Publications

Global and regional commitments over the last thirty years provide solid support for promoting gender equality in politics. In recent years, the growth of women’s representation has stagnated, and the OSCE region is now witnessing escalating narratives against gender equality, which are having a detrimental effect on women’s political participation. Temporary special measures are being abolished, and no new ones are being introduced. Political polarization is steadily increasing, while sexism and violence against women in politics is pervasive, impacting female politicians’ decisions on whether to run for office, advocate certain policy solutions or leave their elected posts.

This 2024 Annual Progress Report highlights OSCE’s progress on the Implementation of the 2004 OSCE Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality and key successes achieved in advancing equality and the empowerment of women. The report explores OSCE’s work in this area as well as the support the OSCE executive structures provide to participating States in promoting gender equality.

Despite the progress made during decades of work by women’s rights organizations and democratic institutions, gender equality is still a long way off. There is a growing understanding that gender equality will only be achieved when men and women work together towards full gender equality and equal respect for the rights of all individuals and groups.

The OSCE invites you to apply for the 11th OSCE Dialogue Academy for Young Women, which will take place from 5 to 15 October 2025, in Nova Gorica/Gorizia (Slovenia/Italy). In total, 24 successful applicants who meet the qualification criteria will be selected to participate in the 2025 Dialogue Academy. Send your application by midnight CET, 30 July 2025.

The OSCE Mission in Kosovo invites women from all communities who are passionate about improving security, fostering dialogue, and collaborating with Women’s Security Networks to apply for a training on public dialogue facilitation, organized in co-operation with the Nansen Center for Peace and Dialogue.

The OSCE participating States have agreed to several commitments that specifically mandate the Organization’s structures to assist participating States with developing programmes aimed at preventing all forms of gender-based violence, as outlined in the 2004 Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality, and OSCE Ministerial Council decisions from 2005, 2014 and 2018 which emphasize the importance of collecting and disseminating reliable, disaggregated data on violence against women, alongside efforts to criminalize gender-based violence. Femicide, the gender-related killing of women and girls, is a global phenomenon and represents the most extreme manifestation of violence against women. This report aims to assess the response to femicide across the 57 OSCE participating States, focusing on three key areas: the criminal justice response, the collection of comparable data, and the reporting and analysis of femicide.

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 OSCE invites you to apply for the fourth edition of the EmPOWER Local Women Politicians Programme. If you are you a woman currently holding a leadership position at the local level or an aspiring politician eager to advance your career – this programme is for you. Thirty successful applicants who meet the qualification criteria will be selected to participate. Please send your application by 16 March 2025 (23:59).

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.