The global proportion of MPs under 30 has increased in two years from 1.9 per cent to 2.2 per cent according to the IPU’s biannual report on Youth Participation in National Parliaments published today. Despite this increase, when compared with the half of the world’s population that is under 30, the report reveals a sizeable deficit in the political representation of youth worldwide.
A new IPU report shows that information and communication technology (ICT) is helping parliaments become better connected and more transparent, and that MPs are engaging more with people through social media and instant messaging. The report is being launched at the IPU’s World e-Parliament Conference taking place from 3-5 December in Geneva, Switzerland. At the conference, the IPU will also launch the Centre for Innovation in Parliament, a new resource to support the use of digital tools in parliaments.
On International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, IPU President, Gabriela Cuevas and PACE President, Liliane Maury Pasquier, called on parliaments to build on the momentum of the #MeToo movement to denounce the violence happening in the corridors of legislative power. They said with more women MPs exposing the extent of the problem, the entire parliamentary community needs to step up and end gender-based violence now in our workplace and beyond.
A new study by the IPU and PACE shows that acts of sexism, abuse and violence against women are widespread in parliaments across Europe. The findings reveal that 85 per cent of women MPs have suffered from psychological violence in parliament; women MPs under 40 are more likely to be harassed; female parliamentary staff endure more sexual violence than female MPs; and that the majority of parliaments don’t have mechanisms to enable women to speak out.
The United Nations General Assembly has adopted its latest resolution on the interaction between the United Nations, parliaments and the IPU. The resolution, co-sponsored by over 90 UN Member States, reaffirms the commitment of all parties to continue efforts to bridge the democracy gap between the international agenda and its implementation at the national level. The resolution recognizes particularly the work of the IPU in mobilizing parliamentary action to implement the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
The 12th Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament, organized jointly by the IPU and the Chamber of Deputies of Bolivia, will bring together the most senior women parliamentary leaders to address gender issues in parliaments, and explore avenues for more inclusive political institutions where every voice counts. The Summit will be held on 25-26 April in Cochabamba, Bolivia, one of the few countries to have achieved gender parity in Parliament and enacted specific legislation to combat violence against women in politics.
Female parliamentarians worldwide call for immediate reforms to stop sexism, harassment and violence against women in parliaments. This includes urging all parliaments to set concrete targets and deadlines to achieve equal representation of women and men. Taking part in the 12th Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament on 25-26 April, women MPs urged the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to lead global reform actions to end all forms of harassment in parliament.
Empowering rural women and girls was the priority theme for the 62nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which took place in New York from 12 to 23 March 2018. The IPU, in cooperation with UN Women, held a parliamentary meeting at the CSW on 13 March 2018, entitled “Parliaments deliver for rural women and girls”. MPs discussed ways to remove systemic barriers that rural women and girls face in realizing their rights and overcome the discrimination against them in law and practice.
Marking International Womens’ Day 2018, the President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Senator Gabriela Cuevas Barron said the IPU proudly joins the worldwide efforts to achieve gender equality. As IPU President, she called upon male and female parliamentarians and men and women of all ages to join the fight for a better society marked by justice, equality and parity. In its work the IPU focuses on promoting gender equality and increasing the number of women parliamentarians worldwide.
The year 2017 saw some positive developments in women’s participation in elections, according to the Women in Parliament in 2017: The year in review, released by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) ahead of International Women’s Day. However, in global terms, the number of women in national parliaments has only increased by 0.1 percentage point from 2016, from 23.3% to 23.4%. A record number of women contested elections held in 2017, and more seats were won by women than in previous years: 27.1% compared with 22.3% in 2016.
