The Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) network will host the first in a series of virtual roundtable discussions for both female and male Parliamentarians and parliamentary staff beginning today that will explore the relevant steps Parliaments can take to ensure that they strive to become gender sensitive institutions.
The first roundtable for the Pacific Region will provide attendees representing almost half of the CPA Branches in the region with an intimate platform to share their experiences and adoption of gender sensitive actions in their respective Parliaments.
Sarah Childs, Professor of Gender and Politics at Royal Holloway University of London, who produced the ‘Gender Sensitising Parliaments Guidelines’ on behalf of the CWP states that “the first of a series of CWP Regional Roundtables begins this week. This provides the opportunity for elected Members and parliamentary officials to hear from the author of the 2020 Guidelines, in discussing regional-specific concerns, and exploring how the CWP and CPA can support individual Parliaments in very practical ways to realise greater gender sensitivity in the years ahead, including of course, taking into account the additional significance of gender sensitive Parliaments in these COVID-19 times.”
The CWP roundtable forms part of a series of virtual Regional discussions that will be delivered for all nine Regions of the CPA. The roundtables will seek to facilitate a united Commonwealth approach to increasing the number of gender sensitive Parliaments across the Commonwealth. The programme builds upon the recent CWP Gender Sensitising Parliaments Guidelines: Standards and a Checklist for Parliamentary Change that was successfully launched in October 2020. These guidelines provide an outline of gender sensitising standards which Commonwealth Parliaments can use as a benchmark to achieve.
For more information about how your Region can participate in a CWP Roundtable: Gender Sensitive Parliaments in the 21st century virtual roundtable discussion and for future dates, please contact CWP Network Coordinator, Ms Bénite Dibateza at benite.dibateza@cpahq.org.
Click here to download a copy of the CWP Gender Sensitising Parliaments Guidelines: Standards and a Checklist for Parliamentary Change or please visit www.cpahq.org/cpahq/cwpresources.
The Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) is the network of women Members of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s Parliaments and Legislatures and the network celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2019. The CWP network provides a means of building the capacity of women elected to Parliament to be more effective in their roles, improving the awareness and ability of all Parliamentarians, male and female, and encouraging them to include a gender perspective in all aspects of their role – legislation, oversight and representation – and helping Parliaments to become gender-sensitive institutions. The Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) was founded in 1989 to increase the number of female elected representatives in Parliaments and legislatures across the Commonwealth and to ensure that women’s issues are brought to the fore in parliamentary debate and legislation. www.cpahq.org/cpahq/cwp
