UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : IPU Press conference: Launch of the IPU Women in Parliament Report

just here.

Good afternoon, dear colleagues,

thank you very much for being here either in person or online.

I know you've

had a a

very busy morning with the briefing. Let me just turn this down.

Welcome to the Inter Parliamentary Union to the IPU

press conference.

Very happy to be here to tell you about our latest report Women in Parliament.

Based on elections and nominations in 2023

there is a press release that you should

have received this morning in four languages.

The embargo is at two o'clock 2 p.m.

and very happy to be joined by the IPU

Secretary General Martin Chung

Gong backed up by Marianna

Duarte

Muenburg,

who is an expert in our gender programme.

Without further ado, I will pass give the floor to the IPU Secretary General.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Thomas.

It gives me great pleasure to come

to you again as I do every year

to present to you

the report on women in Parliament That is

the representation of women in parliament globally.

And this year we are reporting on the 2023

developments and

let me start by announcing

that

in 2023 We did witness

an increase in women's representation in parliament,

and today women account for 26.9 per cent of global parliamentary membership.

These percentages based on the elections and renewals that

took place in some 63 chambers in 52 countries in

20 23rd.

If we compare

this data with previous data, we'll see

that the rate of growth in 2023 is the same as in 2022.

But if you go far back, you'll see that we have actually

reduced when it comes to the

women in Parliament's representation.

For instance, in 2020

2021

we were talking of a

percentage a great growth rate of 0.6 per cent.

So we witnessed a reduction this year which stands at 0.4% points.

But let me say that

there are some bright spots.

Although we can say that women's political

representation is more or less stagnant,

there are some bright spots that show

in particular that where there is the

way there is the will, there is the way

and we once again have witnessed

that when we have institutional mechanisms such as well legislated quotas.

The end result is almost always an increase in women's representation.

Looking at the statistics for 2023 we actually did see

that those countries that implemented quotas in the elections or renewals

showed an increase

that was more substantial than for the countries that had no

quotas

in place.

So I think that we can continue to advocate for the

institutional introduction of quotas worldwide if we want to

be more progressive in terms of women's political representation,

especially

in Parliament.

Another thing that I want to signal here

as a bright spot is that

some regions continue to be

the leading light in women's

representation in Parliament and we do see that the

Americans continue to be top on the league table.

When it comes to

women's

presentation in parliament.

We see that women in this region account for 35.1 per cent of global parliamentary

membership.

We also see that in 2023 sub Saharan Africa has made substantial improvements in

its representation of women in Parliament, where we saw an increase of 3.9% points

as compared to the previous year

there, we saw

substantial, very substantial gains in a number of countries such as Benin,

Eswatini,

Sierra Leone. I must point out that in Sierra Leone

there was

a quota

that was introduced in 2023 which led to

the substantial increase in women's representation

in Parliament.

We also note again and this confirms what I've just said about the Americans,

that when you look at the league table, the top 10

countries, when it comes to women's parliamentary representation,

five of those top 10 come from Latin America.

You have Cuba, Nicaragua, where you have 55.7

per cent and 53.9 per cent respectively.

We have Mexico and

Bolivia

that scoring very well at that level.

We do have of course and I mentioned that

Rwanda continues to be top of the league table with

61.3 per cent

of parliamentary membership made up of women

and of course we have in the MENA region, the Middle East and North Africa region,

we have the United Arab Emirates that maintained

its parity in terms of men and women's representation

in parliament.

We can also point out that one country

in

the entrenched democracies, New Zealand dropped from the rankings slightly,

but they were replaced by another

country, Andorra. When it comes to women's representation parity

globally,

we can also report and this is good news that there

has been a slight increase in the percentage of women holding

top political leadership position in Parliament,

where now 23.8 per cent of parliaments worldwide are led by

women and this is

this represents a 1.1% point increase

in

the world.

We want to signal two FS in Cambodia

and Cote d'Ivoire, which for the first time elected

female speakers of Parliament.

This is something that we need to celebrate.

Let me say a few words about the not so bright spots.

Actually the negative things and the

first I want to mention is the growing

trend of women politicians quitting politics altogether.

And this has been as a result of the very

adversarial environment in which they are operating

women and we do have statistics to that effect. Women

bear the brunt of hate speech,

especially on account of their participation in political life,

and we see a disturbing increase in online harassment

targeting women politicians.

You will remember that the then

New Zealand Prime Minister

Jacinda

Arden did step down from her prime ministerial role.

She subsequently stepped down from parliament altogether.

Similarly, Marina

Sana, Marine of Finland also

not only was beaten in the elections last year but

also decided not to run for political office any more,

citing, of course the very difficult environment in which she was operating.

And many of them did say that they didn't have the heart to continue in politics,

and it cited burn out as a

major factor in their decision.

So we see that the political space continues to be hostile

to women politicians, in particular in Parliament, singularly.

But the good news there is that many countries,

many parliaments are increasingly aware of this

phenomenon and its negative impact on inclusive

political participation are now taking steps to address the issue to create a

safe environment for women in parliament. And that is why

you have countries such as Australia, Benin, Iceland, Ireland and Thailand

that using the tools that the IP

has developed the guidelines for elimination of sexism, harassment

and violence against women in parliament,

they using this tool to put in place mechanisms

that ensure a safe space for women in parliament.

We do want to therefore launch an appeal for more

robust action by other parliaments to address this phenomenon,

which is

not very good for democracy

in the world today.

When we look at the elections or renewals that took place

in 2023 we also see that there was a lot of backlash

when it comes to women's rights

and this occupied centre

stage in many of the

campaigns that took place last year. When we look at Poland,

you saw that

the court, the Supreme Court of Poland,

did actually uphold a ruling restricting access to abortion for women.

And

this is something that was supported by the government of the day and we are told that

this particular factor led to the downfall of that government.

So we do push back on women's rights at our own risk

peril.

On the other hand, we saw in Argentina.

The then presidential candidate was subsequently elected Javier Mile,

who actually promised to roll back progressive laws in terms of women's rights.

He was subsequently elected and we do understand that

he did score very handsomely

in the male electorate, so we have, I think, to be very sanguine about

women's political participation.

There is progress, but there's a lot of pushback that we need to address

in a robust manner.

The good news also here is that in France just next door here,

the lawmakers did actually vote to enshrine

in the Constitution women's right to abortion.

I think that this is something that we need

to hail in terms of promoting women's rights.

So generally I think that this is where

we stand when it comes to women's parliamentary representation

worldwide. And

as I have said,

we have a mixed picture.

We have progress but progress that is not

proceeding as we would hope.

I think it will take us much more time to reach gender equality, gender parity

If we continue at this rate,

we also want to point out that number of factors that

hinder or hamper women's representation that we need to address.

And of course, the general message that I want to convey is that

we have to be vigilant

if we need to protect democracy, democracy that is inclusive and participatory

democracy that includes women and men on an equal footing.

This is something that is not a given. Looking at

the developments around the world currently. So

I just want us to pay particular attention to that. And we do think

that it is within the powers of Parliament

as legislators to do something about this,

including

introducing some institutional mechanisms such as quotas,

reserved seats for women

that could help level the playing field for women in the political arena.

I think I will stop at this juncture and maybe

fill a number of questions if there are any,

Thank you very much

to

the people in the

room.

Thank you. So I will ask my questions in French, if that's OK with you both.

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Thank you very much. I see that quite a few people, quite a few journalists online.

If there are any questions online,

now is a good time.

None

from the room.

Yes. I see a question from Mayer. The UN brief.

Yes. Thank you very much for taking my question.

Uh, my question is regarding you were just mentioning, uh, Secretary General,

the use of a I and can you expand a little bit more on how IP U is using it in its, uh,

own organisation.

And what you see is, um, how it is its impact.

Also in legislatures, uh, throughout the world,

if you have some points or data that you can share with us,

you know,

the first time we carried out a survey globally

of this phenomenon of sexism and harassment in Parliament

was in 2016.

And it was very clear from the interviews that we had conducted

that at least 76 per cent of women

parliamentarians had come in for some from some form

of sexual harassment or sexism or sexual assault

on account of their being involved in politics.

And

most often

this was perpetrated by the main, the male colleagues.

But increasingly, too, we have seen evidence that

online harassment has become very pervasive.

I have had the opportunity of meeting with women

parliamentarians from what we call the entrenched democracies,

for instance in Canada who told me clearly that they

had considered stepping down from

Parliament

because of the amount of harassment that they had

experienced.

But let me also say that this is not

a phenomenon that is limited to the entrenched democracies.

It's a worldwide phenomenon because we've gone ahead and done

regional studies, and we do have the same statistics regarding women's

well,

the victimisation of women on account of their participation in political life.

So it is for real, and this has

the potential to impact on the effectiveness of parliaments, where, for instance,

women first of all may not be as representative as they were,

they would be in Parliament.

But those who are

in Parliament, the themselves may not

be able and be courageous enough to participate in a more robust manner in

the deliberations of Parliament, because this fear for their lives have been death

threats

issued against women,

the fear for their family, their close families. And

as I mentioned earlier on in this press conference, you did see evidence of

senior political leaders quitting politics altogether as a

result of what they call burn out.

But underlying this burnout is the hostile environment

in which these female leaders are operating.

So it's a serious problem that is well documented, including within the

IP

and we, the IP

are encouraging parliaments as legislators to take steps

to address the issue so that they can create a safe environment for women.

We do not think that this is out of the powers of parliament.

They do have all the powers enshrined in their Constitution

to make laws to make policies that address this issue,

to put in place the resources that are required to work to help address

violence against women in politics in general. And I did mention

that we have even gone ahead and produced tools that parliaments can use.

We have the guidelines for eliminating sexism, sexual harassment

and other forms of sexual assault on women

that many parliaments are using today, and we do encourage them to do that.

My colleagues and I, we always

offer our services to help parliaments around the world address

this issue in a very substantive and substantial fashion.

Thank you, Secretary General Marianne. I don't know if you want to add anything.

Perhaps on the work Violence Against Women forthcoming reports.

Sure, as the secretary general mentioned,

I

P's work on this topic has

not started yesterday.

Of course, today we have new forms that we are discussing on a I.

So back in 2016, we did the first global study that showed

a

percentage of women in office. That's appalling. Over 80% face some form of

psychological violence, threats, intimidation,

online in person.

and we pursued that through regional studies. So we did one

in the Council of Europe region. So the large Europe region

in 2018,

2021 we did the same in Africa. And now we have embarked on a new one in Asia.

So we continue to document, and we see similar rates everywhere in the world.

Thank you, Marianna. Uh, may I, uh, follow up.

May I. I say your hand up. Did you have a follow up or or is it Did you?

I'm

sorry.

yes. Thank you very much for taking my question. It's a follow up. Do you have data?

Also on Parliament's, um,

addressing a R harm?

How do you Are you tabulating in some way or form?

Uh, the way they are addressing the issues because I know in some countries,

it's already in in in the, um in their agendas, right?

How? How to address the question of a I harms

in in, uh, voting in women's, uh,

issues as well as other issues in terms of discrimination.

Uh, racial discrimination, job discrimination,

uh, discrimination in the workplace.

Yes, thank you very much.

Our approach to a I

is two pronged. First of all, we look at how

a I has the potential to improve upon the deliberations of

parliaments worldwide. And this is something that we are tracking

on a regular basis through

the

IPs Centre for innovation in Parliament.

That's the good side of it.

But also we are sanguine enough to note that as a new phenomenon,

artificial intelligence is fraught with a lot of uncertainties and we are

beginning to see its negative impact on democracy as a whole.

And that is why the IP

has

embarked on a year long process of reflection on the good and the bad

sides of artificial intelligence and their possible

impact on democracy as a whole.

So come October 2024

we will have a global parliamentary,

I would say

blueprint

how to deal with artificial intelligence at

the level of Parliament in order to make sure that

parliaments can keep abreast of what is going on and

make sure that artificial intelligence is used

for positive things and minimise the risk of artificial intelligence, especially

in terms of democracy processes around the world.

This is something that we are doing in

an

inclusive manner,

having a discussion between parliamentarians and

between parliamentarians and experts so that

we have a better understanding of what we are talking about in

terms of artificial intelligence,

because I think that currently we don't know enough about this new phenomenon,

this new

animal in the room. But

with that global reflection at the parliamentary level, maybe we can

begin to understand its possible effects on democracy as a whole.

And we can then mobilise parliaments to

actually

grapple with this and put in place measures

that would streamline the use of artificial intelligence.

And I think that from the discussions that have taken place so far, we see that

the trend is towards regulation in a good sense,

not restriction of artificial intelligence,

because it has potential to do good.

We see there is evidence that it's doing good, but also

there are worrying trends that it could be something that could

undermine democracy processes such as the one that we mentioned earlier,

the spread of hate speech that has

been exacerbated

through the emergence of artificial intelligence.

So it's something that we need to do try to maximise the

possible positive impacts of artificial intelligence while minimising

its

negative

impacts.

We have to do this in an inclusive fashion

to include those who

have fostered the emergence of this new

technology,

the scientific community, scientific and technological community.

There should be a conversation

with them, but also

those bodies and entities that are

using

these new technologies for commercial purposes.

So together there should be a collective conversation

so that at the end of the day,

we have a win win situation where we protect the

global community from the possible effects of artificial intelligence.

Negative effects of

artificial intelligence.

Thank you, Secretary General.

I don't see any more questions online or in the room, so I think we'll close there.

Thank you again. Thank you to those who made the effort to come.

And for those online as well, Thank you very much. I know it's a busy time

just to say that we do have copies of the report as well.

And it's available, which I can send you in English, French and Spanish.

Thank you very much. Have a good afternoon.

IPU Press conference: Launch of the IPU Women in Parliament Report - 05 March 2024