The role of male politicians in achieving gender equality in politics

About the event 

Over the past three decades, the OSCE region has made important strides in women’s participation in politics and decision-making. Yet progress remains uneven and far from gender parity. Women’s representation in national parliaments across North America, Europe and Central Asia reached 31.9% at the end of 2025, while gaps are often greater in governments, local councils and mayoral leadership. 

Men continue to be significantly over-represented in the most influential positions – party leaders, parliamentary speakers, heads of government and state, and mayors. Too often, political office is treated as a “men’s issue”, while gender equality in politics is left primarily to women politicians, frequently without meaningful engagement from male decision-makers. While engaging men has a strong track record in other areas, including preventing violence against women, there have been comparatively few targeted initiatives focused on engaging male politicians to advance gender equality within politics, political parties and elected office. 

Objectives

• Raise awareness of existing practices, initiatives and programmes for engaging male politicians for gender equality in politics;
• Advocate for a stronger focus on engaging male politicians in future policies and programmes as a precondition for transformative change;
• Present action-oriented guidance from ODIHR’s Sarajevo Tool for Engaging Male Politicians in Achieving Gender Equality in Politics. 

How to participate?

Please register your participation at the following link. 

Contact

In case of questions, please contact Saša Gavrić, ODIHR’s officer in charge of gender equality in politics: Sasa.Gavric@odihr.pl