Advancing Women’s Political Participation and Decision Making

Despite women’s increased engagement in public life at all levels over the past 30 years, change is slow. The gender gap persists at all levels and spheres of decision-making. Women constitute just 26.7 percent of national legislators worldwide, 35.5 percent of locally elected officials, and 22.8 percent of cabinet ministers. Only 26 countries are headed by a woman Head of State and/or Government.  At the current rate of progress, gender parity will not be reached in national legislatures before 2063, or among Heads of Government before 2150.  

Against such a backdrop, the European Union launched in 2023 the Women and Youth in Democracy Initiative (WYDE), which seeks to strengthen the rights, empowerment, and participation in public and political life of youth and women as key actors of development and change. A multiparter initiative, WYDE includes five interlinked components: 

1) “Youth Participation in Public Affairs” (WYDE | Civic Engagement); 

2) “Youth for Freedoms of Association and Assembly” (WYDE | Freedoms); 

3) “Youth and women in Parliaments” (WYDE | Inter Pares); 

4) “Youth and Women in Political Parties,” (WYDE | Political Parties)

5) “Advancing Women’s Political Participation and Decision Making” (WYDE | Women Leadership). 

Each of these components aligns with the European Union Gender Action Plan 3, the Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy for the period 2020–2024 and the Youth Action Plan.

UN-Women, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), and United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) will jointly implement the WYDE | Women ‘s Leadership Initiative through the project titled: "Advancing Women’s Political Participation and Decision-Making through Social Norms Change, Networking and Global Advocacy.” 

Over three years, the four partners will support the EU’s shared ambition to enhance progress towards achieving SDG 5 gender equality goals, as well as to leverage collective action, partnerships, coordination, knowledge, and resources at a global level to promote the full and effective participation and decision-making of diverse women, especially those most often left furthest behind, through social norms change, networking and global advocacy.

WYDE | Women’ ’s Leadership will prioritize changing social norms and shifting cultural attitudes that portray women’s roles in communities and society as incompatible with political power; and put a specific focus on building critical skills of young women and engage men and boys, office holders and the media as allies for gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Strongly linked to the Gender Equality Forum Action Coalition 6 on Feminist Movements and Leadership, the four partners under WYDE | Women Leadership will leverage their convening power to facilitate feminist and women’s rights organizations' participation in global and regional advocacy spaces and access to decision-making fora. It will enhance synergies between women’s rights movements, member states, decision makers, the international community, the media, and other key actors, including the WYDE community across its different components, to maximize the effectiveness of spaces for coalition building, advocacy, and campaigning to promote WPP.