The slowly changing face of parliamentary representation was not an inevitable consequence of the broadening of the political space in democratization processes. Rather, it has resulted from sustained mobilization, institutional engineering, political party commitment and greater recognition by the international community of the need for gender equality. This international discourse has been the foundation of concerted efforts to support women’s full political participation in the past ten years. Women’s activism and mobilization at the country, regional and international level have been pivotal to keeping gender equality firmly rooted on the international agenda. These are the premises on which these chapters and case studies are based.
IDEA produced the first edition of this Handbook in 1998. This second edition was revised and updated in 2005. The original idea behind the publication was that women in public life require accessible and useful information on how to effect political change in decision-making bodies. There is an emphasis on the entire process of participation—from the very beginning to the end—as well as the means of making an impact. Azza Karam explains that ‘it is clear that the more active and engaged women are in politics, the more there is a need for a culling and systematization of their experiences in such a way as to elaborate how it is that they make it to these bodies and what they can do once in them’.
The Handbook is therefore a practical tool for overcoming the obstacles women encounter throughout the parliamentary electoral process, providing a number of options on how to bring about constructive change and influence in politics. It is underpinned by IDEA’s unique approach to democracy assistance: it seeks to bridge the divide between academia and practitioners, providing strategies for those men and women who are committed to correcting the imbalance in politics. It seeks to answer the following questions: What are the major obstacles women confront when entering parliament? What are the different ways of overcoming these obstacles and in which structural and political contexts? What are the mechanisms and strategies women can use to influence the parliamentary political process?
