Gender and Elections

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Through their work, EMBs can enhance women’s participation both internally and externally. Inclusive electoral management requires political will and commitment to put in place strategies to promote gender equality both within the internal organization of EMBs and throughout the electoral cycle. This section deals with the internal aspects of gender mainstreaming and their implications for the work of EMBs.

EMBs can consider a wide range of entry points to enhance women’s participation and promote gender equality within their internal organization. Collecting and disseminating sex-disaggregated data and statistics can allow them to identify inequalities between men and women, especially regarding their registration and effective participation as voters, their presence as candidates and their representation among staff at all levels. In a number of countries, EMBs include gender equality provisions in their mission and vision statements, guiding principles and strategic and operational plans, and have developed internal gender policies. The commitment to gender equality can also be reflected in the institutional structure of EMBs, with the establishment of gender units or committees and the appointment of gender focal points. Human resources systems can seek a balanced representation of men and women among electoral staff and in leadership positions, and can establish institutional mechanisms to ensure equal opportunities in their career development. Besides, EMBs can ensure gender equality in the workplace by facilitating work-life balance and fighting harassment and discrimination. Lastly, EMBs can launch capacity building initiatives addressing gender equality and include this component in training plans for electoral staff.[1]

One of the key publications on this topic is the UNDP and UN Women’s 2016 “Inclusive Electoral Processes: A Guide for Electoral Management Bodies on Promoting Gender Equality and Women’s Participation”, [2] which offers a general overview about what can be done to mainstream gender from the perspective of electoral management. With the purpose of illustrating strategies used by EMBs in different countries, examples of good practice can be found in this section, mostly selected from UNDP and UN Women’s 2016 guide. The following graphic resource, extracted from UNDP and UN Women’s guide, summarizes entry points for promoting women’s participation through the work of EMBs.

For more information on this topic, please see related content of the ACE Project, including:

The section on “Gender Balance” in the topic area Electoral Management.
The consolidated reply on “Gender mainstreaming of the Electoral Administration.”
The consolidated reply “EMB actions in developing encouraging electoral participation of women.”
The section “EMB Responsibilities to Promote Democracy and Equity” in the topic area Electoral Management.

[1] UNDP and UN Women (2016): “Inclusive Electoral Processes: A Guide for Electoral Management Bodies on Promoting Gender Equality and Women’s Participation”.

[2] Relevant parts of this section have been adapted, with the permission of the publisher, from:

UNDP and UN Women (2016): “Inclusive Electoral Processes: A Guide for Electoral Management Bodies on Promoting Gender Equality and Women’s Participation”.

Main contributors: Julie Ballington, Gabrielle Bardall, Sonia Palmieri and Kate Sullivan.

See: http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/democratic-governance/electoral_systemsandprocesses/guide-for-electoral-management-bodies-on-promoting-gender-equali.html

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ELECTORAL FRAMEWORK

ELECTORAL PARTICIPATION

ELECTORAL MANAGEMENT

ELECTORAL INTEGRITY

ELECTORAL OPERATIONS

Gender and Elections