UN Women facilitates the training of political parties for the adoption of gender-sensitive internal documents
Date:
On June 28th 2019 Elections Cameroon with UN Women support organized at Yaounde Azur hôtel, a workshop under the theme “2019 legislative and municipal elections: building the capacities of political parties for adopting gender-sensitive internal”. The workshop sought to mainstream gender within the political framework, to promote an equal and equitable participation of men and women for a harmonious and efficient management of the political business of the Country and to propose specific measures related to gender mainstreaming in the electoral process.
During the official opening of the workshop, Hind JALAL, Deputy Representative of UN Women Cameroon, pointed out in her speech the situation of women in Cameroon regarding their participation in the political sphere, which remains a matter of concern. “Several initiatives are implemented successfully to promote women’s leadership and political participation but the gap is still to be closed with only 31% of Women National Assembly, 26% in the senate and 6,9 % at the local level”.
The Director General of Elections highlighted that the statistics distance Cameroon from gender equality and women's empowerment, advocated by the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals. To this end, he called on political parties to invest more women in the upcoming elections, with a view to improving their representation in parliament and in municipal and regional executives.
During the discussion, political parties were drilled on specific measures for implementing provisions of the Electoral Code related to gender equality and adopting internal gender-sensitive documents. Valerie Mengue Ango, Program Manager of the “Leadership and political participation” program at UN Women during her presentation noted that women's political participation and access to decision-making is a democratic requirement, a matter of social justice and a condition for peace and sustainable development.
At the end of the workshop, participants appreciated and valued the action of UN Women and ELECAM, and requested additional capacity building opportunities. They also committed to respect adopted recommendations that can impact the share of women in political the sphere in Cameroon
For last few years, UN Women and ELECAM have been working in close partnership to increase women's political participation in the electoral process in Cameroon.