Publications

Launched in 2021, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) CHANGE project employs a transformative approach to promoting gender equality, women’s human rights and safety. It integrates a broad range of elements from across ODIHR's mandate to address obstacles to achieving gender equality.

The advancement of gender equality aims to ensure equal rights and opportunities for women and men, as well as the just distribution of power and resources. Gender equality should enable both women and men to shape politics, and it is increasingly accepted that politics and decision-making processes should embrace the participation and contribution of the people they affect. To secure truly transformative change towards gender equality, there is now an urgent need to engage male politicians meaningfully in gender equality work, forging more just and equitable political institutions that work for all.

The concept of a gender-sensitive parliament rests on mainstreaming gender equality right across the work of a parliament, including in its representative, legislative and oversight functions. This tool shows how parliamentary bodies for gender equality are one of the key gender mainstreaming mechanisms available to national parliaments, and assesses their role and function within parliaments.

Women have the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief (FoRB), including in employment. In practice however, many women face a range of challenges related to their religion or belief. This threatens not only their right to FoRB, but also their effective participation in the labour market on an equal footing with men.

This is a quick reference book containing practical information about the problem of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in criminal justice facilities. It proposes various safeguards to prevent and respond to such violence.

This publication explains gender equality in political life in terms of access, voice and transformation and provides guidance on how to conduct a national assessment of gender equality in political life and on how to develop a national action plan based on the findings of the assessment.

This factsheet describes how ODIHR works in multiple areas to advance gender equality in political and public life.

This publication, intended for gender equality and party development experts from political parties across the OSCE region and beyond, complements ODIHR's online gender audit tool and provides practical guidance on how to conduct gender audits and implement gender action plans.

As a public authority, the election administration should be representative of the wider society. Within its structure, there should be no disparity between men and women or a preponderance of one gender at any level, including in senior positions. The EMB has the greatest responsibility for ensuring the inclusive participation of eligible voters in elections.

Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women and gender equality have a unique potential for making women’s and men’s lives better and, more generally, making democracies stronger, more resilient and egalitarian. In these challenging times for democracy, institutional mechanisms play an important role in preventing the reversal of gender equality in practice.