Advocacy is a form of
participation in public affairs and has the potential to help individuals and
organizations promote and protect human rights. In many countries, women’s
associations have played an important role in fostering gender equality and
women’s participation in politics and elections. Through advocacy campaigns,
domestic and international women’s groups have succeeded in convincing relevant
stakeholders of the paramount importance of ensuring equal opportunities and
rights for men and women, contributing to positive social change. Through
monitoring, documentation and effective communication strategies, gender
equality advocates can foster inclusion at different stages of the electoral
process.
Advocacy strategies used
by women’s groups throughout the electoral process can be addressed to various
stakeholders, and seek a wide variety of goals, including increasing gender
balance among candidates, decision-making positions in political parties,
observers, election administrators and other actors; influencing political
agendas and public debate; supporting legal reform and review of electoral
procedures; promoting gender-sensitive media coverage of the electoral process;
and strengthening the gender component in election observation, among many
others.
Example: In Madagascar, the National Council of Women conducted an
advocacy campaign ahead of the 2013 electoral process, reaching out to
political party leaders. This initiative included meetings with political party
leaders to encourage an increased representation of women in the candidate
lists, as well as to engage the party into progressive policy positions
favoring women’s rights. In addition to these advocacy efforts, the National
Council of Women, the Independent National Electoral Commission for the
Transition (CENI-T) and UNDP hosted a high-level inter-party dialogue with presidential
candidates addressing gender equality policies.[1]
Example: In Haiti, International IDEA and the Ministry of Women
Affairs and Gender Issues organized a forum in 2017 that allowed “political
parties and women’s organizations to meet, network, share experiences and
lessons learnt in order to successfully promote women’s political participation
and representation.”[2]
Example: In Mali, as a result of advocacy efforts by women’s
associations and other civil groups, a gender quota bill was passed in 2015,
requiring at least 30 percent of elected or appointed officials to be women. In
this advocacy work, civil society organizations joined forces with women
legislators of the Network of Parliamentarian Women and the Ministry on the
Promotion of Women, Children and the Family. Male allies, especially
parliamentarians, also played a key role in the adoption of the law.[3]
Example: In Paraguay, a multi-sectorial coalition with diverse
political parties and civil society organizations launched a national debate on
women’s under-representation in politics, organizing a number of trainings and
fora from 2014 to 2018 to sensitize women and advocate for the adoption of a
parity democracy law. This initiative, supported by UN Women, UNDP and the
Ministry of Women, reached 14 out of the 17 regional departments in the
country. Civil society organizations taking part in these efforts included the
Center for Documentation and Studies (CDE, Centro de Documentacion y Estudios),
DECIDAMOS Campaign for Citizen Expression (DECIDAMOS Campaña por la Expresion
Ciudadana), the Women in Municipalities Network (Red de Mujeres Munícipes del
Paraguay), and the Southern Women’s Network (Red de Mujeres del Sur), among
others.[4]
Example: IFES has been supporting the advocacy efforts of women with
disabilities in a number of countries. In Nepal, in 2018, IFES and the National
Disabled Women’s Association offered advocacy training to women with
disabilities, which covered how to develop a unified policy platform and
practice of advocacy skills for communicating with government stakeholders.[5]
In Kenya, IFES partnered with Women Challenged to Challenge, an umbrella
organization for people with disabilities, to develop a policy platform
document that would help women with disabilities in their advocacy efforts.[6]
Example: In Myanmar, IFES launched in 2017 the “We Stand Together”
campaign, in partnership with the domestic organization Yaung Chi Thit (YCT),
to encourage women’s political participation. Supporters reached out to elected
officials on the importance of women’s political participation, mobilized their
communities and collected photo petitions demonstrating support from them at
regional-level roundtables.[7]
Example: In Honduras, party leaders and aspiring presidential
candidates from seven parties met in October 2016 to ratify the “Political
Parity and Alternation Pact”, by which the parties committed to place women in
the top positions of candidate lists, ensuring the application of parity among
their candidates and effective alternation mechanisms. This agreement was the
result of the advocacy campaign “The Pilgrimage of the Braid” (la Peregrinación
de la Trenza) launched by Honduras Interparty Women’s Network (Red de Mujeres
Interparetidarias de Honduras), in partnership with NDI.[8]
[8] IKnowPolitics (2017):
“Honduran Political Party Leaders Send Unified Message for Women’s Political
Participation.”
