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]