Background Document - Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy

DIVERSITY AND
EQUALITY MATTERS!
Searching for ideas and practices that can inspire change
This background document is not about the statistics on women in politics, because
we already know the situation too well. As stated in the Millennium Development
Goals Report 2011 from the United Nations:
“Despite growing numbers of women parliamentarians, the target of equal participation
of women and men in politics is still far off.”
Progress is clearly slow, indeed frustratingly slow. Only 26 countries worldwide
have managed to achieve the 30 per cent target for women in decision-making positions
set by the Beijing Platform adopted in 1995. Globally we have still not been able
to climb above 20 per cent. When we dig deeper into the different dimensions like
top leadership positions in parties and cabinets at national level, ministerial posts, or
heads of municipal councils, the picture just gets even more depressing.
So despite some progress, the reality we live in continues to be one of discrimination
against women, in law as well as in practice, resulting in both equality and diversity
suffering.
Denmark is doing better than most countries in this area. As suggested in the last
article of the background document, maybe the secret is that sustainable equal status
development has been rooted in a combination of top-down and bottom-up politics.
The state pushed equality through legislation, but making it a living and vibrant reality
required the hard and persistent work of various civil society organisations, as well
as strong individuals.
In a sense this is not a new recognition, but rather a general recipe for change or
development. But it is nevertheless important to remember when we search for ideas
and practices that can inspire change. Both sides are important; each side needs the
other.
This is different from stating that every country should now copy what Denmark
has done. We know that this is not possible. While recognising that principles of diversity
and equality are important dimensions of a democratic culture, we must accept
and understand that they have to be managed and practiced in different cultural, religious,
social and political settings.
The Christiansborg Seminar is therefore not driven by a search for the ‘one-size-fitsall’
magic bullet, but rather for ideas and experiences from our global village, which can
inspire all of us in our different localities.
WOMEN IN POLITICS DANISH INSTITUTE FOR PARTIES AND DEMOCRACY PAGE 4