Seminar for parliamentary committees on gender equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina

As part of support ODIHR provides to parliaments in the OSCE region in becoming more gender-sensitive, the Office is co-organizing an orientation seminar for parliamentary committees mandated to advance gender equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The workshop aims to:

• Raise awareness of the members of the parliamentary committees on good practices and challenges in integrating a gender perspective into the parliament’s work, with a focus on parliamentary representation, lawmaking and oversight;
• Facilitate cross-parliamentary exchange and co-operation among the three parliaments within Bosnia and Herzegovina;
• Identify concrete activities for the three parliaments to become more gender-sensitive and lead by example to encourage similar steps by other institutions in the country.

The seminar targets members of parliament and parliamentary staff of the state-level parliament (the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina) and legislatures on lower levels of governance. The seminar should inform the one-year working plan and multi-year strategies of the three parliamentary committees, aiming at an innovation of parliamentary practices.

Why is it important?

When parliamentary processes, regulations, mechanisms and organizational culture become more gender-sensitive, parliaments are able to better deliver for all women and men. Gender-sensitive parliaments are more representative, able to include a gender perspective in lawmaking and to make sure that gender is taken into account when conducting oversight of the executive. More information on the topic is available in ODIHR’s guide “Realizing Gender Equality in Parliament”, which features good practices from 46 national parliaments across the OSCE region.

Contact

In case of questions, please reach out to Saša Gavrić, ODIHR’s Gender Officer, sasa.gavric@odihr.pl.