Around the world, a wide
range of strategies is used to promote gender equality and women’s
participation in the electoral process. Despite the variety of approaches,
there is a need for general principles that guide this kind of interventions.
The following guiding principles aim at orienting programs and policies to
enhance effective, meaningful and equal participation of all genders in
politics and elections.
- Human rights-based
approach:
The human rights-based approach helps identify inequalities, discrimination and
unbalanced power relations in the electoral process. Based on human rights
principles, this approach emphasizes the participation of all actors in the
decision-making process, with a particular focus on under-represented groups.
Strategies promoting gender equality and women’s participation in the electoral
process seek to fulfill the civil and political rights of all people,
regardless their gender identity, helping them overcome barriers and leveling
the playing field in politics.
- Inclusion: Recognizing the value
of diversity is key to ensure that electoral processes are genuinely democratic
and leave no one behind. All relevant stakeholders should be able to fully
participate in elections without discrimination or violence, regardless their gender
identity, ethnicity, sexual orientation, class, age, disability status and
religion, among other conditions.
- Participation: Through a number of
participation mechanisms, men and women are empowered to play an essential role
in their own development and also in their communities. Constructive
participation strategies in the electoral process comprise a wide range of
activities, including voting, standing as a candidate, expressing opinions,
supporting political parties and candidates, serving as a polling officer,
protesting peacefully and observing the election, among others.
- Transparency: Strategies promoting
gender equality and women’s participation in elections should be clear and
open, and the process needs to be understandable for all parts involved.
Stakeholders should take responsibility for their actions and be held
accountable.
- Impartiality: Acknowledging the
political nature of the electoral process, actors promoting gender equality and
women’s participation should not take sides in favor of political parties and
contestants. When pursuing the goal of gender equality, they should be able to
work with men and women from all ideological backgrounds and party lines,
treating them equally and fairly, without giving advantage to any tendency. This
guiding principle may present the exception of stakeholders with a strictly
political nature, such as political parties, contestants and activists.
- Integrity: The behavior of actors
seeking to promote gender equality and women’s participation in elections
should reflect high ethical standards. When they abide by the principles of
transparency, accountability, fairness and impartiality, the credibility of
gender work is often strengthened and trust among partners and the public tends
to increase.
- Effective collaboration: Stakeholders working to
promote inclusive electoral processes need to join forces and ensure an
effective and sincere collaboration, in order to avoid gaps and overlapping in
gender equality programming.
- Do no harm: When advocating for
gender equality in the electoral process, stakeholders need to be aware of
existing social and conflict dynamics, in a way that their actions do not end
up harming involved stakeholders or undermining their rights in any way. This
is of the outmost importance when working with LGBTI communities in highly
hostile environments.
These guiding principles
are not exhaustive; they are a starting point, and can be strengthened,
expanded and applied to different experiences and realities when promoting
gender equality and women’s political participation.
