About the Project

The history of women’s participation in politics has shown that women worldwide are woefully underrepresented although they encompass more than half of the population. Majority of the South Asian countries have constitutional and legal provisions to ensure the participation of women in politics, but despite some increment in numbers, their level of participation in politics and state affairs is dismally low. Representation of women at the national level in South Asia ranges between highest Nepal 33.2% to 5.8% in Sri Lanka, which clearly indicate that political decision making has always been the domain of men. Women, in whatever height they have contributed to the democratic development of nations, are often ignored and their contributions are undermined.

The gender insensitive political culture of the region has made it difficult for women politicians to firmly establish themselves in decision making positions. Women who want to enter politics find that the political, public, cultural and social environment is often unfriendly or even hostile to them. A quick glance at the current composition of political decision makers in any region provides evidences that women still face numerous obstacles in articulation and shaping their own interests. Women still constitute only 18.4 % of the members of parliaments around the world and South Asia is far behind with an average of 16.6%.

The problems that women face can be categorized into three areas:

1. Political Obstacles

1. Masculine culture of politics
2. Lack of party support
3. Cooperation with women organization and networks
4. Electoral systems

1. Socio-economic Obstacles

1. Feminization of poverty and unemployment
2. Dual burden of domestic work and career
3. Education and training

1. Psychological and Ideological

1. Traditional roles
2. Lack of confidence
3. Perception of politics as dirty
4. Role of mass media

Obstacles vary according to the political situation in each country. Yet, regardless the political context, women need to be able to compete on a level playing field with men. However, in the past decade, there has been marked improvement; the net increase is a mere 1.8 percent according to a study by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). Experiences has shown that the greater representation of women at the highest levels of governance has made a difference in raising awareness, changing agendas and providing a national gender sensitive legal framework. In emerging democracies it is now generally accepted that special provision should be made to ensure the participation of women, while many long established democracies still lag behind.

One of the core components of democratic governance is promotion and effective implementation of the rule of law based on universally recognized principles of human rights and gender justice. Yet legislations of all South Asian Nations are gender biased. Hence it is important to promote the formulation and enactment of gender-sensitive laws, policies, and programs specially targeted to increase women’s empowerment for meaningful participation.

As the debate of women’s participation and representation in politics was gaining momentum, in 2009 South Asia Partnership International along with other SAP system i.e SAP Bangladesh, SAP Nepal and SAP Pakistan with the financial support from United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) initiated the project “Engendering Democratic Governance in South Asia” with an aim to enhance the meaningful participation of women in democratic governance by addressing the issues of gender based exclusion, violence and discriminatory practices in politics by working simultaneously in three South Asian countries namely Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. This is one of the most recent initiative which aims to create an enabling environment for women’s participation in political decision-making processes by developing an informed civil society in South Asia.

Inequality in politics starts with gender insensitive policies and discriminatory practices and attitudes. It cannot be addressed unless supportive policies and mechanisms are put in place and provided with an enabling environment to work effectively. So reviewing and reforming laws/policies, redefining political agendas and reflecting upon our thoughts and action can only bring about change in the scenario. Therefore this project aims on enhancing the meaningful and equal participation of women in democratic governance in South Asia by addressing the issues of gender based exclusion, violence and discriminatory practices in politics.

This project intends to address of issues of marginalization of women in politics by mobilizing women politicians, media personnel, academicians, gender activists, security personnel and lawyers from local to national levels, by sharing knowledge and information n gender sensitive democratic cultures and practices, by sensitizing media to break the gender stereotypes in the mindsets of the people and by collaborating an networking with national and regional organisations/individuals for collective agendas and actions.

The project’s objectives are :

a) To establish national democracy watch groups for fostering dialogues and discussions on gender sensitive democratic culture and practices

b) To develop an informed civil society towards promoting gender sensitive democratic practices to enhance participation of women in democratic governance.

The project intends to address the issue of marginalization of women in politics through following strategies:

a) By sharing knowledge and information on gender sensitive democratic cultures and practices

b) By sensitizing media to break the gender stereotypes in the mindset of the people, and

c) By collaborating and networking with national and regional organizations/individuals for collective agendas and actions.