Women’s Power Breakfast: Women and Men Working Together for Gender Equality in Politics
Meeting
- Date:
- Location:
- Meeting Room 1, Belweder, Sofitel Hotel, Warsaw
- Organized by:
- OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)
- Source:
- OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
- Fields of work:
- Democratization, Gender equality
About the event
Women hold 32 per cent of parliamentary seats across the OSCE region, but progress towards gender parity remains uneven. Men continue to occupy most leadership positions in parliaments, political parties and governments, while stereotypes, discriminatory norms and political cultures continue to limit women's opportunities to participate in political life on an equal footing.
Held during the 2026 Warsaw Human Dimension Conference, this ODIHR side event will bring together political leaders, parliamentarians, representatives of international organizations and civil society to discuss how women and men can work together to advance gender equality in politics.
The discussion will explore practical ways to accelerate progress towards gender parity, engage more men as active allies and advocates for change, and strengthen shared responsibility for making political institutions and leadership more inclusive.
The event builds on ODIHR's work on inclusive and gender-responsive governance, including its Sarajevo Tool for Engaging Male Politicians in Achieving Gender Equality in Politics.
Speakers
Welcoming remarks
- Maria Telalian, Director, ODIHR
- Flavio Milan, Deputy Head, Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the OSCE
Panel discussion
- Sona Ghazaryan, Member of Parliament, Armenia
- Michał Baranowski, Undersecretary of State, Ministry of Development and Technology, Poland
- Henrik Sølje Weiglin, Deputy Chairperson, Conservative People's Party, Denmark
- Ajla van Heel, Governance and Gender Advisor, ODIHR
Moderator: Yulia Netesova, Chief of Democratic Governance and Gender, ODIHR
RSVP to join us
The side event is open to registered participants of the 2026 Warsaw Human Dimension Conference, but requires an RSVP which you can submit here.
The working language is English.
Breakfast and coffee will be served from 8:30.
For questions about this side event, please contact Ajla van Heel, Governance and Gender Advisor, ODIHR, at Ajla.VanHeelMerdanovic@odihr.pl.
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