OSCEs Parlamentariske Forsamling 2021-22
OSCE Alm.del Bilag 18
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Joint OSCE PA-OSCE/ODIHR Web Dialogue on
“Realizing
Gender Equality in Parliament: Transforming
Institutions, Delivering for All Women and Men”
Wednesday, 30 March 2022, 10:00
–
12:00 CEST, Zoom
Highlights
1
Background:
This Joint Web Dialogue by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
(OSCE/ODIHR) and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) was organized on 30 March 2022
(10:00
–
12:00 CEST). It provided an opportunity to discuss innovative approaches on gender
sensitive parliaments and transformation of these institutions to better deliver for all women and
men. More specifically, the event provided a platform to exchange good practices, lessons
learned and innovations on how national parliaments could mainstream gender in their
composition, structures, operations, working methods, and day-to-day work. The key role of
parliamentarians as drivers of change towards gender parity was emphasized, noting the
importance of enabling participation of women in politics, lawmaking, conflict prevention and
resolution, as prescribed in the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
2
as well as in the
OSCE and OSCE PA acquis. The event also aimed to raise awareness among parliamentarians of
OSCE participating States (pS) of OSCE tools and resources in this field, including the
ODIHR’s new
guide on
“Realizing Gender Equality in Parliament: A Guide for Parliaments in the OSCE Region”.
It was held online, via Zoom conferencing platform, in English/Russian/English and International
Sign Language.
1
2
DISCLAIMER: The Highlights from the OSCE PA Web Dialogue are not intended to be official conclusions, nor an
exhaustive list of all issues raised during the discussion, but rather a collection of interesting points noted by the
International Secretariat for possible future reference. As such, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly makes no
claims nor warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, about their completeness and reliability.
United Nations (UN), Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, 15 September 1995. Available at
https://www.un.org/en/events/pastevents/pdfs/Beijing_Declaration_and_Platform_for_Action.pdf.
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 OSCE, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 18: Highlights - Joint Web Dialogue on Realizing Gender Equality in Parliament - Transforming Institutions, Delivering for all Women and Men
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Key findings:
•
Gender equality benefits everybody and can be achieved only through
concerted and
continuous efforts by relevant institutional mechanisms and policies, and a whole-of-
society approach.
The struggle for gender equality should be
everyone’s
priority,
and more synergies are
needed to tackle respective challenges. As such, achieving gender equality remains a key
priority for the OSCE PA and the OSCE/ODIHR.
Parliaments play a fundamental role in promoting gender-equality in politics and across
society in general.
Through the efficient use of the main parliamentary functions
–
representation, legislation-making and oversight
–
parliaments have a institutional role in
adapting the existing and formulating new policy frameworks, as well as monitoring
their implementation
with the aim to streamline gender-sensible policies as a cross-
cutting priority.
Making parliaments gender-sensitive is a complex and continuous process.
In this
regard, ODIHR’s “Realizing
Gender Equality in Parliament: A Guide for Parliaments in the
OSCE Region”
3
, based on responses received from 52 chambers in 46 States of
parliaments in the OSCE region,
offers pS a unified definition of gender-sensitive
parliaments
4
.
Some of the
main findings
outlined in the Guide find that: men continue to hold senior
roles while women continue to hold deputy roles; women tend to constitute majorities
on the soft portfolio committees, few parliaments monitor presence and participation;
there is less financial support for supporting family-friendly parliaments; new inquiries
are being established for violence-free parliaments; in-house gender expertise was
considered as “not applicable”;
the purpose of gender mainstreaming to many
parliaments was unclear.
The Guide outlines important tools to enhance parliamentary sensitivity on gender
issues,
including: by condemning discriminatory and sexist behavior within parliaments
at the strongest possible terms; by adopting and implementing codes of conduct and of
their provisions in this respect; by meaningfully addressing suspected and open cases of
sexism, discrimination, harassment and violence of all forms against women in politics
through an independent grievance mechanism; by allowing members of parliament with
caring responsibilities to better balance work and private life through the provision of
flexible work arrangements; by ensuring that positions of parliamentary and party
leadership are equally and meaningfully shared between women and men; by prioritizing
and institutionalizing debates on gender in plenary sessions.
•
•
•
•
•
3
4
OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, “Realizing Gender Equality in Parliament: A Guide for
Parliaments in the OSCE Region”, 6 December 2021. Available at
https://www.osce.org/odihr/506885.
As outlined in the Guide, a gender-sensitive parliament values and prioritizes gender equality as a social,
economic and political objective and reorients and transforms a parliament’s institutional
culture, processes and
practices and outputs towards these objectives.
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•
•
•
•
Four important actions to be taken by parliaments to become gender-sensitive include
assessing, implementing, resourcing and reviewing
internal procedures.
National parliaments have not made significant progress
as it was expected after
adoption of the Beijing declaration in 1995. More concrete steps need to be taken to
achieve substantive results through gender budgeting, adoption of codes of conduct,
gender auditing, gender-based analysis of decision-making and equal representation.
The
2021 Appeal to Act by the OSCE PA Special Representative on Gender Issues called
on all parliaments in the OSCE region
to strive towards becoming gender-sensitive
parliaments.
Merit-based principles have to be respected irrespective of gender and
throughout
relevant mechanisms in parliaments, as such an approach ensures equal chances for all.
In this regard, recognition of non-binary gender and intersectionality remains an
important part of the discussions on gender-equality in parliaments.
Political will is paramount for achieving gender-sensitive parliaments
and it should be
forged on the basis of broad party convergence in addressing existing challenges. The
statistics show that better women representation in political parties leads to more
chances to be elected and represented in the parliament.
Key recommendations:
1.
Forging political will and leadership commitment:
It is essential that speakers of
parliament, heads of parliamentary administration and leaders of parties commit to the
transformation process by being open to learn and critically review their achievements
and shortcomings. Parliaments need to be ready not to do things
“the
way they were
always done”.
2.
Commitment for conducting systematic and participatory gender assessments or
audits:
MPs and parliament leadership might be aware of some of the gender-related
challenges and shortcomings, but there are many more underneath the surface. If the
openness and transparency are created by leadership, the parliament can establish an
independent baseline and adopt action-oriented recommendations that can be further
considered.
3.
The implementation of the recommendations in the form of a parliament-specific
gender action plan or strategy:
The majority of OSCE participating states have a national
gender equality strategy or action plan in place, however these should be adequately
implemented, frequently reviewed and tailor-made to address the issues which relate to
the parliament internally. The implementation of a parliamentary gender action plan
demands full commitment of the leadership of the parliament and of the parties,
including commitment to allocate funding, potentially hire new people in the
administration or establish new working bodies.
4.
Capacity building of MPs and staff:
A gender-sensitive transformation of parliaments is
possible through raising awareness on existing biases and developing technical capacities
of its members. Synergies in that respect should be explored and advanced, both in co-
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 OSCE, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 18: Highlights - Joint Web Dialogue on Realizing Gender Equality in Parliament - Transforming Institutions, Delivering for all Women and Men
operation with governmental structures as well as with the civil society, academia and
international organizations such as the OSCE and its institutions. In case the parliament
doesn’t have internal resources to building the capacities,
it might be useful to reach out
to government institutional mechanisms for the advancement of gender equality,
academia and international partners like ODIHR.
5.
Introduction of new structures and mechanisms:
Gender auditing might identify the
need to set up a women’s network within parliament, to appoint a full-time gender
adviser in the parliamentary support units, or to develop clear protocols for gender
sensitive oversight.
4