Discussion leaders Sen. Helen Polley of Australia, (left) Hon. Meira Kumar, MP, (centre) and Moderator and 2012 Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians President Dr the Hon. Sudarshini Fernandopulle, MP, of Sri Lanka.
governance and how it might be characterized in practice. A gender- responsive governance structure was said to be one that ensures the involvement of women in leadership and decision making, and one that represents the interests of women. The workshop agreed that gender responsiveness requires the contribution and respect of men and women. Hon. Alix Boyd Knights, MHA, Chairperson of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians, said statistics show that women’s involvement in public life leads to economic advancement in those societies so a governance arrangement that includes women as equal partners has tangible benefits in society that have arguably not been made clear in the past. However, the workshop made it clear that the discussion ought
not to focus on what traditionally have been considered “women’s issues”. “Gender”, in the context of the workshop’s topic, was too often taken to be synonymous with “women” whereas it should be about men and women, said Hon. Moono Lubezhi, MP, of Zambia. Democracies are built by everyone in a community working side by side regardless of gender. Gender equality is not exclusively
a women’s issue; it is a fundamental matter of equality and the responsibility of everyone, added Hon. Noma Mfeketo, MP, of South Africa. There is a need to engage with
men in public life also to include them in this conversation, said Hon. Sujeewa Senesinghe, MP, of Sri Lanka, particularly noting there are no men on the panel. The workshop heard of ways to work collaboratively with men to obtain gender responsive systems.
Actions for political parties Working from the starting point that political parties are a good forum through which to effect change, there are a many opportunities for political parties to support the movement of women into leadership roles and to work with civil society to achieve gender equality. Speakers highlighted the
following:
• Prepare and select women candidates for winnable seats; • Provide support, training and funding for women – intention is not enough; • Examine party policies, budgets and legislation to see how they engage with, and impact on, women in the community; • Train women in political skills and how to deal with political life; • Reform the political system to
ensure fairness (for example, no public funding to parties that don’t comply with gender equity require- ments, or quota requirements of that jurisdiction, et cetera); • Educate women about using their vote for policies that matter to them; • Involve men – find champions of the cause within each party; • Understand that it is not neces- sary to beg for what is right, but sometimes it is necessary to advo- cate and fight; • Work across political parties and not stay in silos – speak up and give support where it is needed, and • Make affirmative action policies binding.
The role of affirmative action Some parties have targets and quotas for selecting women as candidates and some Legislatures have percentage requirements