Balancing Political Participation: Moving Towards Gender Equality
This workshop was held at the Hulhule Island Hotel, .jpg "Balancing Political Participation: Moving Towards Gender Equality(3)_Maldives_April 2007")
Hulhule, Maldives, from 16 to 18 April 2007. Participants at the workshop were female Parliamentarians, women representatives of Political Parties, Civil Society, Male Ward Women Development Committees and the Ministry of Gender and Family.
The workshop was organised by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the Commonwealth Secretariat, and the Ministry for Gender and Family. The keynote speech was delivered by the Speaker of Parliament, Maldives, Honourable Ahmed Zahir.
The core objectives of the workshop were:
- To create a forum for discussing and identifying challenges and problems that hinder women’s participation in politics;
- Highlight and document any policy gaps, legal and other regulatory and agreed frameworks that will enhance women’s participation, in particular, specific measures such as affirmative action and quotas;
- Identify strategies geared towards improving women’s participation and representation including, campaign and election strategies;
- Bridging the gap between the national and local levels and highlighting ways to encourage young women into politics; and
- Identify the role of the media, political parties and parliament in relation to increasing women’s participation and representation.
At the end of the three days of plenary and working group discussions, participants outlined persistent challenges, which hinder women’s participation in leadership positions. They also outlined the actions, strategies and recommendations for future action and initiatives required in the Maldives.