PARLIAMENT AND DEMOCRACY - Inter-Parliamentary Union

88 I PARLIAMENT AND DEMOCRACY IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
Some parliaments have established ongoing institutional arrangements
between women’s NGOs and relevant parliamentary committees, such as the
human rights, equality or women’s committees. In Mexico a Parliament of
Women in Mexico has been meeting annually since 1998, composed of
federal and local legislators together with women from civil society across the
country. Its purpose is to guide the legislative agenda on gender equity at
all levels of government and in all aspects of social and economic life. Even
in the short time it has been in operation, it has substantial achievements
to its credit:
This experience of shared responsibility between the Legislative Power
and the Civil Society has brought about fundamental achievements for
gender equity in Mexico, such as legislation to combat violence against
women; the creation of Equity Commissions in the House of
Representatives as well as in the Senate and in most of the local
congresses; there are reforms on the issue of political participation of
women in representative posts and the creation of the National
Women’s Institute…… In these ways the Parliament of Women has
represented the most relevant meeting point between the Mexican
Congress and civil society for permanent exchange, analysis and
suggestion of proposals to incorporate the perspective of gender in the
legislation of our country.
In the early years the work of the Parliament of Women was carried out
through workshops over a period of two days, with a concluding plenary. In
2005 the workshops were spread out throughout the five states in the country
over a period of a fortnight, with a concluding session over two days at the
House of Representatives. Its work is coordinated by a special Bicameral
Commission of legislators drawn from both chambers of the federal parliament.
Gender budgeting
A particularly notable feature of the cooperation between women’s NGOs
and parliamentarians in a number of countries has been the practice of
‘gender budgeting’. This involves a systematic analysis of budget proposals
and outcomes, so as to identify their differential impact on men and women
respectively. Such analyses may reveal that women are disadvantaged not
only by low budget allocations to specifically women’s concerns, but that, say,
generalised cuts in agricultural spending may fall particularly heavily on poor
women farmers and their household income.
In South Africa a Women’s Budget Initiative was established in 1995,
involving an alliance between two NGOs and sympathetic parliamentarians.