NEWA Organized an Advocacy workshop with political parties

The partnership between the Network of Ethiopian Women’s Associations (NEWA) and the Political Parties of Finland for Democracy – Demo Finland started in 2019. And from then on, both works to strengthen an inclusive multi-party system in Ethiopia with the long-term outcome of the program being for women to participate actively in political parties and leadership both at the National level and in the targeted regions, Oromia, Benishangul-Gumuz and Addis Ababa City Administration.

This program is still continuing in these areas and as one of the program activities, NEWA organized a half-day evidence-based Advocacy Workshop on “Women’s Representation in Ethiopia’s Political Parties: Issues of Inclusion and Diversity” with political parties. The objective of this advocacy workshop is to promote and ensure inclusive and conducive policies that promote women’s political participation in their political parties and in the country’s political process at large. The workshop is financed by Political Parties of Finland for Democracy – Demo Finland. The participants of the workshop were political party leaders operating in Oromia and Benshangul-Gumuz Regional States, Addis Ababa City Administration, as well as parties operating at the national level. Besides, media outlets were also invited and attended the workshop. It was organized on 28^th March 2023 at The Grand Palace Hotel, Addis Ababa.

The basis for this advocacy workshop is the study made by Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in November 2022. This research, focusing on political parties, examines women’s formal and substantive representation in Ethiopia’s political parties from an intersectional point of view. Accordingly, the participants of the workshop discussed the following findings and recommendations which were pointed out to political parties, government, and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).

Findings:

• Gender equality policies and political participation laws both see women as a homogeneous group.
• Political party documents- regulations, by-laws, and party program: like the formulation adopted by the law, political party by-laws usually use the single-axis factor of identity (sex/gender – non-discrimination on the basis of sex) for recruitment and the proportion of women in decision-making structures.
• Proportion and position of women in political parties are very low. NEBE data indicated that of the 51 registered political parties (national and regional), 12 did not have a woman in their executive committees. The remaining 39 parties had a combined total of 65 women in their executive committees, ranging from one to six women per committee. Most parties had one or two female members.
• Diversity among female members of political parties needs great attention. Data from this study displayed the diversity of women in political parties in terms of ethnicity, region, religion, class status with respect to education and income levels, age, and marital status, while also pointing to the need for more evidence generation.
• Intersectional identity and experiences of female political party members. The intersection of various factors of identity shapes women’s entry into politics and their experiences in political parties. These intersecting factors also play a role in either facilitating or obstructing women’s entry into political parties.

Recommendations:

• The discussion on women and politics should extend beyond increasing women’s representation to examine which women are represented as well as the degree to which women from marginalized groups are represented. This is the responsibility of political parties and the government.
• There is an urgent need to review policy and legal frameworks that depict women as homogeneous groups. Since female representation in politics in general and in political parties, in particular, is shaped by the legal and political setting that structures representation, it is necessary to look at the policy framework on women/ gender equality and the legal framework on electoral politics in Ethiopia to contextualize the analysis.

• By-laws of political parties guide the recruitment and engagement of women in politics. Reviews of these by-laws and programs by political parties that recognize the multiple sources of disadvantage among different categories of women are thus timely.

• CSOs have the important role of advocacy in the review of policies and laws, the review of party by-laws, and the agenda shaping of research on women and politics.

• Women’s engagement in politics requires active mobilization. The government, CSOs, and political parties engaged in mobilization should work on increasing the diversity consciousness of frontline actors mobilizing women.