lists and in responsible and accountablepositions.
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• Quotas and proportional representation: When appropriate for the electoral system and whenmonitored carefully, quotas are important mechanisms for increasing women’s representation.Reforms need to continue to improve quota systems through better enforcement and, whennecessary, legal amendments together with funds to support women candidates. In addition,awareness of the importance of gender issues for democratic governance within parliamentsand governments needs to be promoted.
• Women’s better representation in parties: The male-dominated political culture needs tochange by introducing appropriate measures and policies such as political party quotas, fund-ing and capacity building for women candidates and women political party members.
• Women-only parties: These types of parties are needed where there is a strong prejudiceagainst women in politics, but should be seen as temporary and not the most effective mech-anism for gender equality in the long run.
• Women’s party sections can be important mechanisms for exerting greater influence on partyplatforms and policies and to galvanize women’s political participation in general.
• Alliances across party lines: This strategy is a very important one in and outside parliament in or-der to build a culture of gender equality in political life, through committees, hearings and dialogue.
• Work/life balance: Within parliament and government, a better work/life balance needs to beestablished to encourage women to run for leadership positions and to ensure their partici-pation.
II.3. Partnerships for Women’sPolitical Participation:Civil Society Organizationsand the Media
Civil Society OrganizationsMobilizing for Women’s PoliticalParticipation
Throughout the region, civil society organizationshave promoted women’s political agendas andsupported women’s campaigns. Civil society or-ganizations raise awareness of women candidatesby promoting them in politics and public life. Theircampaigns challenge stereotypes by showing thatwomen can assume leadership roles.
Civil society organizations also produce strongwomen candidates. Once these women are inpolitical positions, civil society organizations cankeep them accountable. In this sense, civil soci-ety organizations act as watchdogs, monitoringhow gender equality legislation and other poli-cies affecting women are put into practice.
Civil society organizations provide networking,support and financial assistance. They also de-velop the capacity of women to support gen-der-sensitive policies. They help women candi-dates to confront the glass ceiling by providinginformal networks, which male politicians oftenrely on. Such networks are crucial for helpingwomen balance the long hours of political workwith the demands of the family. They also help tosensitize male political party leaders.
In Poland the number of civil society organiza-tions has expanded rapidly during the transi-tion, with over 300 civil society organizationsregistered in 2008. Most of these organizationswork on gender equality issues, though theymight focus on specific issues such as reproduc-tive rights, trafficking in women, violence, and le-gal assistance. Civil society organizations workedwell with the government during the prepara-
tions for the Fourth World Conference on Womenin Beijing (1995). Working arrangements withthe government were institutionalized with theCooperation Forum of the Government Plenipo-tentiary for Family and Women’s Issues andwomen’s non-governmental organizations. TheForum successfully cooperated with the govern-ment in the drafting of a National Action Pro-gramme for Women that was undertaken afterBeijing. The Forum then moved to work with theParliamentary Group of Women. In 2001, whenthe new government was formed by a coalitionof parties headed by SLD (Democratic Left Al-liance), but also including UP (Union of Labour),cooperation flourished. Civil society organiza-tions worked closely with women leaders to setup the Office of Plenipotentiary for the EqualStatus of Women and Men.
Within the Forum, leadership rotated in order toprevent one organization from monopolizingthe Forum. One challenge is that the Forum lacksa permanent ruling body to ensure sustainability.Unfortunately after the 2005 elections, coopera-tion between the government and civil societyorganizations weakened considerably.
In 1995, at the end of the war in Bosnia andHerzegovina, civil society organizations work-ing on gender equality, social development,democracy, human rights and peace became avibrant part of civil society. As in Poland, the re-lationship between civil society organizationsand women in political parties and in govern-ment has changed. The initial phase followingthe end of the war saw activism of women out-side and inside government, with a focus onbuilding institutions to ensure the political par-ticipation of women. During 1998-2003, the part-nership was marked by close cooperation be-tween civil society organizations andgovernment, which resulted in the passing ofthe Gender Equality Law, the introduction ofgender mechanisms, and the passage of theStrategy for the prevention of trafficking in hu-man beings, and in a relatively high representa-
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tion of women in governance. The present phase,by contrast, is marked by a less intense andstrategically oriented relationship between gov-ernment and civil society organizations.
Civil society organizations played an importantrole in supporting and promoting women on po-litical lists. In terms of voter education, they haveplayed a critical role in door-to-door contact withvoters. Civil society organizations were strongestwhen they were receiving considerable supportfrom the international community. The withdrawalof international organizations from Bosnia andHerzegovina, together with the failure of civil so-ciety organizations to secure sustainable financing,have compelled organizations to focus on their
own survival, rather than being free to work to-wards gender equality. International organizationshave supported civil society organizations duringand after the war, but a sustainable funding mech-anism from government sources was not created.The future of civil society organizations remainsunclear. Furthermore, civil society organizationsfind it difficult to participate in public discussionsabout key issues, such as a draft law or policy thatcould empower women, partly because they lackthe time, and partly because they don’t have thecapacity to analyse the social and economic im-pact of a given law or policy.
In Kyrgyzstan civil society organizations workingon gender equality and women’s empowerment
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Country Example: CEDAW Shadow Reports in Poland
Shadow reports drafted by civil society organizations are often an important counterweight tothe official reports submitted by the government. The major advantage of drawing up shadowreports is that they provide important alternative sources of information for international forums.They are able to disclose information not available in government reports and provide valuableinsights into the communities that are often the subject of the government reports. After the Bei-jing Conference, civil society organizations continued to use the shadow report mechanism tohold governments accountable for CEDAW commitments.
In Poland, for example, writing the Shadow Report was a highly visible and empowering exercise.During the preparations for the 1995 Beijing Conference, two shadow reports were drafted: onedrafted by civil society organizations and women activists, and one by organizations associated withthe anti-abortion movement. The latter report focused on the traditional role of women as moth-ers and wives, and argued that women should draw satisfaction and social prestige from fulfillingthese roles. The two draft reports highlighted the strong polarity between progressive women’s rightsorganizations and conservative organizations that are frequently linked to the Roman CatholicChurch and which accentuate traditional gender roles.68 A decade later, when the Polish Governmentsubmitted a report on the implementation of the CEDAW in 2006, several civil society organizations(the Federation for Women and Family Planning, Pro Femina Association, The PSF Women’s CentreFoundation, Centre for Women’s Rights, La Strada Foundation) submitted a joint shadow report. Thereport highlighted several areas where the government had failed to comply with its obligations asoutlined in CEDAW. The critical remarks of the Committee recommendations to the Polish govern-ment coincided with the recommendations formulated by civil society organizations.
68 Information provided by Małgorzata Fuszara at the UNDP Roundtable on Women and Governance: Political Participation of Women and Women’s Lead-ership in Poland, 13 November 2008.
make up 20 percent of the 9,000 officially regis-tered non-governmental organizations. Womenhead over 60 percent of all NGOs. As in Poland,Kyrgyzstan’s civil society organizations focusedon writing shadow reports69 to CEDAW ratified byKyrgyzstan in 1997.
Civil society organizations promoted the pas-sage of gender equality legislation, includingthe Law on Ensuring State Guarantees for theAchievement of Gender Equality (2003) and theLaw on Social and Legal Protection from FamilyViolence (2003), which was adopted after civil so-ciety organizations had collected 30,000 signa-tures. They also rallied together in 2005 whenparliamentary elections resulted in no represen-tation by women (in part because the threewomen who had been elected were stripped oftheir victory by a court). Together they adopteda Joint Platform of Action, which succeeded inestablishing the Special Representative of thePresident in the Jogorku Kenesh on gender de-velopment. Since then, special measures to sup-port gender equality have been implemented,following high-level consultations involving thegovernment, civil society organizations and mul-tilaterals.
Civil society organizations have also respondedto direct violations of human rights and therights of women. In particular, they acted whenefforts to legalize polygamy threatened to chal-lenge the constitutional separation of state andreligion. With international support, localwomen’s groups managed to stop this initiative.
Women in Kyrgyzstan have created Women cando it!, a nation-wide network for the advance-ment of women in politics. In 2008, the Allianceof Women’s Legislative Initiatives, coordinatedby the Agency of Social Technologies, was cre-
ated to strengthen the coalitions that had beenformed during a campaign to promote women inpolitics during 2005-2008. The Alliance bringstogether women parliamentarians, state organ-izations and women’s non-governmental organ-izations.
These networks and alliances were formed in atradition new to Kyrgyzstan. As a result, they arestill dependent on outside expertise and fund-ing. They operate mostly at the national level,while regional and local women’s networks re-main weak, both politically and financially. Morecan be done to build on regional and local ini-tiatives to improve women’s political participa-tion at these levels, and to strengthen informa-tional and educational campaigns to mobilizewomen politically at the local level.
In Kyrgyzstan as well as in Bosnia and Herzegov-ina, civil society organizations have come to relyon a ‘sandwich strategy’ to influence genderequality laws, whereby they lobby governmentsto make changes via pressure from below (civilsociety organizations) and from above (interna-tional conventions and agreements).
The diverse profile of civil society organizationsin Turkey reflects the country’s complex make-up, which includes both women’s groups deal-ing with sexuality to conservative groups, pro-moting traditional gender roles. Civil societyorganizations were instrumental during the lastgeneral elections in 2007, when they helped toincrease women’s political representation at thenational level. The solidarity among womenworking for NGOs and women’s movement or-ganizations in reaching out to women in politi-cal parties proved very important. The Women’sCoalition - a network of women activists estab-lished to promote women in politics – was key
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69 See the Forum of Women’s NGOs of Kyrgyzstan for a Shadow Report on Violence against Women and Political Participation, 2008, http://www.iwraw-ap.org/re-sources/pdf/42_shadow_reports/Kyrgyzstan_SR_%20Forum.pdf. Regarding political participation, the Report states: ‘The major problem in the area ofwomen’s political participation [is that] women continue to have limited exercise of legislative, executive and administrative powers. They are under-rep-resented in decision-making bodies, there is a lack of women’s issues in the country’s policies, lack of political leadership capacity development oppor-tunities for women, a lack of training possibilities for women to strengthen their leadership capacity, and a lack of financing’ (p 12).
to these efforts. The network consists of inde-pendent civil society organizations and women’srights experts.
In 2007, political parties and civil society organi-zations worked together to double women’s par-liamentary presence to 9.1 percent. The electioncampaign led by KADER, a civil society organiza-tion drawing on other civil society groups andthe international community and media, was ableto raise crucial support for women candidates.Civil society organizations operating in differentareas before the elections made women’s politicalrepresentation a common focus. They formed theWomen’s Coalition, which monitored political par-ties’ behaviour towards women candidates andproduced a report entitled Card of Political Parties.
Women’s groups also campaigned at the locallevel with other civil society groups. For example,the Local Agenda 21 Women’s Assemblies con-ducted a quota campaign. All these activitiesput pressure on political parties to include morewomen in their lists of candidates and eventuallymore women in politics.
In Ukraine, civil society organizations havehelped to strengthen institutions that promotegender equality, as well as women and the fam-ily. They are actively engaged in the most im-portant issues facing women. For example, in1996 civil society organizations lobbied for theestablishment of the Department of Family andYouth; helped to organize the first parliamen-tary hearings on gender equality issues in 1995;supported the successful passage of the law ‘Onthe Guarantee of Equal Rights and Opportunitiesfor Men and Women’; and the national campaignand Forum ‘Say No to Violence’. Ukrainian civilsociety organizations at national and local levelshave worked on programmes to advance andenhance women’s leadership in politics.70
Civil society organizations have been key to or-ganizing parliamentary hearings which havebeen held since the mid 1990s on gender issues.These hearings between parliament and civil so-ciety, with the support of the UNDP Equal Op-portunities Programme, have led to the adop-tion of recommendations for gender equality byparliament. More recently, parliament conductedhearings on the ‘Status of Women in Ukraine:Present and Future’ (2004 and 2006), on changesto the law ‘On Family Violence Prevention’ andparts of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on punish-ment for human trafficking, and adoption of thelaw ‘On Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportuni-ties for Men and Women’ (2006). As a result of thehearings, a number of recommendations havebeen adopted, though with restrictions. In thesummer of 2008, hearings of the Special Parlia-mentary Committee on Human Rights, NationalMinorities, and International Relations took place,also involving NGOs.
In Georgia, as in other countries, CEDAW and theBeijing Platform for Action have proved to be im-portant rallying points for civil society organiza-tions. The Parliamentary Women’s Club of theGeorgian Parliament, which was established inJune 1997, focused special attention on the prob-lem of homeless children and on the role ofwomen in the peace processes in the Caucasus. AConsultation Council was established, made up ofrepresentatives of women working in the execu-tive branch of government, members of the pre-vious parliaments, deputies of the councils of theautonomous republics and local governmentalbodies, as well as leaders of civil society organi-zations. This was an excellent example of coop-eration between the non-governmental sectorand the legislative and executive branches ofgovernment. The Gender Advisory Council un-der the Chair of the Parliament of Georgia alsobrings together different actors from government
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70 Examples of successful models are Diya, Kyiv City Women’s Centre, Women’s Union of Ukraine, League of Women Voters 50/50, along with some oblaststate administrations.
and civil society, including members of the Geor-gian parliament, representatives of the executivegovernment, the Georgian Public Defender’s Of-fice, a number of Women’s NGOs, and academia.This type of framework gives the forum to variousstakeholders to bring their concerns and issues toone representative and unites the efforts to es-tablish an effective policy dialogue.
A ‘Coalition of Women’s NGOs’ (with 200 regis-tered members) was established in Georgia withthe support of the local Office for Democratic In-stitutions and Human Rights (ODIHR/OSCE). TheCoalition provided space for civil society organ-izations to work together to promote women’spolitical involvement.
With the support of UNIFEM, civil society organ-izations also formed a peace network, called‘Unity of Women for Peace’ which brought to-gether over 100 organizations and individualsthroughout Georgia. The objective was toachieve a positive and sustainable peace withwomen’s participation and gender equality. Thenetwork called for better implementation of UNSecurity Council Resolution 1325 on Women,Peace and Security.
With the support of UNDP, women’s decision-mak-ing capacities were developed so as to facilitatetheir participation in political processes as well asto hold a dialogue on gender issues within politi-cal structures. Gender groups/women clubs havebeen supported through technical assistance andcapacity building programmes. Networking andcoordination of women councillors was supported.A Local Women Councillors’ Forum was establishedand capacity strengthened to support local gen-der-sensitive policy-making.
Similar to Kyrgyzstan, networking and alliancebuilding between women’s groups and state in-stitutions is relatively new to Georgia. Though atan early stage, these innovations have alreadyled to improved exchange of information andconsultation between women’s groups andthose government agencies that work for peaceand gender equality.
The Role of the Media
The media is critical for increasing women’s po-litical participation. Throughout the region themedia continue to offer both opportunities andchallenges. A key challenge before elections isthat the media do not devote the same attentionto women as they do to men. Furthermore, whenthey do pay attention to women candidates, theyfocus on their appearance and personal lives,which detracts from the seriousness of a womancandidate’s political agenda. Consequently,women politicians need more training in howto work with the media – whether newsprint, in-ternet, television or radio – by countering subtlebut often highly damaging gender discrimina-tion portrayed in print and over the airwaves.
The ‘moustache campaign’ led by KADER, a Turk-ish civil society organization, very successfullyused the media to ask the public: ‘Does one needto be a man to be elected to parliament?’ For thefirst time, due to the media’s focus on the mous-tache campaign, all levels of society debated thequestion of women’s political participation.
In Poland, studies of election campaigns indicatethat political parties distribute air time betweenwomen and men unevenly. Detailed analyses ofelection programmes on television show thatthe parties designing the TV spots promotemainly men.71 Parties assign 80-90 percent of air
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71 Renata Siemieńska (ed.): „Płeć, wybory, władza’ [Gender, elections, power], „Scholar’ Warszawa 2005 and Sylwia Spurek „Kobiety, partie, wybory’ [Women,parties, elections], Centre of Women’s Rights, Łódź 2002.
time to electoral statements by men. This meansthat women candidates are less able to promotetheir candidacies before the public. If womenare to improve their success in campaigns, it isimportant to change this bias and providewomen and men candidates equal air time.
According to the Helsinki Parliament of Citizens,not a single woman appeared in debates be-tween parties on Radio Television in RepublikaSrpska/Bosnia and Herzegovina during an ob-served weekly period before the 2004 municipalelections, although the Election Law guaranteesequal representation in the media to all politicalparties and independent candidates. The maxi-mum representation of women versus men can-didates was 12 percent in the daily newspaperOslobođenje.
This bias towards women politicians is reflectedin the general gender bias of the media. Ac-cording to surveys in Bosnia and Herzegovina,monitoring of TV newscasts found that womenappear in reports on health and culture (35.7percent), education (28.5 percent), environment(27 percent) and social issues (23.6 percent).Women appeared only in 6.3 percent of reportson the judiciary, police and military issues and in9.1 percent of reports on state and entity insti-tutions, commissions and agencies. In discus-sions about the economy, women appear as an-alysts and experts rather than as political figureswith a decision-making role. Nevertheless, menappear as experts or commentators 10 timesmore often than women do.
In Kyrgyzstan, according to data from GlobalGender Monitoring from 2006, women make up12.5 percent of those interviewed in print media.Within the framework of the UNDP/SIDA proj-ect ‘Promotion of Women in Civil Service andPolitics’, monitoring of 12 media outlets as well asthe National Channel was conducted in 2007.The baseline data was very pessimistic: womenmade up just 3 percent of all speakers on the Na-tional Channel news programme. After a series of
trainings of journalists, editors and camera op-erators over 18 months, the number of women inpilot media outlets increased to 34 percent in TVnews and 27 percent in the print media.
Usually, in news, women are presented as acrowd, a background or an object of discussion.Some 54 percent of women are shown as apasserby, a neighbour, or an inhabitant; some28 percent as a manager or leader; 15 percent asa civil servant and only 15 percent as a politician.According to the results of the monitoring,women’s activities are related to health, educa-tion and social protection.
Key Issues and Challenges
Throughout the region, it is a challenge to en-courage civil society organizations to get in-volved in politics beyond their area, such as gen-der-based violence, sexual and reproductiverights, education, and equality in the workplace.Not many women’s groups work on women’s po-litical participation with a strong gender equal-ity agenda. Due to the financial crisis, the (al-ready poor) funding for civil societyorganizations is likely to become even tighter. Itis therefore crucial to raise awareness of howgender equality is important for economic andsocial development, and to encourage civil soci-ety organizations not only to provide servicesto assist in the crisis, but also to become en-gaged politically to find ways out of it.
Shifts in traditional sources of funding have alsoposed challenges for civil society organizations.Some countries are no longer eligible to receiveofficial development assistance, often having be-come donor countries themselves. Instead ofchannelling funds to their own civil society or-ganizations, they are supporting women in de-veloping countries. Developing home-grownagendas alongside international agendas in theregion is a challenge. Many civil society organi-zations must increasingly compete with one an-
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other for decreasing funds, which can lead to dif-ficult and sometimes even antagonistic relation-ships. Similarly, finding funds to educate the pub-lic on gender equality and the importance ofwomen’s political participation is difficult andcan compete with funding for other gender is-sues, which may seem more pressing (such asgender-based violence, poverty and education).The challenge is both to link the issues in a holis-tic and strategic way, as well as to build coali-tions to support all facets of gender equality.
Another major challenge is to encourage themedia to tackle gender stereotypes. The media,including the advertising industry, transmitsstereotyped information, in particular of womenin decision-making positions. This needs to beconfronted and changed. Overall, the mediashould have a greater awareness of the impor-tance of gender equality across ECIS.
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• Partnerships and dialogue: Civil society organizations are most successful when they foster plat-forms that enable constructive interaction among government, civil society and internationalorganizations at national and regional levels on ways to increase the political participation ofwomen.
• Civil society organizations’ expert technical know how: civil society organizations have re-searched local and national conditions and have expertise, as well as connections to interna-tional women’s networks.
• Advocacy for gender equality and greater political participation of women: Civil society or-ganizations have often been key drivers for influencing decision makers at the national as wellas regional level to uphold agreements on women’s political participation (such as CEDAW andBeijing Platform for Action) as well as work against negative, stereotypical images of womenand women politicians in the media.
• Mobilizing public opinion around gender-based violence: Civil society organizations haveplayed a major role in raising awareness of the negative effects of gender-based violence foreconomic, social and political progress in the region through multimedia campaigns.
• Leading education and capacity development for women’s political participation: Civil societyorganizations play a key role in developing the capacity of women leaders and raising publicawareness of the importance of women’s social and political participation in modern democ-racies.
• Missing Resources for civil society organizations: Due to the financial downturn, civil societyorganizations must play a diminished role; that is, unless governments and political parties re-new their commitment to women’s rights and gender equality and recognize the vital impor-tance of civil society organizations for democratic governance.
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• The media influence public opinion: Better coverage of women in politics is critical to improvingwomen’s election chances.
• The media give women in politics important opportunities to promote their electoral pro-grammes and present their candidacies. Currently, media time is given disproportionately tomen. This needs to be changed to give women candidates greater exposure to the public.
• The media are able to challenge and change gender stereotypes: Media campaigns haveproven vital in reversing traditional stereotypes of women and men, as well as reducing sex-ist images of women.
• The media can hold leaders accountable to women’s economic, political and social rights. Themedia have played a vital role, especially when working in partnership with civil society or-ganizations to hold governments and political parties accountable to put in place a gender-equality agenda.
This section presents a set of measures topromote gender equality and women’s po-
litical participation with a detailed list of recom-mendations for governments, legislators, parlia-mentarians, political parties, civil societyorganizations, media, the private sector andtrade unions in the following areas:
• legal and institutional frameworks to pro-mote women’s political participation;
• mechanisms and strategies to promotewomen’s political participation;
• partnerships for women’s political partici-pation: civil society organizations and themedia.
The recommendations aim to address the barriersthat prevent women from participating in politicsand to create an enabling environment for womento take part in political life at all levels, specificallyto: 1) increase women’s participation and repre-sentation in politics; 2) help women to become ef-fective political actors; 3) maximize governmentalaccountability to women; and 4) mainstream gov-ernance, gender and social inclusion into all gov-ernmental policies.
In the tables below ‘Civil Society Organizations’implies all non-governmental organizations in-cluding those exclusively promoting genderequality and women’s empowerment.
III.1. Recommendations for Legaland Institutional Frame -works to Promote Women’sPolitical Participation
Though laws and institutions promoting genderequality have been established, more work needsto be done to put them into practice. In order toovercome gender stereotypes and to counterovert and subtle forms of discrimination, genderequality laws and their implementation requiregreater support. To increase women’s politicalparticipation, an enabling environment must becreated. Government must be accountable to na-tional gender equality legislation, which requiresoversight by civil society organizations. Women’spolitical participation has to be founded onstrong laws and institutions, where gender equal-ity laws are in harmony with election laws, and re-sources are available and results monitored sothat policies that promote women in politics areimplemented effectively.
Temporary special measures (such as quotas)and certain types of electoral systems (such asproportional representation) can rectify imbal-ances in political representation. Electoral re-forms can make it easier for women to partici-pate in political processes. In addition, politicalparties need to promote equal representationand participation of women in their governingbodies in order to enable women to contributemeaningfully to political processes.
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III. Recommended Measuresfor Enhanced Gender Equalityand Women’s PoliticalParticipation:
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Recommendations Key Actors & Partners
1. Research and Analysis of Successful Practices for Replication
Build (or contribute to existing) databases in the region capturing genderequality laws, best practices on implementation and relevant knowledgeproducts (e.g. www.iknowpolitics.org).
Governments, Civil Society Organizations, Academia
Analyse examples of innovative legislation on gender equality in the regionto promote gender equality and democratic participation of women.
Governments, Civil Society Organizations, Academia
Identify obstacles that have been encountered in adopting and imple-menting gender equality legislation.
Governments, Civil Society Organizations, Academia
2. Formulation of Gender Equality Legislation
Make the drafting process participatory and inclusive by involving expertsfrom academia, civil society, the private sector and trade unions.
Governments, Legislators, Parliamen-tarians, Civil Society Organizations,Private Sector, Trade Unions
Make the drafting process adhere to international and European standardsand adapt different successful models of legislation to the specific local con-text.
Governments, Legislators, Parliamen-tarians, Civil Society Organizations,Private Sector, Trade Unions
Formulate GEL to serve as an overarching binding framework to encompassall spheres of life.
Governments, Legislators, Parliamen-tarians, Civil Society Organizations,Private Sector, Trade Unions
Modify all relevant laws to include specific gender equality provisions (gendermainstreaming) in areas such as employment, education, family, informationand communication technologies, media, election and political parties, fi-nance, environment, industry etc.
Governments, Legislators, Parliamen-tarians, Civil Society Organizations,Private Sector, Trade Unions, Media
Put gender equality laws into practice at all levels. Governments, Legislators, Parliamentari-ans, Political Parties, Civil Society Organ-izations, Private Sector, Trade Unions
Consider the inclusion of affirmative action provisions in GEL (see below),Election Laws and Political Party Laws.
Governments, Legislators, Parliamen-tarians, Civil Society Organizations
Within GEL, provide protection from violence against women in public life. Governments, Legislators, Parliamen-tarians, Civil Society Organizations
3. Harmonization with International Standards
Harmonize national laws in accordance with international standards pro-moting and advancing gender equality, and implement the recommenda-tions from International Human Rights Treaty Bodies including the Com-mittee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
Governments, Legislators, Parliamentarians, Civil Society Organizations
Make explicit reference to gender equality requirements in the process ofEU accession, and institute monitoring and accountability mechanisms fortheir implementation.
Governments, Legislators, Parliamentarians, Civil Society Organizations
4. Accountability of Governments to Promote Gender Equality
Assign adequate authority to national gender equality machineries to ef-fectively monitor and implement national gender equality commitments.
Governments, Legislators, Parliamen-tarians, Civil Society Organizations
Institutionalize procedures for monitoring, reporting and disseminatingreports on progress in implementing the recommendations of the Interna-tional Human Rights Treaty Bodies, including the Committee on the Elimi-nation of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
Governments, Legislators, Parliamentarians, Civil Society Organizations, Trade Unions
Ending violence against women needs to continueto be a major goal for the region, not only as a basichuman right but also as a prerequisite for improvingwomen’s chances to enter politics. It is an importantrallying and mobilizing agenda for women to enterinto public forums, as it empowers them to advocatethat the government put in place the institutionsand frameworks that can overcome violence againstwomen in political life and beyond. It is important forall parties to work systematically to fight against dis-crimination in all forms.
III.2. Recommendations for Mechanisms and Strategiesto Promote Women’s PoliticalParticipation
The region needs to build a political culture that re-sponds better to gender issues, particularly duringelection campaigns, to promote women along-side men candidates. Quotas and other tempo-
rary special measures can increase the number ofwomen in politics. Key to this is to ensure thatparty lists respect the quota systems, place womenhigh on party lists and in responsible positionsalong with an active recruitment system forwomen. Equality plans, mentoring and targetedtraining have also proven to be effective strategiesfor enhancing women’s political participation. Inorder for quotas and other special measures to beeffective, thorough monitoring is needed.
Women’s party sections can influence party plat-forms and policies, and can galvanize women’spolitical participation. Alliances across party lineshave proven to be an important strategy to builda culture of gender equality in political life. En-gaging men as advocates and allies can strengthenefforts to promote women’s political participation.
To raise the status of women in political parties,women candidates need greater access to funding,media and support to promote their candidacies. Inorder for women candidates to raise money, they
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Recommendations Key Actors & Partners
Establish gender equality commissions in parliament to monitor genderequality achievements including gender parity within the executive, leg-islative and judicial branches.
Parliamentarians, Governments, Civil Society Organizations
5. Temporary Special Measures to Promote Women’s Political Participation
Adopt and implement temporary special measures to promote women’s po-litical participation.72
Governments, Legislators, Parliamentarians, Political Parties,Civil Society Organizations
Implement supportive activities to strengthen the understanding of tem-porary special measures such as quotas as an integral part of efforts toachieve gender equality and democratic governance.
Governments, Legislators, Parliamentarians, Political Parties,Civil Society Organizations, Media
Implement corrective measures in cases where temporary special measuresare not enforced.
Governments, Legislators, Parliamentarians, Political Parties,Civil Society Organizations
6. Engendering Political Parties
Promote equal representation and participation of women in the govern-ing bodies of political parties.
Political Parties, Governments, Legislators, Parliamentarians
72 See also UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation No 25 on article 4, paragraph 1, of the Conventionon the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, on Temporary Special Measures. http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/rec-ommendations/General%20recommendation%2025%20(English).pdf.
need to overcome barriers such as closed politicalcultures and the socialization of women not to askfor money. To overcome this situation measures areneeded such as:
• support training for women on how to accesspublic funds;
• establish party trusts for women candidates;• change election laws so that candidates can
claim tax exemptions for campaign expenses;• introduce tax deductions for campaign con-
tributions;• guarantee equitable access to public broad-
casters;• ensure equitable allocation of public funding
within political parties;
• enact spending limits for election campaigns;• eliminate registration fees for political candi-
dates;• introduce incentives for political parties to
nominate more women.
In addition, measures and policies to promote awork/life balance are needed to create an enablingenvironment for women to engage in politics: Thisincludes adequate policies and laws that promoteequal sharing of family responsibilities, affordablepolicies including child-care facilities, tax-incentives,financial allowances, flexible work arrangements,and parental leave, tailored to the personal and pro-fessional needs of women to enable them to bemore active in political life.
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Recommendations Key Actors & Partners
1. Promotion & Strengthening of Temporary Special Measures within Political Parties & Parliament
Advocate for the enactment of quotas in political parties & parliament,building on the good practices from different electoral systems.
Civil Society Organizations
Encourage political parties to introduce voluntary quotas in their candidatelists to increase the number of women in parliament.
Political Parties, Civil Society Organizations
Advocate for the inclusion of a gender equality and women’s empowermentagenda in party platforms and structures (e.g. by sharing experiences whenparties have introduced gender equality strategies or established women’sparty sections).
Political Parties, Civil Society Organizations, Trade Unions
Encourage political parties to promote women to governing bodies withinparty structures.
Political Parties, Governments
2. Promotion of Gender Equality in Governmental Bodies & Public Institutions
Ensure gender balance at all levels in the management of state and publicinstitutions, including politically appointed posts.
Governments, Civil Society Organizations, Trade Unions
Introduce gender equality strategies or action plans in state and public in-stitutions to ensure a gender equality agenda is integrated in the work ofstate and public institutions.
Governments, Civil Society Organizations, Trade Unions
Include a gender module in trainings for civil servants as well as integratea gender perspective into general training programmes.
Governments, Civil Society Organizations
3. Capacity Development for Women’s Political Participation
Develop the capacities of women to be effective in their political roles andto overcome gender-based barriers and obstacles in taking up politicalleadership.
Governments, Parliaments, PoliticalParties, Civil Society Organizations,Trade Unions
Empower women to bring their voices and concerns to political decision-making processes.
Governments, Parliaments, PoliticalParties, Civil Society Organizations,Trade Unions
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Recommendations Key Actors & Partners
Ensure that women in political roles mentor newly elected and appointedwomen.
Governments, Parliaments, PoliticalParties
Build the leadership skills of a new generation of women aspiring to enterpolitics and public offices and provide them with networking opportunities.
Political Parties, Civil Society Organizations, Youth Organizations
Reach out to marginalized women by including rural women, minoritiesand refugees in leadership skills development initiatives.
Political Parties Civil Society Organizations, Youth Organizations
Develop skills of women in politics to promote a gender-responsive agenda Civil Society Organizations, Political Parties
Develop the capacities of governments, parliaments, both at the central andlocal level, to promote the importance of involving more women in policydecisions.
Governments, Political Parties, Civil Society Organizations
Develop the capacities of state and public institutions both at the centraland local levels to design and implement gender-responsive policies andservice deliveries.
Governments, Political Parties, Civil Society Organizations
4. Build on Capacities & Knowledge Available Within the Women’s Movement
Mobilize and capitalize on knowledge and capacity available within civil so-ciety organizations to promote gender equality and women’s empowermentand to nurture a new generation of women leaders.
Civil Society Organizations, Governments, Political Parties
Encourage political parties to cooperate with women’s organizations topromote gender equality and women’s empowerment in the political arena.
Political Parties, Civil Society Organizations
5. Advocacy & Awareness Raising
Raise awareness of the importance of women’s political participation as wellas of the barriers and obstacles women face in public life.
Governments, Political Parties, Civil Society Organizations, Media
Disseminate international and national commitments and agreements ongender equality, including national gender equality laws, CEDAW, BeijingPlatform for Action & the MDGs.
Governments, Political Parties, Civil Society Organizations
Make available the latest information on how a given country complies withits international obligations, such as with CEDAW and from the Council ofEurope and the European Union.
Governments, Political Parties, Parliaments
Increase the understanding of the public on the obstacles and barriers thatwomen face in the political arena, including violent and discriminatorypractices against women in politics.
Governments, Political Parties, Civil Society Organizations
Promote civic education for women and men as well as for boys and girls,to increase their understanding of the importance of women’s politicalparticipation, ensuring the involvement of marginalized women, includingrural women, minorities and refugees.
Governments, Political Parties, Civil Society Organizations, Academia
Organize parliamentary hearings on gender issues to increase the under-standing of strategies and mechanisms to promote gender equality andwomen’s empowerment.
Governments, Political Parties, Civil Society Organizations, Academia
6. Provision of Adequate Financial Resources
Provide adequate and sustainable financial resources to national pro-grammes and action plans promoting gender equality and women’s em-powerment with earmarked and secured funds for implementation.
Governments, Political Parties, Civil Society Organizations, Academia
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Provide adequate and sustainable financial resources to the national ma-chineries for gender equality and women’s empowerment with a view to sup-porting policy measures to promote gender equality and women’s politicalparticipation.
Governments
Allocate financial resources to civil society partners for building platforms forgreater political participation of women.
Governments
Implement gender-responsive budgets to track and identify the effective-ness of national financial planning to contribute to women’s political partici-pation.
Governments, Parliaments, Political Parties, Civil Society Organizations
Provide financial resources to support women’s alliances across party lines tojoin forces to implement a gender equality agenda.
Governments, Parliaments, Political Parties
Establish mechanisms for public funding of electoral campaigns, including in-centives for parties to put forward and fund women candidates.
Governments, Parliaments, Political Parties
Allocate adequate resources to finance women candidates to ensure gender-balanced representation in elections.
Political Parties
Ensure fair and equal financial support to elected women and men in order toensure their meaningful contribution to political decision-making.
Political Parties
Provide funding to support the capacity development of women and men inparliament, government and state and public institutions to implement agender equality agenda.
Governments, Parliaments
7. Support Work/Life Balance of Men and Women in Political & Public Offices
Review existing laws, policy measures and practices to identify their impact onthe division of responsibilities in family life.
Governments, Parliaments
Implement laws and policies that promote equal sharing of family responsi-bilities of men and women in all sectors (including financial incentives for mento take greater responsibility in family life).
Governments, Parliaments
Design and provide appropriate care facilities and services to support men andwomen in political and public offices to fulfil their family responsibilities.
Governments, Parliaments
Promote working hours that are conducive to a work/life balance which allowswomen and men to contribute equally to decision-making processes.
Governments, Parliaments
8. Research to Support Promotion / Implementation of Mechanisms & Strategies
Collect, compile and disseminate sex-disaggregated statistics and gender in-formation related to women’s political participation in national and local gov-ernments, parliaments and political parties.
Academia, Governments, Parliaments,Civil Society Organizations
Identify and make public the factors hindering greater participation of womenin politics.
Academia, Civil Society Organizations,Governments, Parliaments
Build an evidence base showing the benefits of women’s greater political par-ticipation in all sectors including economic planning, health, education and se-curity.
Governments, Parliaments, Academia, Civil Society Organizations
Develop and use appropriate indicators to measure progress on achieving gen-der equity goals in the area of women’s political participation.
Governments, Parliaments, Academia,Civil Society Organizations
III.3. Recommendationsfor Partnerships for Women’sPolitical Participation:Civil Society Organizationsand the Media
As outlined in the previous sections, legal and in-stitutional frameworks as well as mechanismsand strategies to enhance women’s political par-ticipation have been introduced across the re-gion. However, effective implemention remains amajor challenge. In order to overcome this per-sistent gap between commitments and de factoequality, partnerships play an important role, be-ing driving forces for mobilizing for furtherchange. In the ECIS region, the promotion ofequality between women and men in decision-making processes still requires stronger partner-ships. Such partnerships can enhance knowledgesharing and effective joint planning amongwomen in parliament, government, political andpublic offices and representatives of civil societyorganizations working for gender equality andwomen’s empowerment.
Alliances and networking for women’s politicalparticipation can provide solidarity and knowl-
edge and at the same time allow for accounta-bility and a ‘reality check’ to promote gender-re-sponsive change. Strengthening existing net-works of women’s politicians, civil societyorganizations, media and academia through ex-change and dissemination of good practices andlessons learned is critical.
A key strategy to raise awareness, end stereo-types, and change cultural attitudes againstwomen in political life is to partner with the me-dia. The media can shape public perceptions ofgender equality and women’s political participa-tion. The media can raise the profile of gender is-sues, clearly explain gender-related problems inrelation to social reforms, highlight positive ex-amples of women’s leadership, and promote thebenefits of equality legislation and more balancedand representative governance. The media canalso provide a platform for women to promotetheir election campaigns in front of the public.
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Recommendations Key Actors & Partners
1. Promote National Multi-stakeholder Dialogue & Participatory Decision-Making
Establish and strengthen women’s alliances across party lines to join forces tolead a gender equality agenda.
Parliaments, Political Parties, Civil Society Organizations
Promote inclusive governance and involve civil society organizations in deci-sion-making processes to incorporate women’s concerns and needs in policyformulation and implementation.
Governments, Parliaments, Political Parties, Civil Society Organizations
Support knowledge sharing and joint planning at national and local levelsamong women in parliament, government, political and public offices andrepresentatives of civil society organizations working for gender equality andwomen’s empowerment.
Governments, Parliaments, Political Parties, Civil Society Organizations
Provide a platform at the local level to hold a regular dialogue on the promo-tion of gender equality and women’s empowerment between elected repre-sentatives and the general public.
Governments, Parliaments, Political Parties, Civil Society Organizations
Identify women and men gender champions and support their engagementwith a wide range of stakeholders to implement a gender-equality agenda.
Governments, Parliaments, PoliticalParties, Civil Society Organizations
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Recommendations Key Actors & Partners
2.Promote Regional Networking to Build on the Region’s Best Practices
Strengthen existing networks of women’s politicians, civil society organiza-tions, media and academia to enhance women’s political participationthrough the exchange of lessons learned and best practices.
Governments, Parliaments, PoliticalParties, Civil Society Organizations,Media, Academia
Provide opportunities for experience sharing and networking among womenleaders across the region as well as among international and regional genderexperts.
Governments, Parliaments, PoliticalParties, Civil Society Organizations,Media, Academia
Support capacity development of civil society organizations working for gen-der equality to communicate and present gender issues more effectivelythrough innovative and creative communication strategies, including the useof new technologies.
Civil Society Organizations, Media
3. Strengthen Partnerships with the Media
Increase the time the media cover women politicians, highlighting their po-litical achievements.
Civil Society Organizations, Media
Ensure equal representation of women and men political leaders in the policydebates that are featured in the media.
Media, Governments, Parliaments, Political Parties, Civil Society Organizations
Promote higher visibility of women involved in political processes as voters,commissioners and candidates at local and national levels.
Media, Civil Society Organizations, Gov-ernments, Parliaments, Political Parties
Portray women in political and public offices focusing on their qualificationsand political achievements as policy makers instead of perpetuating genderstereotypes.
Media, Political Parties, Governments, Parliaments, Civil Society Organizations
Challenge negative or stereotypical images of women as policy makers in themedia.
Media, Political Parties, Governments,Parliaments, Civil Society Organiza-tions, Academia
Organize media campaigns to raise awareness about discrimination againstwomen in politics.
Media, Political Parties, Governments,Parliaments, Civil Society Organizations, Academia
Promote the use of multimedia campaigns to enhance transparency, inclu-siveness and accountability when pursuing the equal participation of womenin politics.
Civil Society Organizations, Media, Political Parties, Governments, Parliaments, Academia
This section provides a list of resources andlinks to online UNDP and other UN publica-
tions, together with an annotated guide to web-sites of government and civil society organiza-tion working on women’s political participationin the region and globally.
1. BACKGROUND PAPERS
Six Country Reports based on UNDP Roundtableson Women and Governance in the ECIS held fromSeptember to December 200873 (unpublished).
1. Jasminka Dzumhur. Regional Report onWomen and Governance: Political Participa-tion of Women and Women’s Leadership inthe ECIS region: Report country - Bosnia andHerzegovina. Sarajevo, November 2008.
2. Medea Badashvili. Country Report onWomen and Governance: Political Participa-tion of Women and Women’s Leadership inGeorgia. Tbilisi, December 2008.
3. Anara Moldosheva. Kyrgyzstan National Re-port on Women & Governance. Bishkek, No-vember 2008.
4. Małgorzata Fuszara. Regional Report onWomen and Governance: Political Participa-tion of Women and Women’s Leadership inPoland. Warsaw, November 2008.
5. KADER. Women’s Political Participation andtheir Leadership in Eastern Europe and theCommonwealth of Independent States.’Ankara, October 2008.
6. Kateryna Levchenko. Women and Manage-ment: Participation in Political Processes andWomen’s Leadership (Ukraine). Kiev, Decem-ber 2008.
2. GLOBAL RESOURCES
2a) UN Promoting Women’s Political Participation:
United Nations Development Programme. Em-powered and Equal: Gender Equality Strategy 2008-2011. New York: UNDP, 2008.Link: http://www.undp.org/women/docs/Gen-der-Equality-Strategy-2008-2011.pdf
United Nations Development Programme. Meas-uring Democratic Governance: A Framework forSelecting Pro-poor and Gender Sensitive Indica-tors. New York: UNDP, 2006.Link: http://www.undp.org/oslocentre/docs06/Framework%20paper%20-%20entire%20pa-per.pdf
United Nations Development Fund for Women.Progress of the World’s Women 2008/2009, WhoAnswers to Women? Gender and Accountability2008. New York: UNIFEM, 2008.Link: http://www.unifem.org/progress/2008/me-dia/POWW08_Report_Full_Text.pdf
United Nations Development Programme.Primers in Gender & Democratic Governance. NewYork, UNDP: 2007
# 1 Quick Entry Points to Women’s Empower-ment and Gender Equality in DemocraticGovernance Clusters
# 2 Gender Equality and Justice Programming:Equitable Access to Justice for Women
# 3 Electoral Financing to Advance Women’sPolitical Participation: A Guide for UNDPSupport.
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73 Roundtables link: http://europeandcis.undp.org/gender/regionalprogramming/show/DCA3E0CF-F203-1EE9-BF59DF40A4F1F4DC.
# 4 Gender Responsive E-governance: Explor-ing the Transformative Potential
Link: http://www.undp.org/women/publica-tions.shtml
2b) Databases
Legislationline.org developed by OSCE, providesdirect access to international norms and stan-dards relating to specific human dimension is-sues as well as to domestic legislation and otherdocuments of relevance to these issues in the Eu-rope and CIS region. One of the selected topicsfocuses on gender equality covering issues suchas public affairs, education and development,employment, family, reproductive rights and ac-cess to healthcare system as well as violenceagainst women. Data and information are in-tended to help lawmakers across the Europe andCIS region.Links: www.legislationline.org, gender topic:www.legislationline.org/topics/topic/7
Global Database of Quotas for Women: Thisdatabase is intended as a working research tool.It provides information on the various types ofquotas in existence today, detailing the per-centages and targets in countries where theyare applicable. The database represents a jointproject of International IDEA and Stockholm Uni-versity.Link: www.quotaproject.org
United Nations Data Portal: This is an internet-based data service that brings together UN sta-tistical databases within easy reach of usersthrough a single entry point from which userscan search and download a variety of statisticalresources of the UN System. In includes specificstatistics on women & men, as well as data onMillennium Development Goals indicators. It isconducted by the UN Statistics Division (UNSD)of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs(DESA).Link: http://data.un.org/
United Nations Economic Commission for EuropeGender Statistics Database (UNECE):The UNECE GSD comprises mostly of data sup-plied by National Statistical Offices through thenetwork of Gender Statistics Focal Points. TheGender Statistics Website of UNECE offers also in-formation on policies and training materials, usesurveys, violence against women surveys etc.Link: http://www.unece.org/stats/gender/data-base.htm
OECD Gender, Institutions and Development DataBase (GID-DB): GID-DB offers researchers and pol-icy makers a tool to determine and analyse obsta-cles to women’s economic development. It coversa total of 160 countries and comprises an array of60 indicators on gender discrimination. The data-base is compiled from various sources and com-bines in a systematic and coherent fashion thecurrent empirical evidence that exists on the socio-economic status of women.Link: http://www.oecd.org/document/16/0,3343,en_2649_33731_39323280_1_1_1_1,00.html
Millennium Development Goals Indicators: UNportal presenting the official data, definitions,methodologies and sources for more than 60 in-dicators to measure progress towards the MDGs.The data and analyses are the product of thework of the Inter-agency and Expert Group(IAEG) on MDG Indicators, coordinated by theUnited Nations Statistics Division. It also pro-vides the official progress reports and docu-ments produced by IAEG.Link: http://millenniumindicators.un.org
Millennium Development Goals Monitor: UN portaldesigned as a one-stop-shop for information onprogress towards the MDGs, globally and at thecountry level. It is intended as a tool for policymak-ers, development practitioners and others interestedin MDGs and tracking progress towards them. It en-ables one to track progress through interactive mapsand country-specific profiles, as well as to learnabout countries’ challenges and achievements.Link: http://www.mdgmonitor.org
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Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership:Overviews of female Heads of State listed bycountry, a chronological list of Women in Powerfrom B.C. 3000, female Prime Ministers, Minis-ters of Finance and Ministers of Defence andMinisters by country, female Chairpersons of Par-liament, female Governors, Premiers and localLeaders by country, female Party Leaders foreach country, a chronological list of female Pres-idential Candidates, Ambassadors to the UnitedNations and first female ambassadors for eachcountry, lists of women’s ordination to priest-hood and female bishops etc.Link: www.guide2womenleaders.com
World Bank Atlas of the Millennium Develop-ment Goals: The Online Atlas of the MDGs offersinnovative visualization of the Millennium De-velopment Goals that complements the WorldBank’s MDG website. It enables one to exploremaps of key indicators for each of the eightMDGs, resize countries to reflect comparativevalues, zoom in on countries and pull up quicktables of supporting indicators.Link: http://devdata.worldbank.org/atlas-mdg/
European Commission. Women and men in deci-sion-making Database: The EC database of num-bers and percentage of women and men in de-cision-making positions in each of the threedomains (political, public & juridical, and social &economical domain) at the EU level, nationallevel and regional level. The third domain coversthe largest publicly quoted companies, centralbanks, European financial institutions, Europeansocial partner organizations and European non-governmental organizations.Link: http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/women_men_stats/measures_in4_en.htm
3. REGIONAL RESOURCES
United Nations Development Programme. Gen-der in Transition, Development and TransitionNewsletter, Issue Number 08/2007. Bratislava,UNDP & the London School of Economics, 2007.Link: www.developmentandtransition.net
3a) Gender Equality Legislation
United Nations Development Programme. Draft-ing Gender - Aware Legislation: How to Promoteand Protect Gender Equality in Central and EasternEurope and in the Commonwealth of IndependentStates. Bratislava: UNDP RC CEE & CIS, 2006Link: http://europeandcis.undp.org/gender/ show/62D2D358-F203-1EE9-B0BB182FBC07C8CA
3b) UNDP National HumanDevelopment Reports from theRegion
United Nations Development Programme. Re-gional Cooperation. UNDP Serbia, 2008.Link: http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/nationalre-ports/europethecis/serbia/name,13959,en.html
United Nations Development Programme. Gen-der Attitudes in Azerbaijan. Trends and Challenges.UNDP Azerbaijan, 2007.Link: http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/nationalre-ports/europethecis/azerbaijan/name,3325,en.html
United Nations Development Programme. Pro-Poor and Pro-Women Policies Operationalizing theMDGs in Albania. UNDP Albania, 2005.Link: http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/nationalre-ports/europethecis/albania/name,3220,en.html
United Nations Development Programme.Women and Men in Romania: 2000. UNDP Roma-nia, 2000.Link: http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/nationalre-ports/europethecis/romania/name,2904,en.html
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United Nations Development Programme.Poverty, Social Exclusion and Marginalization.UNDP Slovak Republic, 2000.Link: http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/nationalre-ports/europethecis/slovakia/name,2918,en.html
3c) Reports and Studieson Women’s PoliticalParticipation from the Region
European Commission. Women in European Politics– Time for Action. European Commission, 2009.Link: http://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?do-cId=2052&langId=en
European Commission. Report on Equality be-tween Women and Men 2009. European Commis-sion, 2009.Link: http://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?do-cId=2323&langId=en
European Commission. Report on Equality be-tween Women and Men 2008. European Commis-sion, 2008.Link: http://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?do-cId=2033&langId=en
Stina Larserud & Rita Taphorn. Designing forEquality: Best-fit, Medium-fit and Non-favourableCombinations of Electoral Systems and GenderQuotas. IDEA, 2007.Link: http://www.idea.int/publications/design-ing_for_equality/index.cfm
European Commission. Women and Men in Deci-sion-making, Analysis of the Situation and Trends,2007. European Commission, 2008.Link: http://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?do-cId=2034&langId=en
Julie Ballington and Francesca Binda (eds). TheImplementation of Quotas: European Experiences.IDEA, 2005.Link: http://www.idea.int/publications/quotas_europe/index.cfm
3d) Strategies to Promote GenderEquality in the Region
European Commission. A Roadmap for EqualityBetween Women and Men 2006-2010. EuropeanCommission, 2006.Link: http://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?do-cId=1987&langId=en
3e) Good Practices
European Commission. Decision-making: Ex-change of Good Practices. European Commis-sion, 2007.Link: http://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?do-cId=2389&langId=en
European Commission. Reconciliation of Profes-sional and Private Life: Exchange of Good Prac-tices. European Commission, 2007.Link: http://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?do-cId=2011&langId=en
4. NETWORK AND PORTALS
The International Knowledge Network ofWomen in Politics (iKNOW Politics) A joint proj-ect of the United Nations Development Pro-gramme (UNDP), the United Nations Develop-ment Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the NationalDemocratic Institute for International Affairs(NDI), the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) andthe International Institute for Democracy andElectoral Assistance (International IDEA). Its goalis to increase the participation and effectivenessof women in political life by utilizing a technol-ogy-enabled forum that offers users an oppor-tunity to access resources as well as the expert-ise of other users, experts and practitioners; tocreate knowledge through mediated discussionforums, information exchange and consolidatedexpert responses to member queries; and to
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share experiences by using various tools de-signed to facilitate the exchange of lessonslearned and best practices.Link: http://www.iknowpolitics.org/
Interparliamentary Union (IPU): The Interna-tional Organization of Parliaments of SovereignStates. It was established in 1889. The Union isthe focal point for world-wide parliamentary di-alogue and works for peace and cooperationamong peoples and for the firm establishment ofrepresentative democracy.Link: http://www.ipu.org/english/home.htm
The International Women’s Rights Action Watch(IWRAW) established in 1985, aims to promoterecognition of women’s human rights under theUN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms ofDiscrimination against Women (CEDAW). IWRAWoperates as an international resource and com-munications centre that serves activists, scholars,and organizations throughout the world, with aspecial focus on publicizing and monitoring im-plementation of the CEDAW Convention, in-cluding support provided to organizations com-piling Shadow Reports to governments’ CEDAWReports.Link: http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/iwraw/
The European Women’s Women Lobby (EWL):The EWL is the largest umbrella organizations ofwomen’s associations in the European Union. EWLworks mainly with the institutions of the Euro-pean Union: the European Parliament, the Euro-pean Commission and the EU Council of Minis-ters. EWL focuses on promoting women’s rightsand equality between women and men in the EU,covering areas such as women’s economic and so-cial position, women in decision-making, violenceagainst women, women’s diversity, etc.Link: http://www.womenlobby.org/site/hp.asp?langue=EN
Central and Eastern Network for Gender Issues(CEE Network) was established under the aus-pices of the European Forum for Democracy and
Solidarity (Regional NGO initiated by the Party ofEuropean Socialists – PES) in 1994. Formalizedinto an international network in 1998, it aims toassist social democratic, socialist, labour andother parties, civil society organizations and pro-gressive women’s NGOs in policy design, capac-ity building and promoting of national aware-ness on gender equality and women’s politicalparticipation.Link: http://www.europeanforum.net/gender_network/cee_network_for_gender_issues
Gender informational Network of South Cau-casus: This portal offers information about or-ganizations working on gender issues andwomen’s rights in the South Caucasus.Link: http://www.ginsc.net
The Network of East-West Women (NEWW):NEWW is an international communication andresource network supporting dialogue, infor-mational exchange, and activism among thoseconcerned about the status of women in Centraland Eastern Europe, the Newly IndependentStates, and the Russian Federation. NEWW co-ordinates research and advocacy that supportswomen’s equality and full participation in all as-pects of public and private life. NEWW is an NGOin Special Consultative Status with the Economicand Social Council of the United Nations. Withmembers in more than 30 countries NEWW isamong the largest networks in CEE/NIS, and is atrusted source of expertise, resources and in-formation about gender in democratizing soci-eties.Link: http://www.neww.org
Gender Task Force (GTF) is a South East Europeanregional initiative born out of an Appeal sent to theparticipants of the Stability Pact for South-EasternEurope Summit in Sarajevo, July 1999. The Appealcalled for an equal and active role for women in thedevelopment and implementation of the South-east European Region’s stabilization and democra-tization processes. GTF is supported by 150 promi-nent Southeast European women, NGOs,
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government actors and political activists fromSoutheast Europe as well as numerous supportersfrom outside the region. GTF’s mission is to advancegender-balanced participation in developing stable,prosperous and democratic societies in SoutheastEurope. It brings the important experiences ofwomen cooperating across party lines, and acrossethnic and state borders, the experience of coop-eration between NGOs, parliaments and govern-ments, the experience of women monitoring elec-tions from a gender perspective and the experienceof grassroots and mass media campaigning, con-sensus-building, advocacy and social dialogue.Link: www.gtf.hr
Stop Violence Against Women (STOPVAW): Awebsite forum developed by the Advocates forHuman Rights as a tool for the promotion ofwomen’s human rights in the countries ofECIS. This forum for information, advocacy andchange was developed with support fromUNIFEM and OSI’s Network Women’s Programme.It addresses violence against women as one ofthe most pervasive human rights abuses world-wide and provides women’s rights advocates withinformation and advocacy tools focused on end-ing the most endemic forms of violence againstwomen in the region, including domestic vio-lence, sexual assault, sexual harassment and traf-ficking in women.Link: www.stopvaw.org
5. UN AGENCIES
UN Women Watch: The central gateway to infor-mation and resources on the promotion of gen-der equality and the empowerment of womenthroughout the United Nations system, includingthe United Nations Secretariat, regional com-missions, funds, programmes, specialized agen-cies and academic and research institutions.Link: www.un.org/womenwatch
Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW):DAW advocates for the improvement of the statusof women of the world, and the achievement oftheir equality with men – as equal actors, part-ners, and beneficiaries of sustainable develop-ment, human rights, peace and security. Togetherwith governments, other entities of the UnitedNations system, and civil society, including non-governmental organizations, DAW actively worksto advance the global agenda on women’s rights,gender equality and the empowerment of women,and to ensure that women’s voices are heard in in-ternational policy arenas.Link: www.un.org/womenwatch/daw
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)is a functional commission of the United NationsEconomic and Social Council (ECOSOC), dedi-cated exclusively to gender equality and the ad-vancement of women. It is the principal globalpolicy-making body established in 1946 thatgathers representatives of Member States everyyear at United Nations Headquarters in New Yorkto evaluate progress on gender equality, identifychallenges, set global standards and formulateconcrete policies to promote gender equalityand the advancement of women worldwide.Link: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/
Committee on the Elimination of Discriminationagainst Women (CEDAW): The body of inde-pendent experts that monitors implementationof the Convention on the Elimination of All Formsof Discrimination against Women.Link: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/
UN Office of the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and the Advancementof Women (OSAGI) is headed by the Special Ad-viser on Gender Issues and the Advancement ofWomen and comprises a Principal Social AffairsOffice in charge of Gender Mainstreaming andthe Focal Point for Women in the Secretariat. ThisOffice was created in 1997. Its mission is to pro-mote and strengthen the effective implementa-tion of the Millennium Declaration, the Beijing
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Declaration and the Platform for Action of theFourth World Conference on Women held in Bei-jing in 1995 and the Outcome Document of thespecial session of the General Assembly on Bei-jing+5.Link: www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi
The United Nations Development Fund forWomen (UNIFEM) provides financial and techni-cal assistance to innovative programmes andstrategies to foster women’s empowerment andgender equality. UNIFEM has been also produc-ing valuable reports and policy guides focusingamong others on issues of violence againstwomen and gender responsive budgeting.Links: www.unifem.org
www.unifem.sk (Regional Office for Cen-tral and Eastern Europe)www.unifemcis.org (Regional Office forCommonwealth of Independent States)
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