405 East 42nd Street
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As #Metoo snowballs into a global movement, there is a growing awareness of the importance of gender parity in all human activities. Assemblies are an important part of the work of any international organization. They set strategic direction and create forums for robust debate and reaching of agreement. But while they bring together world leaders and decision-makers who are mostly men, their decisions have an impact on the lives of women and men, boys and girls, at every level.
The event is designed for all those interested in creating a more inclusive and harassment-free environment at their assemblies, encouraging gender balance on delegations, promoting meaningful participation of women in deliberations, and advancing gender equality on agendas and outcomes.
Panelists will outline how they have been applying and will further apply the principles in the Gender Responsive Assemblies Toolkit in their own Assemblies. They will address the opportunities for advocacy and action by all interested parties from Member States to Civil Society, and how can they collaborate with Secretariats and Heads of Organizations to drive urgent action to sustainably include women in all decision-making processes from the international to national level, and to advance gender equality in their decisions and deliberations.
Following the interactive panel discussion, the audience will engage with the panelists on how to apply the toolkit, the challenges and opportunities that exist to make the Assembly experience more inclusive, productive, and successful; more relevant for all.
Panelists include:
- H.E. Ms Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, President, 73rd session of the UN General Assembly INVITED
- Martin Chungong, Secretary General, Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)
- Other Gender Champions to be confirmed
The Inter-Parliamentary Union is hosting this panel discussion in collaboration with the International Gender Champions, IGC-New York, IGC-Geneva, and the IGC Representation Impact Group.
International Gender Champions (IGC) is a leadership network that brings together female & male decision-makers determined to break down barriers to gender equality. A tri-partite organization founded in Geneva in 2015, International Gender Champions is made up of heads of international and non-governmental organizations and Ambassadors, each of whom pledges not to sit on single-sex panels and further commits to advance gender equality in their organizations with two additional individual pledges. Gender Champions report progress on their commitments through the IGC Annual Report and the Gender Champions website. There are IGC hubs in Geneva, New York, Vienna and Nairobi.
About the Gender-Responsive Assemblies Initiative
The IGC Representation Impact Group, co-chaired by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Sweden and Women@theTable, will launch the Gender Responsive Assemblies Toolkit in New York on the occasion of the UN General Assembly. [1]
This initiative is grounded on the fact that international decision-making forums are still largely male-dominated, despite the gender equality objectives they have set. Strong commitments have been made under Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, in conventions such as CEDAW, in the Beijing Platform for Action and in the Women, Peace and Security resolutions of the Security Council. These instruments call for action and establish mechanisms for monitoring progress at the national level. Sadly, international decision-making processes still lack similar standards and accountability mechanisms to ensure that women’s voices are heard and have equal influence.
The Gender Responsive Assemblies Toolkit is a powerful and practical ‘How To’. It provides direction for all actors that can drive change, including Directors-/Secretaries-General, Member States, Civil Society and Secretariats. It is written by the International Gender Champions Representation Impact Group members and contains practical tools that can be applied before, during and after an Assembly. The Toolkit highlights actual good practices and lessons learned to help achieve immediate, consistent, and measurable progress on the road to parity.
The Gender Responsive Assemblies Toolkit presents an agenda for concrete action.
[1] The IGC Representation Impact Group seeks to galvanize the international community to advance women’s representation and influence in international fora, from the frontline to the main offices of power. IGC Representation Impact Group members contributing to the Toolkit are ILO, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITU, IUCN, OHCHR, UNAIDS, UNOG, WHO, WIPO, WMO, UNCTAD and UNFCCC, in addition to support by UN-Women. IGC has three additional Impact Groups on Trade, on Standards, and on Disarmament.