Side-Event on Women's Political Participation: Making Gender Equality in Politics a Reality

WORLD's TOP WOMEN LEADERS TO DRAW ATTENTION TO CENTRAL ROLE OF WOMEN's POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN DEMOCRACY

At a high-level event next week during the 66^th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, women political leaders will strongly call for increasing women's political participation and decision-making across the world. Stressing that women's participation is essential in all contexts-- during peace, through conflict and post-conflict, and during political transitions-the leaders will sign on to a joint statement , as a call to action, with concrete recommendations on ways to advance women's political participation.

WHAT: Women's Political Participation- Making Gender Equality in Politics a Reality

WHEN: Monday, 19^th September, 3.00-5.00 p.m.

WHERE: UN HEADQUARTERS, NORTH LAWN BUILDING, Conference Room 3

WHO: 

• H.E. Dilma Rousseff, President of Brazil
• The Honourable Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
• H.E. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State of the United States of America
• Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy & Vice-President of the European Commission
• H.E. Roza Otunbayeva, President of the Kyrgyz Republic
• Lilia Labidi, Minister of Women's Affairs, Republic of Tunisia
• Helen Clark, Under-Secretary-General & Administrator, UN Development Programme
• Michelle Bachelet, Under-Secretary-General & Executive Director, UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

 Background:

• Women make up less than 10 percent of world leaders.
• Globally less than one in five members of parliament is a woman.
• The 30 percent critical mass mark for women's representation in parliament has been reached or exceeded in only 28 countries, of which at least 23 have used quotas.
• Local governments in all world regions are far from achieving gender balance.
• Women continue to be on the frontlines of wars- facing mass rapes to mass displacements. Yet women's roles and rights continue to be overlooked at peace talks.
• Since 1992, less than 10 percent of peace negotiators have been women and less than 6 percent of reconstruction budgets specifically provide for the needs of women and girls.

Photo Opportunity: The event will open with the women leaders signing the joint statement.

To attend: Please RSVP by noon of 16 September 2011 at www.unwomen.org/rsvp/event/13; [Please note: Space is limited. Confirmed journalists will be alerted, and will need to be escorted by staff of the UN's Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit from the Media Centre (Conference Room 1) to the venue]

Webcast: The event will webcast live at www.un.org/webcast.

Twitter: Live tweeting with hashtag #WomenLeaders.

Media Contacts:

jelena[dot]vujic[at]eeas[dot]europa[dot]eu(Jelena Vujic), Delegation of the EU to the UN, Ph: +1 212.401.0123

gsenechal[at]delbrasonu[dot]org(Gustavo Sénéchal), Mission of Brazil, Ph: +1 212. 372.2614

mboissiere[at]trinbago[dot]org(Melissa Boissiere), Mission of Trinidad and Tobago, +1 212.697.7620

stanislav[dot]saling[at]undp[dot]org(Stanislav Saling), UNDP, Ph: + 1 212.906.5296

oisika[dot]chakrabarti[at]unwomen[dot]org(Oisika Chakrabarti), UN Women, Ph: +1 646.781.4522,

Information on media accreditation and access to the UN General Assembly:  http://www.un.org/en/media/accreditation/events.shtml

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• Statement by HR Ashton on the International Women's Day, 8 March 2012 (8/3/2012)
• EU Development Commissioner Piebalgs at the 66th UN General Assembly (19/9/2011)
• World Leaders Draw Attention to Central Role of Women's Political Participation in Democracy (19/9/2011)
• Remarks by EU HR Ashton at the UN Women event on Women and Political Participation (19/9/2011)
• 66th UN General Assembly: EU high level presence in New York  (16/9/2011)
• EU funded projects to promote gender equality - the EU has results (8/3/2011)