Political Participation of Women

Studies show higher numbers of women in parliament generally contribute to stronger attention to women's issues. Women's political participation is a fundamental prerequisite for gender equality and genuine democracy. It facilitates women's direct engagement in public decision-making and is a means of ensuring better accountability to women.

Political accountability to women begins with increasing the number of women in decision-making positions, but it cannot stop there. What is required are gender-sensitive governance reforms that will make all elected officials more effective at promoting gender equality in public policy and ensuring their implementation.

One of the pillars of UN Women's work is advancing women's political participation and good governance, to ensure that decision-making processes are participatory, responsive, equitable and inclusive. Efforts are focused through strategic entry points that can advance the status of women by catalysing wide-ranging, long-term impacts.

Support is provided to equip women to translate the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), now ratified by the majority of the world's governments, into legal guarantees of gender equality. Another strategy is through working with multiple stakeholders, like women's organizations, governments, the UN system and the private sector, to bring more women into government, train women leaders, and boost women's skills to actively participate in elections as candidates and voters.

UN Women in Action

Rural women leading in Timor-Leste

In Timor-Leste, UN Women is supporting women's political participation through a collection of programmes aimed at building the capacity of women to play effective roles as political actors and to improve the gender-responsiveness of governance structures.

The Programme for Enhancing Rural Women's Leadership and Participation in Nation Building in Timor-Leste (PERWL) targets Timorese rural women, with the aim of building the capacity of women leaders and groups at the national and local levels to participate in the process of nation building.