In their legislative
capacities, parliamentarians can pass laws advancing women’s rights. They can
also take into consideration the gender implications of specific laws, by
assessing their impact on men and women.
The Office for Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Co-operation
in Europe (OSCE/ODIHR) developed a guide to gender-sensitive
legislation in 2017. It sets a framework for analyzing the impact of
legislation on men and women’s lives and integrating the gender perspective
into the lawmaking process. This document provides a step-by-step guide on how
to conduct gender-sensitive legislation analysis, including recommendations on
how to approach a gender analysis in a specific sector, assess gender
implications of specific laws, integrate gender-specific activities in new
legislation, develop gender-sensitive indicators to monitor the laws’
implementation and analyze budgets from a gender perspective. It also points
out the importance of institutionalizing gender-sensitive legislation within
internal parliamentary structures, such as gender equality committees or
multi-portfolio committees that include gender equality, women’s parliamentary
structures and informal networks, gender technical units and external research
services. [1]
Parliamentary oversight
mechanisms allow parliamentarians to follow-up on the government’s commitments
with gender equality, by scrutinizing its public policies and holding the
executive politically accountable. Common oversight mechanisms include
parliamentary questions and requests of documentation. A 2016 iKNOW Politics
e-discussion on “Parliamentary Oversight
of Gender Equality”[2]
identified the following four models of parliamentary oversight of gender
equality:
- Parliament
asks the government for information: Women and men parliamentarians can ask
questions in all policy areas, inquiring about beneficiaries and policy impact
on men and women.
- Parliament
asks the government for public clarification of policy: Parliamentarians can
ask whether the data considered in policy formulation is sex-disaggregated and
inquire about women’s inclusion in consulting mechanisms during policy design.
- Parliament
obtains information from sources outside the government: Parliamentarians can
establish communication channels with women’s associations and gender experts.
- Parliament
expresses its views to the government and the public: Parliamentarians can make
recommendations for the government to promote gender equality and women’s
rights in its policies.
Example: Through parliamentary strengthening projects, UNDP has
supported mechanisms for parliamentary oversight of gender equality in a number
of countries, including the PALOP[3],
Colombia, Swaziland, Nepal, Guinea-Bissau, Moldova, Rwanda, Kosovo, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, El Salvador, Nigeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan Gambia,
Tunisia, Argentina and Iraq.[4]
Example: UNDP and the Parliament of Fiji developed a practical
toolkit for parliamentarians on how to scrutinize legislation from a gender
perspective, to assist them in gender mainstreaming when fulfilling their
functions, in compliance with Standing Orders’ requirements. “The Parliament’s
Standing Orders require a gender-based analysis to be used by parliamentary
committees when scrutinizing legislation or undertaking their oversight
functions.”[5]
Example: In Argentina, UNDP developed a practical guide to integrate
the gender approach into legislative work, to support national, regional and
local legislators in the process of mainstreaming gender equality in lawmaking.
This guide was developed in partnership with the National Council of Women, UN
Women and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation to Development
(AECID).[6]
[3] PALOP countries include
Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Sao Tomé and Príncipe and
Equatorial Guinea.
