The IPU supports women MPs

Women represent 18.6 per cent of parliamentarians in the world but above and beyond these figures and the difficulties they encounter during elections, once they are elected to parliament, they are faced with a host of new challenges.

The first challenge is that they enter a domain set up and managed by men. “Do you know which is the largest majority party in the world? It’s the over- 40 male party”, affirms Croat Member of Parliament Marija Lugaric. As women MPs are often newcomers to the world of politics, they also lack experience. Although newly elected men MPs also lack experience, the challenge nevertheless remains greater for women. They are often entrusted by their electorate with the task of advancing the situation of women and feel that they have to prove themselves. As a woman MP from Burundi explains: “Sometimes, timidity and fear of failure prevent women MPs from proposing bills” as women often lack self-confidence.

To use their work in parliament to enhance the situation of women, women MPs must become familiar with the rules that govern the way parliament works - usage, practice, regulations and procedures. As Ms. Margaret Mensah-Williams, Deputy Speaker of the National Council of Namibia, puts it: “Not only do you have to know the rules and procedures, you also have to master them and use them to bring about change” and ensure that gender issues are taken into consideration in politics and bills.

The IPU assists women MPs in their efforts to familiarize themselves with and use these rules to promote gender equality. This form of assistance holds a prominent spot on the agenda of the world organization of parliaments. It is provided under technical cooperation programmes designed most often at the request of parliaments or women parliaments and adapted to the needs of each country.

This support may take the form of orientation workshops on the workings of parliament and information seminars for women and men parliamentarians on gender-related or women’s rights related questions. The IPU organizes, for example, capacity-building sessions in communication, leadership and legislative drafting.

Such activities have been conducted recently in Burundi, Cambodia, Jordan and the Arab Gulf States.

Concrete action

During the communication and publicspeaking workshop (September 2008), the women members of the Parliament of Burundi honed their skills in speech writing and delivery, managing stage fright, how to support their opinions with relevant arguments and how to hold a captive audience. At another workshop, they put their know-how to work in drafting bills or amendments to promote gender equality (November 2008). The women parliamentarians greatly appreciated the workshops, made notable progress in their legislative work and sent several messages via the media to defend women’s interests. Two women legislators admitted that they no longer hesitated to speak to the media about their position on issues such as domestic violence or inheritance rights.

Women MPs from Jordan developed a group strategy to enhance their relations with the media during a capacity-building workshop organized by the IPU, the Parliament of Jordan and UNDP (October 2009). The purpose of the workshop was to better understand how the media works and the best way of sending messages through them. Remaining objective and the need to maintain contact with journalists were identified as key elements, apart from the actual message. Women legislators must send messages with all the pride of being women and representing both men and women in the society in which they evolve. Their message must necessarily be based on reliable, verified information and be well structured.

Retreat for women MPs in Cambodia

In Cambodia, a two-and-a-half-day retreat for women MPs was organized by the IPU, UNDP and the Legislature Assistance Programme (LEAP), to build their leadership and communication skills. Philippines Senator Pia Cayetano, President of the IPU’s Coordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians, shared her experience in communication with the participants. She highlighted the importance of gathering all information necessary to master a topic, identifying one’s own style of communicating, obtaining training in public speaking, learning to argue for or against a topic based on relevant texts, policies and national and international practice, and especially to be vigilant during the debate, by taking notes and being attentive to other speakers by asking questions.

In Cambodia, as in Jordan, Burundi and elsewhere, the IPU is supporting partnerships among women parliamentarians. As there is strength in unity, cooperation among women might serve to offset their small numbers in parliament. These assistance programmes facilitate concerted action through regular meetings (Burundi and Jordan), retreats (Cambodia) or through technical and logistical support to associations of women parliamentarians (Burundi and Rwanda).

These programmes aim to strengthen partnerships between women and men legislators by including men MPs in debates on gender issues. They also seek to facilitate an exchange of experiences and good practices among women legislators of different countries and regions. The IPU is instrumental in strengthening the ties between women parliamentarians, representatives of government agencies, civil society and international organizations with a view to promoting women’s rights and gender equality.

Women’s influence in parliament will be heightened if they are represented in larger numbers, if they accede to decision-making posts and if they are supported in their capacity to represent and defend their interests and the issues that concern them.

Z.H.