Political Party Guidelines Eng

5. A Gender Action Plan for a political party
5.1 Principals of the Gender Action Plan
To go ahead with planning equality policies, it helps a great deal if there is a special women’s association
– so called Women’s Wing (WW) – in your party. All around the world WWs of political parties
have been doing invaluable work for the fulfilment of gender equality within their own parties, also
cooperating with other WWs and stakeholders. The work of the WW has to be integrated in the work
of the mother party. So, if there is no WW in your party, maybe it is time to establish one.
Again, the work of writing the GAP is best done if an internal work group, with a clear mandate from
the leadership of the party and with representatives from the WW (if it exists), is established. After
the work has been completed, the GAP must be approved of at the level where other party policies are
endorsed.
International IDEA identifies the following principals as key requirements for a good gender policy
(much of the following has been adopted from International IDEA’s Framework for Developing Gender
Policies for Political Parties 39 ):
• Promote substantive equality rather than mere formal equality (see Chapter 3.8).
• Use special measures to promote gender equality, such a quotas and parity in the decision
making organs of your party.
• Seek to 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 your party.
After defining the principals, the objectives (goals) have to be set.
5.2 Objectives of the Gender Action Plan
On a general level the goals of your party’s Gender Action Plan should be:
• Promote equal rights and opportunities for women and men to participate in Myanmar’s /
your region’s political decision-making.
• Facilitate women’s leadership in your party’s decision-making and governance structures.
• Enhance the decision-making powers and resources of the WW within your party.
• Aim to attain a critical mass of women leaders within your party and achieve gender parity
in candidate lists.
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GUIDELINES FOR POLITICAL PARTIES IN MYANMAR