General News

Launch Overview - E-discussion: "Women’s Political Participation and Leadership in Asia and the Pacific: assessing where we are now and defining the way forward"

This e-discussion marks the launch of the virtual community of practice on Women's Political Participation and Leadership in Asia and the Pacific bringing together members from government, non-government and civil society organizations, academic institutions, regional bodies, UN agencies and donors. We are pleased to share with you the opening remarks by Winnie Byanyima ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRrugnl4khs&feature=youtu.be ), Director of UNDP's Gender Team for the Community of Practice on Women's Political Participation in Asia-Pacific.

This community has been established in response to the pressing concern of women's chronic under-representation in political institutions across the region. Gender equality in political participation and leadership is a cornerstone of international commitments and instruments on gender equality and is socially just. It is also a necessary condition for sustainable human development. However, the Asia-Pacific region lags behind. Only 18.2% of national legislature seats in Asia are held by women and in the Pacific (excluding Australia and New Zealand) 5% - the lowest percentage in the world. With this in mind, this e-discussion seeks to draw from your expertise, knowledge and experience so that we can collectively exchange experiences and strategies and transform this into action to improve political equality in the region. Your contributions will also be of significant value in informing the ongoing post-2015 ( http://www.worldwewant2015.org/governance ) thematic consultations on inequality which will also include multi-stakeholder meetings at sub-regional levels that will bring together parliamentarians, civil society organizations and other policy makers.

This first in a series of e-discussions will focus on assessing women's political participation and leadership in the region as well as on the mechanisms that have been used both successfully and unsuccessfully to date. It will be conducted in two phases and will run from5 November to 5 December focusing on specific questions in each phase.

Phase 1 (5 November - 19 November)

What trends do you see in your country/sub-region with regard to women's political participation and leadership at both national and sub-national levels?
What are the challenges and opportunities in this regard?
What are the contributing factors to both positive and negative developments?

Phase 2 (20 November - 5 December)

What mechanisms have been used in your country/sub-region either successfully or unsuccessfully? This could include, policies, laws, programmes or projects, for example.
What are examples of initiatives undertaken by different stakeholders - civil society organisations, government and state institutions, political parties, individuals - that have led to positive outcomes for political equality?
How could these be translated into National Action Plans or collective regional or sub regional action to advance political equality in Asia and the Pacific.

The discussion kicks off today and will be conducted on both this space and via e-mail. You are encouraged to participate by posting messages and sharing information through either or both platforms, including by uploading and sharing relevant links, documents, photos and videos on the Teamworks space. You should already have received an invitation to join the Teamworks space in your inbox. If you have not received an invitation or are not able to sign up for some other reason, please write to ap-gender-cop.wpl@groups.undp.org and we will resolve this as soon as possible.

Guidelines

Joining this e-Discussion is free, voluntary and open to anyone interested in contributing advice, experience and expertise for use by others, or for adapting others' advice, experience and expertise for their own use. In becoming a participant in this e-discussion you hereby agree to follow four basic

Guidelines of Participation:

Contributions from members are primarily for the purpose of sharing advice, experience and expertise relating to development challenges. Contributions should be provided in a positive and constructive manner, and not as to intentionally defame or discredit the views of another individual or group.
Messages sent to this mailgroup go first to the mailgroup moderator (Facilitation Team), who is responsible for reviewing and approving messages to be posted. In carrying out these functions, the Facilitation Team reserves the right to edit and/or withhold messages that are found not to be appropriate for posting. Before a message is withheld or heavily edited, the Facilitation Team will notify and/or consult with the sender.
In posting edited and unedited messages or incorporating these messages into synthesised responses, UNDP accepts no responsibility for their veracity or authenticity. Members intending to use or transmit the information contained in these messages should be aware that they are relying on their own judgement.
In keeping with the spirit of voluntary information exchange, all materials and information available in this e-discussion shall be governed by the terms and conditions laid out in the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike Agreement Ver. 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ ("Creative Commons License"). The Creative Commons license grants all users the right to use, distribute, modify and redistribute the information, for non-commercial purposes, and provided that adequate credit is given to the author of the work.

Additional Information

Country: Antarctica
Website: N/A
Email: N/A
Phone: N/A
Contact Person: N/A
Source: Kim and Pauline, Gender and Governance Teams, UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre
When: 21/11/2012