OSCE holds roundtable discussion on women’s political empowerment in Tajikistan

Empowering women politicians in Tajikistan was the topic of an OSCE-supported roundtable discussion, held on 3 December 2015 in Dushanbe, for representatives of the country’s political parties.

Participants discussed different issues concerning stereotypical behaviours that negatively affect women’s advancement in political and public life, as well as ways to support women as future leaders in Tajikistan based on best practices from Albania.

“The OSCE Office in Tajikistan, in co-ordination with the OSCE Presence in Albania, organized this event to contribute to further empowering women in political life in Tajikistan,” said Fabio Piana, Deputy Head of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan. “The roundtable discussion provided an opportunity to share best practices on women’s advancement in political life in Albania.”

“Continuous and systematic work with women gives real results as we have seen in the case of Albania; the same women who might have been somewhat passive actors in the political domain in the past can be seen years later as key actors in decision-making, as Ministers, members of parliament, mayors and municipal councillors,” said Alenka Verbole, Senior Democratization Officer from the OSCE Presence in Albania.

“Women must unite and further build their capacities, as well as their networking, mentoring and leadership skills,” said Vesna Ivanovikj-Castarede, Legal and Electoral Reform Officer of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan.

The Deputy Head of the People’s Democratic Party of Tajikistan and female politicians from the Social-Democratic Party, Communist Party, Economic Reform Party, Democratic Party, and Socialist Party, as well as representatives of USAID and the Swiss Fund for Co-operation participated in the roundtable discussion.