Inter-Regional Roundtable on the Intersections of Gender and Political Finance

The overall objective of the Inter-Regional Roundtable is to explore the interlinked dimensions of gender and political financing that influence the equal participation and representation of people in elective positions of power and decision making at all levels.

While both political finance and gender equality have been a subject of discussion for a long time, they have seldom been considered in the same context. The impact of political finance on equitable gender participation and representation in politics has been discussed broadly as one of contributing factors to the unequal participation of men and women in political and electoral processes, but the issue of access to political finance has seldom been singled out for deep analysis. International IDEA has been conducting trends analysis and research on the use of political finance measures to promote gender equality and women’s political participation and representation.

The Inter-Regional Roundtable is one of the initiatives undertaken by International IDEA as part of its mandate to contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 5 which is tracked through one of the targets to “ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision making in political, economic and public life”.