EPD’s partner, Demo Finland has launched a new toolkit on gender equality within political parties and women’s cross-party co-operation.
Women continue to be underrepresented in all political arenas. Democracy cannot truly deliver for all citizens if half of the population don’t have access to the tables of power. In a representative democratic system, political parties have the power to enhance the participation of marginalised groups, including women. They are crucial actors when it comes to equal political participation and a well-functioning democracy. Women’s participation in politics is also hindered by the lack of networks for women. Demo Finland has been working with these themes for past 10 years.
“Gender Equality within Political Parties and Women’s Cross-party Cooperation – How to Build the Capacities of Women Politicians and Political Parties” gathers good practices that are used all around the world to enhance gender equality in politics. This is the first time when good practices of Finnish political parties and Demo Finland’s work are gathered into one publication. It includes plenty of concrete exercises, examples and tools. Finland is among the few countries in the world where the percentage of women in the parliament is above 40 percent without any voluntary or legislative quota.
This publication is aimed at facilitators organising trainings on gender equality and women’s cross-party cooperation for political parties and politicians, but it also has plenty of good reference material and additional information for everyone interested in strengthening women’s political participation. The foreword of the toolkit is written by former Prime Minister of Finland, Mari Kiviniemi. Furthermore, eight other Finnish women politicians present their stories in the toolkit.
The toolkit is available for download online on Demo Finland’s web site.
