The United Nations Millennium Development Goals, and especially Goal
3 on gender equality and women’s empowerment, entail a commitment
by States to promote mechanisms that give women a voice in politics and
governance institutions. Reviews of the progress achieved on the Goals
show that women are slowly gaining political power, mainly thanks to
quotas and special measures. Regional variations remain, however
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women’s
general recommendation No. 25 (2004) clarifies that the term “special
measures” can encompass a wide variety of legislative, executive,
administrative and other regulatory instruments, policies and practices,
such as outreach or support programmes, allocation and/or reallocation
of resources, preferential treatment, targeted recruitment, hiring and
promotion, numerical goals connected with time frames, and quota
systems. They should be adopted with a view to achieving substantive
gender equality, which is required by the Convention.
States have adopted different forms of quota systems. The most common are
political party quotas, legislative quotas and reserved seats. Political party
quotas are usually voluntary, party-specific and put in place to increase
the number of women party candidates or elected representatives, through
setting a percentage of women. Legislative quotas are binding national
policies that are enforced through legislation, requiring all political parties
to include a certain number of women in their lists of candidates for
elections. Another method is to reserve seats for women in parliament
through a national policy, which ensures a certain number of female
legislators. Since the Beijing World Conference, States have increasingly
adopted quotas to boost women’s participation, counter discrimination
and accelerate the slow pace at which the number of women in politics
is rising. These measures are meant to correct some of the obstacles,
especially institutional and systemic barriers, that still prevent women’s
equal access to politics.
However, if adopted in isolation, these measures are usually not enough
to ensure equality. Moreover, they require adaptation to the local context.
Quotas for women have often been criticized for various reasons, e.g.,
if the women are chosen by political parties or leaders to serve political
interests which may be contrary to ensuring equality or because quotas
put too little emphasis on actual merits.29 Quotas for women need to be coupled with other measures to create an enabling environment for women
to participate. Particularly, the positive impact of increasing women’s
representation in public and political life will not be felt if the women
who gain access are not also empowered to actively participate in the
discussions and exercise influence in decision-making.
Participation in public life is, however, much broader than elections
or being elected to public office. The Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women has explained that the Convention’s article
7 extends to all areas of public and political life and is thus not limited
to those specified in the article itself. According to the Committee, the
political and public life of a country is a broad concept, and can refer to
the exercise of political power, in particular legislative, judicial, executive
and administrative powers, all aspects of public administration and the
formulation and implementation of policy at the international, national,
regional and local levels. Women’s right to participation also includes
participating in civil society, public boards, local councils and the activities
of political parties, trade unions, professional or industry associations,
women’s organizations, community-based organizations and other
organizations concerned with public and political life. The Committee’s
general recommendation No. 23 (1997) on women in political and public
life emphasizes States’ responsibility to appoint women to senior leadership
positions, at all levels (local, national, international) of government, all
government bodies, the judiciary, and to encourage political parties to do
the same. States should ensure women’s access to information and take
measures to overcome barriers such as illiteracy, language, poverty and
barriers to women’s freedom of movement.
Women’s participation specifically in peacebuilding and peacemaking
processes is particularly important if post-conflict societies are to be rebuilt
based on respect for human rights and democratic values. United Nations
Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) and its follow-up resolutions and reports on women, peace and security, recognize women’s important
contribution to peace and call for increased representation of women
at all levels of decision-making, in all mechanisms for the prevention,
management and resolution of conflicts
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