What exactly is a gender-sensitive parliament? It is one that responds to the needs and interests of both men and women in its structures, operations, methods and work. It is one in which all citizens recognize themselves and find answers to their questions and aspirations. A gender-sensitive parliament, therefore:
- Achieves gender equality in numbers and positions;
- Develops laws to support gender equality, adopts gender equality objectives and plans and implements gender-sensitive working policies;
- Mainstreams gender in all its work and proceedings;
- Ensures that it is a non-sexist environment that provides facilities that equally accommodate men's and women's needs;
- Supports men as they share responsibility for gender equality, and encourages political parties to become gender-sensitive.
These are the five priorities identified by the IPU’s most recent publication,
Gender-sensitive parliaments - A global review of good practice.
Parliaments mirror societies. They represent and respond to everyday reality. By so doing, parliaments are constantly evolving. Modern parliaments are those in which citizens recognize themselves and find answers to their questions and aspirations.
In the 20th century, one of the greatest changes to democracy around the world was women’s participation in politics, both as voters and as members of parliament. Today, the objective of gender equality has permeated our societies and is now recognized as a central element of development and progress.
Past IPU surveys on women in parliament have found that women were overwhelmingly the main drivers of progress on gender equality, and that there is a need for parliaments, as institutions shoulder its part of responsibility in this regard. The finding begged the questions: What are parliaments doing to foster gender equality? What policies inform gender equality efforts? Are the institutional structures of parliaments around the world representative of both men and women and their respective needs? In short, are parliaments gender-sensitive?
Gender-sensitive parliaments - A global review of good practice seeks to provide answers to these questions. Simply put, a gender-sensitive parliament is one that responds to the needs and interests of both men and women in its structures, operations, methods and work.
The report identifies priorities for achieving gender-sensitive parliaments. It highlights good practices and trends based on an analysis of over 400 survey responses from parliamentarians, parliamentary groups and parliamentary authorities covering more than 70 national parliaments. Five regional reports and 17 national case studies provided additional information and useful insights.
Gender-sensitive parliaments marks the beginning of a multi-year programme through which the IPU will support parliaments' efforts to serve as models and champions of gender equality. It is an invitation to take part in an open debate on what it means to be a gender-sensitive parliament and how each parliament can put into practice the objectives or values it describes.
