OSCE Office in Baku hosts meeting to urge more active engagement of women in elections

BAKU, 29 June 2005 - Participants of a meeting organized today by the OSCE Office in Baku called for more active participation of women in the forthcoming parliamentary elections as part of the process of democratization.

Representatives of international organizations, donors and the diplomatic corps taking part in the event identified barriers to women's full participation in the elections and best practices to fully integrate gender perspectives into all aspects of electoral processes.

Discussions focused on the legal framework, political representation and political parties, voter registration, voter and civic education, election observation, training of women, as well as media coverage of women candidates.

Participants urged political parties to ensure that when formulating their candidate lists, women are not only included, but also put forward as candidates for "winnable" seats.

The OSCE Office also emphasized that a gender perspective will be an integral part of the ODHIR election observation and evaluation.

The OSCE Office and the participants of today's meeting will distribute booklets on women and electoral processes for use in the field by both local and international staff.