On 13 and 14 July, women Speakers of Parliament convened in Vienna at the invitation of Ms. Barbara Prammer, Speaker of the Austrian National Council, for their annual meeting. The fifth such event organized by the IPU, the meeting focused on the challenges encountered in achieving Millennium Development Goal 3 to promote gender equality, in particular violence against women and the financial crisis. It started with a key note address delivered by Ms. Ines Alberdi, Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).
The women Speakers and Deputy Speakers of 15 national parliaments and one regional parliament highlighted how the financial crisis increased women's vulnerability to violence. Economic independence and gender equality, they said, were the best means of prevention. They also underscored how violence against women limited their economic empowerment. The consequences of such violence hampered development, jeopardized poverty reduction and impaired women’s contribution to development, democracy, peace and security, seriously undermining efforts to implement the Beijing Platform for Action and achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
The meeting concluded that an effective response to violence against women required a comprehensive approach, involving all sectors of society. This is a matter that goes beyond party lines, as exemplified by the work of caucuses of women parliamentarians, and beyond gender, as men parliamentarians also need to be involved, in partnership with their female colleagues.
All women should be able to benefit from the protection of the law. This principle led women Speakers to highlight the specific situation of groups of women experiencing multiple forms of discrimination, for example because of their ethnic or racial identity, or their status as migrants, refugees or trafficking victims. The particular plight of women in conflict situations and their vulnerability to violence was also discussed.
Before visiting one of the first shelters for women victims of violence in Vienna, the women Speakers signed the IPU's poster, "Parliaments take action on violence against women". The poster was presented to the shelter as a sign of solidarity.
The participants also signed on to UNIFEM's "Say NO to Violence" campaign and pledged to have their respective parliaments mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (25 November 2009).
