On Wednesday 19 October, the Réseau des Femmes Parlementaires du Niger (Women’s Parliamentary Network of Niger) took part in a global INTER PARES exchange about how parliamentarians can work together to advance gender equality.
Created in 2021, the Women’s Parliamentary Network of Niger is comprised of 51 women parliamentarians and two honorary members. It aims to raise awareness of women’s issues in decision-making at all levels, including the state budget and laws. The Network is very active, and has delivered training for women parliamentarians on their role, public speaking, advocacy and leadership, organised visits and advocacy meetings, and made a range of donations to different causes.
Members of the Network met in Niamey to exchange knowledge, experiences, and ideas with women’s caucuses and other parliamentary gender equality bodies from the EU and around the world, including:
- Senator Fiona O’Loughlin, Chair of the Irish Women’s Parliamentary Caucus, who highlighted the importance of caucuses in getting gender issues onto the political agenda and gave the example of a range of successes achieved by the Irish Women’s Caucus on the fight against period poverty.
- Roseby Gadama MP, Chair of the Malawian Cross-Party Parliamentary Women’s Caucus, who described the caucus's main activities as community engagement and awareness raising, consultation meetings, providing learning materials to schools, scholarships, developing “He for She’ allies in parliament, and supporting village savings loans.
- Joyce Watson MS, Chair of the Senedd Women’s Caucus, who spoke about the importance of encouraging and empowering women in parliaments to engage with parliamentary committees and create partnerships with women’s rights organisations.
- Salimata Fofana Meité MP, Secretary General of the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus of Côte d'Ivoire, who highlighted the success of the adoption of the law on the representation of women in elected assemblies, and talked about other activities of the Caucus including community outreach and organising workshops on gender-sensitive parliaments.
- Michael Rubbestad MP, Member of the Working Group on Gender Equality in the Swedish Riksdag 2018-22, who talked about steps taken to achieve a gender-sensitive Parliament at the Swedish Riksdag, including the revision of working hours, the creation of childcare for MPs, and surveying MPs to understand gender-related issues facing them.
- Virginie Randaxhe and Freia Van Hee, Secretaries of the Advisory Committee for Equal Opportunities between Women and Men of the Belgian Senate, who spoke about the important work of the Committee in getting key topics on the parliamentary agenda such as the representation of women, the impact of Covid-19 on women, wage inequalities, and the fight against sexual violence.
Participants discussed:
- How caucuses and gender equality bodies are organised and how they plan their work
- Co-ordinating action and agreeing on positions across political boundaries
- The range of activities carried out by caucuses and gender equality bodies
- Prioritising time and influence around focused issues
- Strategies for influencing policy and legislation
- The resources and relationships needed for a successful caucus
- The common challenges facing such bodies and how to overcome them
A range of solutions was discussed, such as:
- the importance of strategic planning and focusing influence and resources around specific topics
- building partnerships with people and groups inside and outside parliament, including in government, among CSOs and academia
- involving men in the fight to change policies, either through mixed GE bodies composition, designing allies in Parliament, etc.
- effective implementation of gender-sensitive scrutiny
- awareness-raising and public involvement activities, particularly among men and religious leaders.
INTER PARES will continue to support the work of the Niger Women’s Parliamentary Network and has been supporting other national parliaments in adopting gender-sensitive approaches, including the Parliaments of Bhutan, Malaysia, and Chile. The INTER PARES Gender-Sensitive Scrutiny: A Guide to More Effective Law-Making and Oversight proposes a five step model for effective gender-sensitive scrutiny.