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. At a high level every yesterday, during the 66th session of the UN General Assembly in New York,
women political leaders made a strong call for increasing women’s
political participation and decision-making across the world. Stressing
that women’s participation is fundamental to democracy and essential to
the achievement of sustainable development and peace in all contexts —
during peace, through conflict and post-conflict, and during political
transitions — the leaders signed on to a joint statement with concrete recommendations on ways to advance women’s political participation.
“It is a solidarity that we see represented here today among this important group of women around me,” said Michelle Bachelet,
Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women. “We are bound by a common goal — to open the way for women to
participate in all decisions affecting not only their own lives, but the
development of our world, at the global, regional, national and local
levels. By making full use of half the world’s intelligence — the
intelligence of women — we improve our chances of finding real and
lasting solutions to the challenges that confront us.”
Signatories of the joint statement included: H.E. Dilma Rousseff,
President of Brazil; 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; Rt. Hon. Baroness
Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign
Affairs and Security Policy and 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 and Administrator, UN Development
Programme; and Michelle Bachelet, Under-Secretary-General and Executive
Director, UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.
Joint Statement Text:
We, the undersigned Heads of State and Government, Foreign Ministers,
High Representatives, and senior UN officials affirm that women’s
political participation is fundamental to democracy and essential to the
achievement of sustainable development and peace.
We reaffirm the human right of women to take part in the Governments
of their countries, directly or through freely chosen representatives,
on an equal basis with men, and that all States should take affirmative
steps to respect and promote women’s equal right to participate in all
areas and at all levels of political life.
We stress the critical importance of women’s political participation
in all contexts, including in times of peace, conflict and in all stages
of political transition.
We recognise the essential contributions women around the world
continue to make to the achievement and maintenance of international
peace and security and to the full realization of human rights; to the
promotion of sustainable development; and to the eradication of poverty,
hunger and disease. Even so, we are concerned that women in every part
of the world continue to be largely marginalized from decision-making,
often as a result of discriminatory laws, practices, and attitudes, and
due to poverty disproportionately affecting women.
We reaffirm our commitment to the equal rights and inherent human
dignity of women enshrined in the United Nations Charter, Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, and other relevant international human
rights instruments. We call upon all States to ratify and fulfill their
obligations under the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and to implement fully Security
Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women and peace and security and other
relevant UN resolutions.
We call upon all States, including those emerging from conflict or
undergoing political transitions, to eliminate all discriminatory
barriers faced by women, particularly marginalized women, and we
encourage all States to take proactive measures to address the factors
preventing women from participating in politics, such as violence,
poverty, lack of access to quality education and health care, the double
burden of paid and unpaid work, and to actively promote women’s
political participation, including through affirmative measures, as
appropriate.
We reaffirm and express full support for the important role of the
United Nations system in achieving gender equality and the empowerment
of women, and we welcome UN Women and its mandate in this regard.
September 19th, 2011