Events
Transforming Politics: Male Politicians as Critical Actors for Gender Equality — Expert meeting
When
5 June 2024, 09:00 - 6 June 2024, 17:00
Where
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Organized by
The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the support of the OSCE field operations in South-East Europe
Women’s political participation has expanded over the last three decades, and the proportion of women in the national parliaments of OSCE countries reached a record high of 31.5% at the end of 2023. The picture is more complicated when looking in more detail at women’s representation in different layers of government — national, local authorities, municipal councils and city mayors — and no clear trends emerge for the whole OSCE region. Although there has been progress, there is a long way to go before OSCE countries reach gender-balanced political representation. Men are significantly over-represented in all major legislative and executive bodies and, in particular, as party leaders, parliamentary speakers, heads of governments, heads of state and mayors. Political and elected offices are still too often seen as a ‘men’s issue’. Advancing gender equality is still perceived predominantly as a ‘women’s issue’, left to women politicians, often without the meaningful engagement of male colleagues.
This two-day expert meeting in Sarajevo will include a keynote lecture, panels and practical work on policy guidelines. It will bring together:
- Men politicians who are already active or interested in becoming agents of change around gender equality in politics;
- Women politicians who are recognized as leaders for their transformational approaches to gender equality in politics and ready to engage male colleagues;
- Men and women representatives of civil society and women’s movements;
- Representatives of governmental bodies in charge of gender equality policy; and
- Representatives of international organizations working on engaging male politicians on gender quality in politics.
The meeting aims to
- Facilitate exchange of information and experience among participants and raise awareness of existing practices, initiatives and programmes to engage male politicians for gender equality in politics;
- Guide individual participants in defining practical commitments for follow-up actions, through which every participant will demonstrate their concrete support for the ‘Engaging Men’ agenda and for the gender-responsive transformation of politics;
- Contribute to the development of draft practical guidelines to be finalized after the meeting; and
- Facilitate the exchange of ideas and experiences about addressing violence against women, including violence against women in politics and on the correlation between SALW possession and domestic violence.
This meeting is by invitation only.
For further information please contact: Saša Gavrić, ODIHR Gender Officer sasa.gavric@odihr.pl