What's Being Done On...

Women’s Participation in Politics

The August/September 2002 theme is Increasing Women's Participation in Politics. This issue highlights democracy-building organizations and groups around the world that promote women's access to leadership and decision-making positions, advocate for women's human rights, encourage equal participation, and provide voter education for women. These are illustrative examples of women's empowerment activities to encourage democrats to consider developing similar projects.

Women's participation and representation in the political realm and the overall topic of gender equality are vital components to the consolidation of a democracy. A number of groups conduct training and advocacy programs to enhance women's participation, implement projects to empower and mobilize women, and educate women and men on the overall importance of women's issues in politics.

At the World Movement's Second Assembly, the Women's Learning Partnership for Rights, Development, and Peace (www.learningpartnership.org) organized a workshop on "Strengthening Networks to Increase Women's Participation in Politics." The workshop participants discussed the lack of female representation in decision-making positions, and the importance of women's full and equal participation as a necessary requirement for development.

General recommendations were formulated at the workshop, suggesting that human rights education be offered to boost women's action, stressing the importance of increasing discussion of gender issues at democracy conferences, recommending that the status of women be viewed as a key democracy indicator, and emphasizing the importance of training women's organizations in coalition building.

We encourage you to review the workshop report (www.wmd.org/second_assembly/functional/w-f2.html) and to send us any information on work your organization may be doing that is related to the recommendations listed. Please send the information via email to the World Movement for Democracy or by fax to +1-202-293-0755.