In its 2012 resolution on Women and Political Participation, the UN General Assembly urged all State parties to “strongly encourage political parties to remove all barriers that directly or indirectly discriminate against the participation of women, to develop their capacity to analyze issues from a gender perspective, and to adopt policies to promote the ability of women to participate fully at all levels of decision-making within those political parties.”[1]
By competing in the electoral process to win political power, political parties play a major role in representative democracy. They function as gatekeepers of women’s political participation, acting as intermediaries that articulate citizens’ views through political programs and agendas, and allowing the access of politicians to representative roles as elected members of democratic institutions. Although political parties’ traditionally male-dominated structures and power models often create barriers for women, they can also be instrumental in facilitating their political advancement, integrating their voices in the political process and ensuring they have a place in decision-making.
Literature suggests that highly institutionalized political parties, those in the left or center-left political spectrum and parties with a well-coordinated internal organization of women tend to be more responsive to gender-related demands, but these parties - though generally better than their counterparts – often fall short of parity or equality.[2] In practice, however, most parties of all persuasions have taken steps to advance women’s political participation across the globe.
Political parties can mainstream gender within their internal organization by developing and implementing gender-sensitive legal and policy frameworks that foster women’s inclusion and representation within the party structures and decision-making platforms. Candidate recruitment is also a key stage that allows political parties to promote fair representation, by including women in winnable positions on their candidate lists. Furthermore, political parties can provide women candidates with support for funding and campaigning, with the objective of increasing their chances of getting elected. During Election Day, political parties can conduct gender-sensitive monitoring of electoral procedures, assessing discrimination against women candidates and voters.[3] Lastly, they can also play a role in promoting the inclusion of LGBTI persons in the political process and enhancing the electoral participation of this community.
One of the key publications on this topic is the UNDP and NDI’s 2012 “Empowering Women for Stronger Political Parties: A Guidebook to Promote Women’s Political Participation”[4], which offers a general overview about what political parties can do to advance women’s participation in politics. With the purpose of illustrating strategies used by political parties in different countries, examples of good practice can be found in this section, mainly based on the UNDP and NDI’s guidebook. The following graphic resource, extracted from UNDP and NDI’s guidebook, summarizes entry points for promoting women’s participation in political parties.
[1] UN Resolution of the General Assembly 66/130 on Women and Political Participation, 2012.
[2] Sacchet, Teresa (2005): “Political Parties: When do they work for Women?” United Nations.
See: http://iknowpolitics.org/en/2008/08/political-parties-when-do-they-work-women
[3] UNDP and NDI (2012): “Empowering Women for Stronger Political Parties: A Guidebook to Promote Women’s Political Participation”.
[4] Relevant parts of this section have been adapted, with the permission of the publisher, from:
UNDP and NDI (2012): “Empowering Women for Stronger Political Parties: A Guidebook to Promote Women’s Political Participation”. Lead author: Julie Ballington.
