Background Document - Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy

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It is believed that the work of this program tripled the number of women commune councillors in two provinces in 2007, doubled the number nationally by 2008, doubled the number of women in the top ranks of national party lists and raised the percentage of women in parliament from 19% to 22%, despite the short timeframe to implement it. Beyond the numbers, this initiative increased women’s skills as politi-cians and reinforced the links between women at the local and national levels. It increased awareness and support for women politicians by political leaders and voters. Specifically, the program put into place eleven courses for existing women commune councillors to strengthen their effectiveness in office and each woman councillor was individually helped through monitoring to ‘work through scenarios faced in council meetings’. Additionally, within political parties in Cambodia, women were provided with some basic items, including clothing appropriate to wear while campaigning and a bicycle for moving around. AFRICAN REGIONAL PROGRAM TO INCREASE WOMEN’S POLITICAL PARTICIPATION 15 This initiative was aimed at sharing experiences and knowledge about women’s political participation in the different countries of the African continent. For instance, in the documentary produced around this program, Alice Nzomukunda, Member of the Democratic Alliance for Renewal in Burundi, travelled with other women members of political parties in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia in order to understand what kind of challenges other women are facing in other political parties: ‘What they are going through and how they have been able to overcome challenges’, as Peris Tobiko from the Orange Democratic Movement in Kenya stated. In other words, the aim of this program is for women to share positive experiences and knowledge about women’s political participation. While this kind of cooperation consisting of cross-party or cross-country exchange is being praised as a key tool in understanding the challenges women are facing to get into positions of power, the participants of this initiative also emphasised the crucial role of grassroots activism as a way to increase political engagement. “Participants emphasised the crucial role of grassroots activism as a way to increase political engagement.” THE SWISS MENTORING PROJECT: ‘FROM WOMAN TO WOMAN’ 16 Started in 2000, the National Youth Council of Switzerland (NYCS) has been running a mentoring program in politics for young women called ‘From woman to woman’. The NYCS decided to run this program in 2009 when it became aware that there were only a few women in the higher positions of organisational bodies of the NYCS as well as in the overall political participation of young women in Switzerland in general. 15 http://nimd.org/document/1916/increasing-womens-participation-in-decision-making 16 Neruda, 2005 WOMEN IN POLITICS DANISH INSTITUTE FOR PARTIES AND DEMOCRACY PAGE 18
The program was broadly understood as aiming to promote more women in the political sphere, including encompassing political parties. Each year there are around 25 mentoring couples participating. Usually, a young woman member of the NYCS – the mentee – is associated with a woman occupying a position in politics or another high position in the public sphere (NGO, union, political party) as the mentor. The idea is for the mentee to exchange ideas and gain experience from the mentor. This mentoring program is associated with ‘additional training sessions on issues such as gender politics, media work, international politics, a visit to the Federal Office for Women’s Issues and a meeting with a female minister’. 17 The mentee/mentor is expected to fulfil a number of goals set up by the mentee, such as face-to-face meetings to talk about personal issues, and discussions on how to organise and manage the work-life balance with job, family and politics. After three years of evaluation, the results have shown that overall, the mentees reported a better career and future planning, broader networks and more self-confidence in delivering public speeches. They also mentioned being more interested in political issues in general, in political organisations such as parties and in gender equality. The program helped them improve their knowledge and practice in project management, the planning of their further education in the area of political issues and their media performance. It is also worth noting that this program resulted in really good media coverage in bringing the under-representation of women to the forefront of political issues. Another effect was the multiplication of the program at different levels, such as the European level in Austria, Estonia, Portugal and Malta. More has to be done by setting realistic expectations about the mentoring relationship, increasing the range of activities to increase experience, and expanding the time to be invested between the mentee and the mentor in order to extend positive outcomes. It is worth noting that some mentees were disillusioned about the reality of political life. THE WOMEN CAN DO IT PROGRAM IN THE BALKANS 18 Originating in the Norwegian Labour Party Women’s Movement, it was then implemented in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Kosovo province, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. It aims at ‘raising awareness about gender inequality and creating the capacity to change the situation’. It is essential for women and young women who are already involved or who could potentially become active in public life. They can also be women coming from NGOs and local political parties, from the health and social sector, schools and local administration. It is sustained by a training program to increase ‘political skills and motivation among women to take on responsibilities and decision-making positions in public and political life’. It encompasses four steps: The Training-for trainers – two-day local seminars where the participants learn about gender equality status in their own countries; a training workshop to deliver speeches, cope with domineering techniques, solve problems in a creative way, manage stress and defeat, campaign and network; then the participants plan a local action to practise the new skills; and following that there is an evaluation seminar. Local partners (women’s group) have been the main actors within the program, carrying the main responsibility for the seminars. Overall, the evaluation of the seminars is appreciated by the participants, espe- 17 Neruda, 2005, 2 18 NORAD, 2005 WOMEN IN POLITICS DANISH INSTITUTE FOR PARTIES AND DEMOCRACY PAGE 19
Page 1 and 2: DANISH INSTITUTE FOR PARTIES AND DE
Page 3 and 4: DANISH INSTITUTE FOR PARTIES AND DE
Page 5 and 6: Of course this search will also bui
Page 7 and 8: CONTENTS 9 Young women in politics
Page 9 and 10: YOUNG WOMEN IN POLITICS From househ
Page 11 and 12: litical parties ‘rely on the stat
Page 13 and 14: ing able to keep up with and ‘bei
Page 15 and 16: youth population. Overall, it could
Page 17: dialogue across party lines. It als
Page 21 and 22: BIBLIOGRAPHY Ann, Teo Sue and Shuib
Page 23 and 24: WOMEN IN LOCAL LEVEL POLITICS Socia
Page 25 and 26: While contesting the post of an ele
Page 27 and 28: In fact training and capacity build
Page 29 and 30: enforcing these norms in ways that
Page 31 and 32: WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP POSITIONS AT TH
Page 33 and 34: amidst a scenario where only 0.6% w
Page 35 and 36: Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 2006. M
Page 37 and 38: WOMEN IN TRANSITION COUNTRIES Strug
Page 39 and 40: A year later, women in the Arab Spr
Page 41 and 42: INSTITUTIONALISED MALE DOMINANCE AN
Page 43 and 44: OPENING SPACES AND INCREASING ACCES
Page 45 and 46: GENDER AND DEMOCRACY Danish democra
Page 47 and 48: ulation were now able to read about
Page 49 and 50: y American, French, German, and Bri
Page 51 and 52: THE STRUGGLE FOR WOMEN’S REPRESEN
Page 53 and 54: On the municipal level, development
Page 55 and 56: and set new standards of female cit
Page 57 and 58: NETWORKS AND TOOLKITS Some resource
Page 59 and 60: EMPOWERING WOMEN FOR STRONGER POLIT
Page 61: MAKING DEMOCRACY WORK FOR WOMEN: IN
Page 64: CHRISTIANSBORG SEMINAR The ’Chris

Background Document - Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy

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