{"id":8924,"date":"2024-09-11T07:45:03","date_gmt":"2024-09-11T07:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/youthdemocracycohort.com\/?p=8924"},"modified":"2024-09-17T14:11:17","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T14:11:17","slug":"opening-doors-women-political-participation-in-restrictive-political-environments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/youthdemocracycohort.com\/fr\/opening-doors-women-political-participation-in-restrictive-political-environments\/","title":{"rendered":"Opening Doors: Women Political Participation in Restrictive Political Environments."},"content":{"rendered":"
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This year’s International Democracy Day<\/strong><\/a> event in Brussels (19th and 20th September) will look into the 2024 electoral year within Europe and globally. The Youth Democracy Cohort will participate in a discussion on advancing women’s political participation in the context of global democratic backsliding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the occasion of this event, senior fellow in Carnegie’s Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program, Saskia Brechenmacher <\/strong>will moderate a session on Gender Equality and Authoritarianism. She is the co-author of Aiding Empowerment: Democracy Promotion and Gender Equality in Politics, published in 2024, and member of the OECD’s Civic Space Observatory Advisory Group. She advises major governmental and private funders on strategies to advance women’s political participation and defend civic space. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, the session will bring different points of view from the speaker’s experiences as activists, practitioners, researchers, and political analysts from different geographical backgrounds. The speakers will cover a rich scope of contexts and arguments that can be compared and serve as inspiration for one another while also demonstrating the unique challenges women face in political environments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Japleen Pasricha<\/strong> is the founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief of Feminism in India (FII), a leading digital feminist media platform. She reports how “In India, the challenges faced by female journalists and activists are exacerbated during election season. Women’s rights activists focus on community mobilisation and awareness-building before elections. This entails organising neighbourhood campaigns to inform voters—especially women—about their rights and the significance of taking part.“ She gives the example of the mahila chaupal, <\/em>a sit-down candid conversation with women, which is an attempt to talk to women voters from rural, remote, and media-dark areas about their political opinions, the issues that matter to them, their views on schemes and policies aimed at them, and their expectations from the electoral process. She also comments on digital security during elections: <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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“The focus shifts to monitoring and documenting abuses, such as the harassment of women voters or journalists. For example, during the June elections in India, feminist groups documented instances of gender-based violence at polling stations, highlighting the need for safer electoral environments.” <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In her intervention, she will showcase the impactful digital campaigns and research projects on women’s issues Feminism in India (FII) is driving such as the national survey focusing on women and queer people’s experiences of the 2024 elections, and their hopes and demands conducted this year. Japleen will unfold the specific perspective from this study, that is …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“…the aim (…) to de-centre the hyper-masculine, cis-hetero upper-caste narratives around the elections in India, which are often seen as an electoral contest fought between men and for men. The survey put women and queer people’s experiences and needs at the forefront, propelling progressive social change. It addressed a lacuna in election reporting and curating data around India’s electoral contest. The Feminist Ballot Survey became a crucial repository of data for research and reporting around elections and Indian democracy.” <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

She will bring her analysis of the Indian elections and the specific focus on women and queer people to the discussion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sonia Gassemi<\/strong>, an outspoken Algerian women rights activist, puts the accent in the strategies of 1980s feminist movements in Algeria: “Despite a political climate hostile to feminist demands, activists in the 80s laid the foundations of what would later become a subversive struggle for women’s rights.” She gives examples of the feminist groups that emerged in this context: Voix de femmes de Boumerdès, l’Association pour l’Émancipation de la Femme, l’Association pour l’Égalité Juridique entre les Femmes et les Hommes, le collectif Tighri n’Tmettut à Tizi-Ouzou et l’association Défense et Promotion des Droits des Femmes. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And, she highlights some initiatives: “In 1978, the booklet “Algériennes en lutte pour les droits élémentaires des femmes algériennes” was published by a group of Algerian women. On March 8, 1985, the exhibition “Présence de femmes, femmes-objets” was organised by the Hiwar association, along with the Arfa research workshop on Algerian women. Activists such as Fadéla M’rabet also blew the whistle with the publication of her book “La femme algérienne” in 1965, followed by “Les Algériennes” in 1967.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, Sonia explains how…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“…Feminists have always used election periods as an opportunity to put pressure on candidates to commit to reforming the Family Code. The Family Code accentuated the long history of post-independence marginalisation and exclusion of those women who contributed to the country’s liberation, and continues to be contested today.” <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

During the session, she will use this case study for inspiration and lessons learned to challenges faced by women today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Salma Nims<\/strong> led the citizen-driven platform Taqaddam, a social movement aiming at building a positive discourse towards reform and change in Jordan. She was the Jordanian National Commission for Women’s Secretary-General (2014-2022) and is now a Senior Gender Affairs Specialist at the UN ESCWA Center for Women.
She makes a case for institutional strategies to promote women’s inclusion. During the discussion, Salma will develop how restrictive political contexts can affect women’s political rights: <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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“In semi-democracies and authoritarian regimes, the political participation of women and youth is often nominal and symbolic. These governments use the inclusion of women and youth in candidacy lists to create the appearance of inclusivity and progress while maintaining authoritarian control. Once in power, these representatives are frequently sidelined and fail to advocate for the communities they were meant to represent. This lack of genuine engagement with youth and women dilutes the potential for meaningful change in political agendas.” <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

She will explain how <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Feminist movements and socialist or social democratic political movements often fail to collaborate effectively ». Their respective agendas, particularly around social justice, run parallel but do not converge in a way that could create a unified front for political reform. This fragmentation weakens their ability to influence policy or achieve significant representation in parliaments or governments. Without a cohesive narrative that brings together women’s rights activists, youth, and political reformists, the potential for effective and sustained political participation remains limited.” <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Salma’s institutional background will provide a diversity of perspectives and understanding of the topic of efficient and effective participation of women. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To attend the session on women and activism, register for the event here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This year’s International Democracy Day event in Brussels (19th and 20th September) will look into the 2024 electoral year within Europe and globally. The Youth Democracy Cohort will participate in a discussion on advancing women’s political participation in the context of global democratic backsliding. On the occasion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8928,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[147,35,146],"class_list":["post-8924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-idd-brussels","tag-international-democracy-day","tag-women-political-participation"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t