New name for IPU women MPs’ group

IPU’s Meeting of Women Parliamentarians, which for more than 30 years has been a unique opportunity for women MPs globally to meet in person and provide input into international decision-making, has a new name – the Forum of Women Parliamentarians. Its organizing body, the Co-ordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians will now be known as the Bureau of Women Parliamentarians. The changes were agreed by MPs attending the 134th IPU Assembly in Lusaka and were aimed at better communicating the remit and functioning of the group. The Women MPs’ Forum will continue to meet at IPU’s twice-yearly assemblies to build on work to empower and encourage women MPs and ensure that their voices are heard in the wider work of IPU. With latest figures showing that only 22.6 per cent of the world’s 45,000 MPs are women, IPU remains committed to achieving gender equality both within its own structures and in the world’s parliaments.