Advancing equality within: Gender equality assessments as a path to stronger political parties

About the event

Political parties play a major role in building public trust, attracting voters and staying competitive. This event introduces gender equality assessments (gender audits) as practical tools that help parties understand how they function internally and where they can improve. These audits are based on real evidence, highlight strengths, and identify opportunities to make parties more transparent, effective and appealing to voters.

Gender audits are already used across Europe to boost credibility, strengthen internal organisation and help parties retain talent. This event also supports Bosnia and Herzegovina in addressing priorities raised by international partners, while bringing party leadership, institutions and experts together to agree on realistic steps toward stronger and more resilient party structures.

What the event will cover

The event brings together party leaders, election administrators, gender-equality bodies and international partners to discuss why gender audits make political parties more competitive and trusted — and how to conduct them in practice.

Drawing on experience from across Europe, including EU member states and Nordic countries, the discussion will explore:

• what an audit examines (leadership, membership pathways, candidate selection, internal democracy, conduct and party culture)
• how audit findings can be turned into clear action plans with responsibilities and timelines
• how regular gender analysis of internal processes and public messaging can broaden voter appeal

Participants will leave with a shared understanding of the methodology and the immediate next steps to pilot gender audits within their organisations.

UN Women will support interested political parties in using ODIHR’s gender audit methodology Transforming political parties from within — Gender audits and action plans.

Contact

For questions, please contact:
Saša Gavrić, ODIHR Officer for Gender Equality in Politics
📧 sasa.gavric@odihr.pl