Anyone wishing to know what has been written on the subject of women's participation in political life or on a particular aspect of this question is faced with a challenge: not so much the challenge of the scarcity of bibliographical references, but rather that of the difficulty of gaining access to a reliable database containing a broad selection of bibliographical references grouped by affinities.

The bibliographic databaseWomen in Politics seeks to fill this gap. It has been developed with the contribution of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The database is regularly up-dated to take account of new books and articles produced throughout the world on the subject of women in politics. It covers titles representing international, regional, country-by-country as well as thematic perspectives. A separate page on this site lists a number of useful Web links on this subject.

Prior to making the database available on-line on the Internet, the Inter-Parliamentary Union published its content in the form of a bilingual bibliography available in English and French. The bibliography contains references on juridical instruments, declarations, plans of action, studies, articles and other works of universal, regional and country scope. Copies of the 1999 edition of the bibliography can be ordered on-line from the IPU Secretariat in Geneva.