[2]

This report highlights the importance of political participation by all citizens, male and female, in order to ensure a democratic system is inclusive and representative. It offers insight on gender commissions and caucuses while also serving as a tool to help legislators implement well-rounded practices for organization and joint initiatives in order to promote gender equality.

The report is based on the results of the regional conference of congresswomen, “Women Working Together: Promoting Gender Mainstreaming in the Legislature,” as well as, NDI and IDEA prior work with congresswomen from different countries. The first chapter presents arguments for the collaboration of women across parties in the legislature and gives options to achieve this, highlighting experiences from Latin America and a few countries from other regions of the world. The second chapter describes experiences and best practices related to gender commissions and caucuses, based on actual cases.

The goal is to provide information and ideas about initiatives in which legislators are able to promote gender equality in their respective parliaments. In order to achieve this goal, the guide provides detailed information on establishing cross-party venues for dialogue and consensus building. It aims to promote discussion on the best possible practices for the establishment and work of gender commissions and caucuses.