Gender-sensitive Parliaments

Domain 1: Gender-sensitive organisation of parliament spaces

Measures that can be adopted in this domain

Invest in infrastructure changes to build childcare facilities on parliament grounds, changing rooms, private facilities for breastfeeding and women’s and gender-neutral toilets. Include reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities (e.g. wheelchair accessible facilities).

Increase the number of women’s and gender-neutral bathrooms on the premises and ensure that they are accessible in terms of their location on the premises.

Ensure that infant changing facilities are accessible to fathers and mothers.

Conduct a review of the images and symbols present on the parliamentary premises (and on the website) to ensure that they align with the parliament’s gender equality goals and highlight the important contributions of women both in parliament and in society more broadly.

Develop official policies or procedures to enhance the gender-sensitivity of physical spaces. These policies can aim to:

• ensure gender balance when naming parliamentary spaces after important political figures;
• obtain a gender-balanced representation and gender-sensitive portrayal of subjects in paintings, statues, and other decorations;
• obtain a gender-balanced representation in artists whose work is presented in parliaments;
• ensure and/or improve accessibility for persons with disabilities, taking specific gender-related needs into consideration where relevant.

Relevant groups that can lead these measures

The gender equality office in the parliamentary administration can work alongside the facilities department to:

• open new childcare facilities on the premises, increase the number of women’s and gender-neutral bathrooms and ensure they are in accessible locations;
• develop policies and procedures to enhance the gender-sensitivity of physical spaces.

Domain 2: External communication and representation

Measures that can be adopted in this domain

Host initiatives dedicated to gender equality issues / women’s rights on the parliament’s premises.

Create a section of the parliament’s website for citizens that addresses gender equality topics.

Establish a specific policy on gender equality in official communications.

Systematically disseminate information about gender-equality-related initiatives of the parliament to the public and civil society.

Develop an official policy in place for gender balanced parliamentary delegations.

Create an internal policy to ensure that gender-sensitive language is used in all internal and external communication and initiatives (see EIGE’s toolkit on gender-sensitive communication). For example, this will support the parliament to:

• recognise gender stereotypes and avoid repeating them in parliamentary communications;
• actively seek ways of being inclusive to women and men in all their diversity;
• check that all communication avoids the use of gender-biased language.

Ensure equal and diverse representation of women and men when organising public consultations, hearings, conferences and events.

Allocate lobby passes to journalists in a manner that ensures women and men are equally represented in the parliament’s press gallery. Specific efforts can be made to ensure that women from underrepresented groups are represented in the press gallery (e.g. based on gender intersecting with race, ethnicity, disability, etc.).

Partner with universities to invite students into parliament to learn about the political workings, structure, and functions of the institution. Pay special attention to the gender balance of the delegations and underrepresented groups of young women and men (based on factors of race, disability, socioeconomic status, etc.).

Partner with CSOs, universities, unions, etc., to host networking events and informative workshops for women electoral candidates.

Relevant groups that can lead these measures

• The permanent gender equality office (in the administration) can work alongside women’s caucuses to host events on gender equality and women’s rights on the parliament’s premises.
• The department of communications of the parliamentary administration can create sections of the parliament’s website on gender equality and disseminate information about gender equality initiatives of the parliament to the public.
• Departments responsible for outreach in the parliamentary administration can partner with universities and CSOs to connect with students and electoral candidates.