Example - Area 1

Area 1: Women and men have equal opportunities to ENTER parliaments

Domain 1: Electoral system/procedures and quotas

Measures that can be adopted in this domain

Conduct research or launch an inquiry on women’s participation in politics and public life. This research or inquiry can:

  • explore factors that enable and impede women’s political decision-making in parliamentary contexts;
  • pay increased attention to the political participation of underrepresented groups of women and men that experience intersecting inequalities based on gender interacting with age, socioeconomic situation, disability, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, rural or urban location, etc. (e.g. women from ethnic minority backgrounds and/or women with disabilities);
  • provide insights on the characteristics and backgrounds of current MPs, using data disaggregated by sex, as well as age, and family status (i.e. in a partnership or single, with or without children);
  • assess the possibility of applying legislative changes to the electoral system to increase women’s representation in parliament.
Relevant groups that can lead these measures
  • The parliament’s gender equality committee can launch inquiries into women’s participation in politics and public life. The parliament can also commission external experts with gender expertise to carry out research on women’s participation in politics and public life.
  • Research services of the parliamentary administration and staff of MPs can develop briefing reports to support MPs participating in debates on women’s political decision-making in parliamentary contexts.

In Spain, the gender equality plan of the regional Parliament of Catalonia (2020–2023) includes a measure to create a dossier (i.e. report) on the presence of women and men in electoral candidacies for parliamentary elections[1]. This report will be prepared by the Directorate of Parliamentary Studies during the year in which elections are called. MPs are outlined in the gender equality plan as the intended target audience for this report.

Domain 2: Political party / group procedures

Measures that can be adopted in this domain

Conduct trainings and develop guidance materials for political parties / groups. These trainings and materials can support them to do the following.

  • Amend their internal rules to include references to gender equality.
  • Perform a gender equality assessment of their internal procedures and practices (for example, by using the Gender Audit Tool for political parties developed by the OSCE ODIHR).
  • Establish women’s networks aiming to secure the election of more women in public office, and to encourage women to consider standing for the party in an election.
  • Publish a target for the share of women candidates in the next election period. Consider setting specific targets for groups of women that are underrepresented in parliament (e.g. with minority backgrounds, with disabilities or from rural areas).
  • Amend candidate selection procedures to ensure that more women are selected as candidates in elections (i.e. by implementing all-women shortlists when selecting candidates and replacing retiring MPs in ‘winnable’ seats with women candidates)[2].
  • Promote women candidates with small children and caring responsibilities.
  • Ensure that potential barriers for women are removed when standing for the party in elections. This can include for example, financial barriers, barriers caused because of care-giving responsibilities, resistance from party members or constituents, or biased and sexist media coverage.

Allocate gender-targeted public funding for political parties (i.e. providing public funding linked to their gender-related activities)[3]. This could be achieved by [4]:

  • requiring political parties to earmark a percentage of the public funds they receive for outreach activities and dedicate these funds to advancing gender equality and increasing the role of women in political parties;
  • basing the amount of public funding provided to a political party on the gender balance of their candidates (regardless of how the parties use these funds);
  • requiring that a certain portion of public funding provided to a political party be used to support women standing as candidates for the party;
  • providing public funding directly to women candidates running for public office.

Create mechanisms to monitor and report on political parties’ progress toward gender equality.

Relevant groups that can lead these measures
  • The high-level working group or committee (that oversees the plan) can work alongside the permanent gender equality office (in the administration), as well as external gender experts, to organise trainings and develop guidance materials for political parties.
  • The communications department of the parliamentary administration can disseminate guidance materials to political parties.
  • Executive committees or boards of political parties can commission gender audits of their internal procedures, publish targets for women candidates and track the party’s progress towards achieving gender equality goals. Women’s networks within political parties can support executive committees or boards to carry out these tasks and to raise awareness of measures taken by parties to achieve gender equality goals.
  • Political party coordinators and groups can help to identify the key barriers that women experience when standing for the party in elections and can identify potential solutions to address these barriers.
  • Parliamentary committees and offices that oversee the public funds provided to political parties can implement gender-targeted public funding for parties, with the approval of the parliamentary bureau.

In Northern Ireland, the proposed gender sensitive assembly manifesto and action plan states that the assembly will support the Women’s Caucus to work with individual political parties to improve gender equality[5]. The plan introduces measures to integrate a gender perspective across four key elements, one of which is ‘gender-sensitive political parties and politicians’. The measures include the following.

  • Targeted membership strategies to encourage more women to get involved and become members of their parties.
  • Initiatives and measures designed to increase women candidacies which are publicly supported by the party leadership.
  • Diversity awareness training, advice and support available to party members involved in the candidate selection process.
  • Initiatives designed to ensure the inclusion of positive women role models when making political appointments.
  • Gender-proofing of party internal media strategies to ensure greater visibility of their women politicians.

Recommendation 38 of Ireland’s Forum on a Family Friendly and Inclusive Parliament stipulates that political parties should set targets for ethnic minority women within political parties’ gender quotas for the next general elections. The Electoral Commission should monitor progress on this recommendation[6].

Domain 3: Recruitment of parliamentary employees

Measures that can be adopted in this domain

Integrate positive action measures in policies for recruitment and career progression. This would be to:

  • improve gender-balanced representation amongst parliamentary employees;
  • improve representation of underrepresented groups of women and men amongst staff (e.g. with ethnic minority background, with disabilities, with small children and caring responsibilities);
  • pay special attention to the concentration of women and men in different occupations (horizontal segregation)[7] and the concentration of women and men in different grades, levels of responsibilities or positions (vertical segregation[8];
  • ensure that women and men have equal opportunities to develop leadership skills, receive promotions and apply for more senior positions (with higher salary scales).

Require the use of gender-sensitive language and content in selection interviews and/or test materials. Also ensure that selection interviews and/or test materials are accessible for women and men with disabilities.

Consider the use of employees’ personal pronouns[9].

Ensure that selection boards include diverse groups of women and men.

Conduct regular gender equality trainings (with a module on gender and intersecting inequalities) for members of selection boards.

Establish a paid internship programme within the parliamentary administration for women and men from underrepresented groups.

Relevant groups that can lead these measures
  • The HR department of the parliamentary administration can integrate positive action measures in recruitment policies and integrate gender-sensitive language in interview materials.
  • The HR department can work with external gender experts to organise regular training for members of selection boards.
  • The HR department can engage with civil society organisations (CSOs) to support outreach and promote the paid internship programmes for women and men from underrepresented groups.

The regional Parliament of Valencia in Spain adopted a gender equality plan (2019–2023) which includes a general objective to ensure equal opportunities between women and men in access to employment, to achieve a balanced distribution of women and men at all levels and positions of the parliamentary administration[10]. It presents measures to review and amend selection procedures to eliminate possible gender inequalities, to use gender-sensitive language in job descriptions and in selection and promotion procedures, to train all personnel involved in the selection process on gender equality, and to analyse and address the factors that cause gender inequalities among staff.