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March/April
2006
WEDO Named a UNEP Champion of the
Earth
In UN Reform, Where Are the Women?
International Women's Day at the UN
CSW-50: A Low-key Session Makes Little
Progress
50/50 Campaign Gains New Momentum
Coming Soon:
MisFortune500
Editor:
Joan Ross Frankson
Layout:
Anique Halliday
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50/50 Campaign Gains New
Momentum
 On February 24-26, some 42 experienced and energetic
women’s rights activist, local councilors, parliamentarians and
academics from all regions of the world gathered in New York to
assess the impact of the global 50/50
campaign.
The campaign seeks to increase women’s
representation and participation in all decision-making processes
worldwide, with an emphasis on national parliaments. In the five
years since it was launched by WEDO the campaign has been endorsed
by nearly 300 organizations across the globe and 18 national and
regional campaign launches have taken place.
The five-year
review aimed to identify advocacy actions that work, assess what
difference a critical number of women in decision making can make,
and to develop strategies for taking the campaign forward.
The
meeting kicked off with an assessment of the political landscape
and changes in the balance of forces over the last 10 years. The
main negative forces acting against women’s advancement were
identified as neo-liberalism, U.S. unilateralism, the war on terror
and increased militarization, and the weakening of the UN. The most
positive forces for women’s interests were seen in the growth of a
progressive global civil society and national citizen movements.
Growing cracks in the neo-liberal model were seen as having a more
neutral influence. The analysis was accompanied by a brief
conceptual overview of the current research and theory on gender and
governance as well as key factors for achieving a governance model
that is inclusive of women’s perspectives, responds to women’s needs
and ensures women’s full enjoyment of their human rights.
Participants shared different experiences from various
countries where women have been present in decision-making in
critical numbers including Argentina, India, Nigeria and South
Africa. A common thread in reaching the critical numbers: the use of
quotas for women combined with some form of proportional
representation system.
The second day focused on the
difference that an increased numbers of women in government can make
with regard to policy development and reform as well as service
delivery. Current research is not explicit in drawing a causal link
between the critical number of women in decision-making and specific
advances for women and that it is too soon to establish such a link
since women’s participation in governance is recent and far from
being widespread.
However, participants agreed that the
influence of women’s participation could be seen as having a
significant impact on improving legislation on violence against
women and the liberalization of reproductive rights laws. Moreover,
“Ringing
Up the Changes,” a key study of women in decision-making in some
southern African countries (Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia,
Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia) showed there is a
marked gendered impact on the culture of parliamentary institutions,
attitudes, laws, policies and service delivery when an increase in
the number of women in government is combined with a range of
enabling factors including background and history of the national
struggle, democratic distribution of resources, and dynamic links
with civil society particularly women’s groups. Strengthening ties
between progressive women’s groups and elected women was seen as key
in identifying strategic priorities to advance a women’s rights
agenda in local and national legislatures.
On the third and
last day participants identified next steps for the global 50/50
campaign as follows:
- Global 50/50 Network: Create a formal membership of 50/50
campaigners to collect and disseminate information and develop
advocacy tools to achieve gender balance in decision-making. A
regionally balanced steering committee was set up to define the
mission and the vision of the network as well as the structure and
the type of membership. A listserv
has been established to enable on-going communications among
campaigners.
- Gender Responsive Governance: Ensure that governance
institutions and systems— legislatures, judiciary, budgeting,
political parties, institutional rules and procedures— respond to
women’s needs, include women’s perspectives, and enable women to
fully enjoy their human rights.
- Campaign Finance Reform: Develop campaign policies and
strategies that help women, as the poorest segment of society, to
run for office regardless of their social status.
- Political Party Reform: Push for political parties, as
gatekeepers for women’s increased participation in local and
national legislatures, to adopt women friendly policies including
gender balance strategies within the parties and in the local and
national legislatures.
- Linkages between local and national women’s groups and elected
officials to ensure that elected officials are accountable to
their constituency; to advance women’s rights and transform the
lives of women, and to provide support to elected women.
Moving forward it is clear that the global 50/50 campaign
will adopt a systematic and integrated approach that combines
numbers with a progressive political, economic, social and human
rights agenda. In the years to come, the global 50/50 campaign
promises to be as exciting and inspiring as it has been over the
past five
years. |
