Objective 2 2020
Advance gender equality and respect for women’s rights
Crises are never gender neutral and COVID-19 has been no exception. Even as the world marked 25 years since the Beijing Declaration on gender equality, COVID-19 highlighted the multiple dimensions of gender inequality. Domestic violence has reached alarming levels, for example, prompting talk of a shadow pandemic. COVID-19 has impacted women in other ways too, adding extra burdens at home and at work, and exacerbating insecurities. Political representation that is fair and equal will help to correct these inequalities and reduce the vulnerabilities of women and children too. The IPU supports parliaments in efforts to increase the number of women MPs, including by advising them on gender quotas, and by gathering data to build an evidence base for action,
Supporting parliaments to become more gender equal
Sustained collaboration with multiple parliaments bore further fruit in 2020, often following the adoption and implementation of robust quota laws.
- In Egypt, the proportion of women MPs increased to 27 per cent from 16 per cent
- In Mali, some 28 per cent of MPs are now women, up from 9.5 per cent
- In Serbia, women won 39 per cent of parliamentary seats in the 2020 election, up from 34 per cent previously.
- Ahead of elections in Tanzania at the end of 2020, the IPU organized training and expert support for several women. Many said the support boosted their confidence. And while the majority of them had been nominated to reserved seats in the past, many subsequently decided for the first time in 2020 to contest an elected seat.
Supporting parliaments to legislate against discrimination and violence
It is estimated that discriminatory laws affect 2.5 billion women and girls around the world. Parliaments can change this.
“We as stakeholders… must task ourselves more collectively to make a deliberate effort in addressing the gaps that exist in implementing our legal frameworks to ensure we create greater inclusivity.”
Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila
Speaker of the House of Representatives of Nigeria
In 2020, the IPU and UN Women organized online consultations to gather the views and experiences of MPs and experts in 23 countries. Good practice and lessons learned will be collated into a single handbook in order to help MPs eliminate discrimination from their national laws. The IPU and UN Women expect to launch the handbook in 2021.
Collecting and sharing information for an evidence base
Our report on Women in parliament analysed women’s participation from 1995 to 2020, and lessons learned since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a global blueprint for gender equality, was adopted 25 years ago. The report warned that – although parity has been adopted more widely as a target – progress has been slowing in recent years.
With UN Women, the IPU published its flagship annual Women in Politics map. We also issued new data on gender and parliament through Parline, the IPU’s online data resource on parliaments, including on women’s caucuses, gender equality committees, women speakers and key historical data.
The IPU’s data and research was widely used, including in the UN Secretary General’s SDG progress report and the World Economic Forum’s report on the gender gap. In the United States, four Congresswomen quoted IPU data when they introduced a House resolution calling on the US government to help mitigate violence against women in politics.
In 2020, IPU research was also used in a national campaign in Jordan and a seminar on cyberbullying hosted by the parliament in Switzerland.
Demand for online tools was strong in 2020. The IPU was able to offer user-friendly videos on SDG5, promoting parliamentary action for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls:
- Five things you can do to improve gender equality in leadership
- Gender equality laws around the world – what can parliaments do?
- Violence against women: What can parliaments do to protect women?
- Women, peace and security
These videos were produced in partnership with several partners, including the Arizona State University and the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory, the World Bank and UN Women.
Advocating for change
n 2020, the IPU organized two intergenerational conversations involving leaders, MPs, young women and girls from around the world. The conversations were held within the framework of the Generation Equality Forum, a global forum of organizations working for gender equality and convened by UN Women. Such events help inform the IPU’s work and will continue in 2021 and beyond.
In August, women parliamentary speakers met virtually at the 13th Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament, organized by the IPU and the Austrian Parliament. The speakers called for equal distribution of unpaid care work and elimination of the gender gaps in pay and social protection.
The IPU will promote these goals in 2021 and beyond. The speakers also called for zero tolerance of violence against women in parliament, sharing their own experiences, and best practices too.
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Did you know? |
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Created in 2015 in Geneva, the International Gender Champions is a leadership network that brings together female and male decision-makers to break down gender barriers in multilateral spaces. Currently chaired by Martin Chungong, the IPU Secretary General, the network now has over 400 active champions in its six multilateral hubs (Geneva, New York, Paris, Vienna, Nairobi and The Hague). All champions commit to the Gender Parity Pledge, meaning that they seek gender balance and refuse to participate in any single-sex panels.s. |
Supporting legislation to combat discrimination and violence against women:
– Djibouti adopted legislation to eliminate gender-based violence, after technical assistance from the IPU in 2019.
– Sierra Leone took steps to eliminate female genital mutilation, after the IPU helped build technical capacity and political support. A parliamentary caucus was established and is now driving parliamentary action on the issue with continued support from the IPU.
Case study
Parliamentary leadership against female genital mutilation in Sierra Leone
MPs in Sierra Leone learned more about female genital mutilation (FGM) and its impact on human rights and health through an IPU-supported workshop in the capital, Freetown. The three-day workshop showed how FGM can be removed from traditional initiation ceremonies for girls, and provided MPs with persuasive arguments to persuade constituencies and community leaders to abandon FGM.
The workshop also led to the creation of the first ever parliamentary Caucus on Female Genital Mutilation in Sierra Leone.
Our impact
From guidance to action: Eliminating violence against women in parliament
Dissemination of the IPU’s Guidelines for the elimination of sexism, harassment and violence against women in parliament prompted requests for further information from the parliaments of Denmark, Germany, the Republic of Korea, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the Parliament of the Wallonie Bruxelles Federation in Belgium.
These anti-harassment policy guidelines also inspired networks of women parliamentarians in the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie.
Given their popularity, the guidelines have been published in several languages, including Spanish, Arabic, Turkish, Japanese and Korean.
The IPU and the African Parliamentary Union are collaborating on a regional study on sexism, harassment and violence against women in parliament in Africa. The study is expected to be completed in 2021.