Parliamentary Oversight in Women, Peace, and Human Security

Parliaments have a fundamental role to play in promoting women's full and active involvement in peace and human security structures and processes on the continent. They are nationally elected representatives of their citizens, formulate and review legislation, approve budgets and hold their counterparts in the executive arm of government accountable. A gender-balanced, gender-sensitive and/or gender-aware parliament is thus crucial for the realization of the goal of women's empowerment and gender equality on the continent; as this will strengthen their function in ensuring inclusive, needs-based policy formulation and equitable budgeting that meets the demands and aspirations of women, men, girls and boys.
While this is an ideal, in reality it is not the case, most parliaments on the continent are yet to attain the 30% affirmative quota put in place to increase the number of women in parliament, policies are most often formulated and budgets approved without necessarily taking into consideration its gendered impact. Furthermore, there is minimal involvement of female parliamentarians in defence (security) sub-committees; and little or no collaboration between the respective sub-committees on gender and defence (security) that are set up to provide technical advice to the larger parliamentary body. The WIPSEN-Africa 'parliamentary oversight in women, peace and human security' programme seeks to address these realities and is intended to:

1. Increase knowledge among parliamentarians on women, peace and human security issues, including on gender based violence.
2. Strengthen parliaments' capacities to mainstream gender in their core function, including in budgeting.
3. Increase the participation of women in parliamentary defence (security) committees and decision-making.
4. Facilitate the formulation of gender-responsive security policies.

 

Programs > Core Programs > Women in Leadership & Decision-making on Peace and Human Security