A two-day session on Womens Political Empowerment was held during the Womens Leadership Training Programme in Rangoon. On day 5, participants discussed how the full and equitable participation of women in public life is essential to building and sustaining strong, vibrant democracies. They reflected on the many informal and formal experiences of political engagement in their own lives has helped pave a pathway for their ongoing political empowerment. Participants examined the different types of representation and debated whether and how womens descriptive representation in electoral bodies can evolve into substantive representation, where women politicians pursue policy goals that are in line with the interests of their constituents. It was agreed that a critical mass of women in politics could help with this. Currently at the Union level, women make up less than 6% of the total elected members of the Lower and Upper Houses. When military appointees are accounted for, womens representation falls to 4.42%. Participants were also introduced to a case study from Ghana, where a number of cultural, economic, institutional, and societal factors create barriers to women’s participation in local government. They then examined the constraining and enabling factors for their own participation in the context of Burma and developed strategies on how to mitigate/leverage them. On day 6, participants focussed on the issue of violence against women in politics, looking at the violations against women protesters in the uprisings that have taken place in Egypt since 2010. They discussed the traditional beliefs and social values that may be used to justify and perpetuate violence against women who engage politically, and developed media campaigns designed to challenge these beliefs. The afternoon wrapped up with a discussion about electoral quotas for women - where they have worked, where they havent and why (loopholes, lack of enforcement mechanisms, etc.) Participants said they were inspired by a case study from Sierra Leone, where the womens movement has been struggling for over 10 years to implement a 30% quota for women in their country. Of course, adequate time was also allocated for DANCING during the session. :)
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 06:11:16 +0000
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