Gender audits and gender action plans: Workshop for Luxembourg’s parliamentary political parties

Political parties play a vital role in shaping democracy — and their internal culture, rules and structures must reflect gender equality in practice. To support this, ODIHR is organising a workshop for five out of seven parliamentary political parties in Luxembourg on how gender audits can help parties become more inclusive, balanced and representative.

Gender audits are a practical tool for transformation. They assess how equality is embedded in a party’s leadership, decision-making, policies and everyday work – and identify concrete steps to strengthen inclusion. Over the past decade, ODIHR has supported 45 political parties in 11 OSCE participating States to conduct gender audits and develop action plans, resulting in lasting institutional change.

The upcoming workshop will

• Raise awareness of good practices,
• Offer space for cross-party exchange, and
• Present ODIHR’s tailored support for parties wishing to assess and advance gender equality within their organisations.

As a follow-up to the workshop, ODIHR will hold bilateral meetings with the five parties on 21 October.

Background

Political parties are often called the ‘gatekeepers’ of democracy, and, in particular, of women’s political participation, because of their fundamental and unique role in the democratic process. They represent the views and perspectives of citizens — men and women — and, once elected, should incorporate these into political decision-making, public policy and legislation. Political parties are the pipeline through which women and men candidates emerge as elected representatives and decision-makers.

Learn more about ODIHR’s work in this area: Transforming political parties from within — Gender audits and action plans

Contact

In case of questions, please reach out to Saša Gavrić, ODIHR’s Officer in charge of gender equality in politics, sasa.gavric@odihr.pl.