Political parties are the key gatekeepers to women’s political participation. In fragile contexts political parties are typically highly personalised around male leaders and do business through informal networks that women cannot access. This is in part because of the deep connection between formal politics and informal, undemocratic institutions, as well as the central role of violence and militarism in political life. For example, in military dictatorships, the main supply for political candidates comes from male dominated institutions of the armed forces.

Even though women are courted as voters and are often active supporters of political party mobilisation and campaigning, their participation does not generally translate into inclusion in party policy development and decision-making. It seems unlikely that any party will prioritise gender equality issues once it gets elected to office unless the structures and practices of the party itself are such that women can advance to positions of power. Well-functioning and democratic party policies for gender equality are prerequisites for good national equality policies. 

According to a study of political parties in Latin American countries carried out by the International IDEA and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the bottleneck blocking the election of more women to public office seems to lie within political parties themselves, where models of participation are predominantly male and disinclined to promote women’s leadership. 

 According to a study by Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) (2022), progress towards gender equity in political leadership can be observed in the in Southeast Asia, but it has not been continuous and there is great variation between the countries. The WFD report notes that the greatest institutional barriers to power for female politicians are political parties and state security agencies. Interestingly, autocracies perform better in getting more women into leadership positions than more democratic states in ASEAN.  This is likely to be linked to the phenomenon of genderwashing and preference for quotas that autocracies tend to have.

In Sri Lanka, a gender audit of the main political parties conducted in 2021 shows that despite the increase of women participation due to the implementation of a gender quota, little effort has been taken by political parties to ensure that women have access to positions of leadership within political party hierarchies. Moreover, the presence of women’s wings in parties did not necessarily translate into their empowerment. Women were often denied significant budgetary allocations compared to their male counterparts, given less prominence in media, and were not given comparable opportunities for education and training with non-party institutions.

Hard data on women women’s position within political parties in Myanmar does not exist, but through observation and discussion with parliamentarians and civil society groups it can be concluded that also in Myanmar political parties have been slow to respond to enhancing women’s political participation. They need to better address entrenched barriers that women standing for elections encounter. Women’s membership and position in political parties tend to be influenced by gender stereotypes in which men tend to be public figures, leaders, and decision makers while women tend to have more supportive roles. According to research report by Khine Lynn Thu on women in decision-making in Myanmar, ca. 65% of the parties researched do not have a programme or action plan for women in place. Only a few parties give gender awareness trainings to members and some women’s wings are not active but rather in place just as a structure.

As a result of all these factors, women are rarely given leadership roles in such parties and are frequently side lined/confined to a women’s wing that has no influence over the policy agenda of the party. Therefore, once women have been elected to office, it is important to equip them well, to support coalition building among them and to promote their inclusion in the executive bodies of their party. 

6.1 Tools for working on gender equality within the political parties  

• Creating women’s chapters/women’s wings
• Quotas for women within the party
• Funding 

Public or party funding to support for example female candidates is important to promote women’s advancement as politicians. For example, registration fees for running can be very high and they form an obstacle for aspiring women politicians.

For example, in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi, political parties are entitled to both private and public financing but even if the parties do access the funding, they have not used it for supporting their women candidates. The women candidates had to rely on donations from family, friends and fellow party members. Due to stereotypes related to gender and potential to win elections, potential donors can be reluctant to fund women candidates. In some cases, development partners and CSOs have been funding female candidates, but this is not a sustainable solution. Also, the support often is available during election campaigns and not throughout the whole electoral cycle. Even if there are political funding regulations for parties, they might not have been introduced with gender equality in mind.

Majority-based and candidate-focused electoral systems such as the first past the post -system (link to chapter gender and elections) might require more funding from the candidates, putting women in disadvantaged position. In proportional representation system, parties carry more responsibility in campaigning.

What kind of solutions there are then for campaign financing? There are institutional solutions like the one in Malawi and Zambia, where the nomination fees for aspiring female candidates have been lowered; in Malawi even the fees for aspiring youth and aspiring candidates living with disability are lower. In Canada, the Election Law stipulates that childcare expenses during campaigning period / candidate position in elections are reimbursable expenses because they would not normally occur if there was no election.

There are cases where women candidates have used social media to gather funding. There are also unfortunate cases where women have been asked sexual favours in return for funding for political campaigning. Vote buying can also be a problem in some countries.

• Peer support and mentoring 

Mentoring women to enter politics is a practice that is spreading around the world. Programmes where older women, who have been in politics for longer, share their experiences with newly elected women or younger women who are still aspiring to get elected, are especially beneficial. What is lacking is peer support for women who have come to politics, often with idealistic views, but have got frustrated and tired with the “dirty game” nature of politics and want to quit. 

• Involving men

It is vital to understand that without the involvement of active men in political parties’ gender equality will never be reached. Men need to be sensitised so that they can start to understand the nature of the discrimination women face and its effects on the whole of society. It is also important to point out that poverty and employment issues are gender equality issues too. And, as women are not a heterogeneous homogenous group, women, too, would benefit from trying to see the world from the perspective of others: ethnic origin, age, sexual orientation, class, education, and religion are among the things that may separate, rather than unite us. The gender audit process (see below) can be used as a tool for sensitizing the party as a whole about the issues women face in politics.

• Training and debate

It’s vital to offering training to women politicians to help them campaign and debate effectively. It might be advisable to also create a forum where women can exert pressure and debate policies, with or without men.

• Catering for women’s potential special needs.

Meetings can be scheduled at times when women can attend, or the party can offer childcare services.

3. Structural analysis of gender equality within the party: gender audits

A good starting point for improving the position of women within a party is analysing the party’s overall ideology from the viewpoint of gender equality. This analysis can also be done in the form of a gender audit.

To carry out a gender audit, a work group should be established how the party performs in gender equality. The mandate for this group must come from the leadership of the party. It is also important that men and women are members of the group and that they come from various levels of your party. The audit can also be conducted by an external auditor.

After the work group has been established, the team should go through the following themes (and, even though we talk here of women, envision also groups belonging to different minorities):

Gender audit is conducted to assess by reviewing for example:

• Different documents
  • • Party manifesto, statutes and bylaws
    • Policies that the party promotes

• Existing practices
  • • Gender balance in decision-making / policy drafting
    • Candidate selection processes
    • Gender balance in current positions of power
    • Party history

• Plans
  • Existence of a Gender Equality Plan, plans to increase female participation, or to support female members and leadership?

Some typical questions for gender audits are for example the following.

• Does the party pave way the participation or people belonging to minorities any way?
• Does the party manifesto mention the needs of women and girls?
• Does my party have gender quotas? Are they voluntary or are they written in the party bylaws?
• Have we ever had a female chairperson or secretary general?
• How many women and how many men from my party have served as MPs over the last ten years?
• Are there formally established women’s groups in my party?
• How are campaign funds divided between female and male candidates?

Gender action plan (GAP) can be made based on the gender audit. It’s a concrete plan with clear objectives, actions, and indicators to move towards more gender equality. GAP is best done with an internal work group, with a clear mandate from the leadership of the party and with representatives from the women’s wing of the party. After the work has been completed, the GAP must be approved of at the level where other party policies are endorsed.

Some of key principles of GAP are

• Promotion of substantive equality rather than mere formal equality.
• Using special measures to promote gender equality, such a quotas and parity in the decision making organs.
• Address the situation of especially marginalized/affected groups among women.
• Reconciliation of family and professional life – everyone must be able to take part at reasonable hours.
• Collection of sex-disaggregated statistics and gender-based expertise within the party.

After defining the principals, the objectives of the GAP must be set. The objectives of a gender action plan typically include:

• • Promoting equal rights and opportunities for women and men to participate in political decision-making.
  • Facilitating women’s leadership in party’s decision-making and governance structures.
  • Enhancing the decision-making powers and resources of the women’s wing within your party.
  • Aiming to attain critical mass of women leaders and achieve gender parity.
  • Increasing women’s participation and influence in the party’s programme development.
  • Developing mechanisms to follow up the implementation of gender policy including sanctions when parties do not follow the steps they have officially committed to or incentives to encourage them to increase women’s participation.

Sources:

Asian Development Bank / United Nations (2016): Gender Equality and Women’s Rights in Myanmar. A Situation Analysis.

Demo Finland internal materials.

Demo Finland and NIMD (2019): Guidelines for Political Parties in Myanmar – Gender Equality: A Shortcut to Development and Prosperity.

HIVOS: Challenges faced by women candidates in accessing campaign financing. Zimbabwe, Malawi & Zambia. 2020

Westminster Foundation for Democracy (2022): Women’s political leadership in the ASEAN region. A research report.

Women’s Learning Partnership For Rights, Development, and Peace (WLP) (2010): A Political Participation Handbook for Women.