This year, under the banner “Changing the Face of Politics,” NDI is launching a decade-long campaign as its contribution to the global call by the United Nations to “accelerate the pace of change” on all aspects of women’s empowerment. This campaign will be inclusive, have impact at local, national, and global levels, and present a strong focus on data and institutions, with the goal to end persistent cycles of gender discrimination.
NDI’s commitment to women’s empowerment is not new. More than three decades ago, NDI hosted 60 international women political leaders at a conference named in honor of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who led the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Eight years later, NDI was present in Beijing when then First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton advanced those rights by declaring that “women’s rights are human rights and human rights are women’s rights.” And a decade after that, NDI Chairman Madeleine Albright launched the Win With Women Global Action Plan, to increase women’s participation and leadership in political parties around the world.
However, despite progress on women’s political empowerment in recent years, the pace and scale of change are inadequate. At the current pace of change, it will take 95 years to achieve the goal of gender parity in global politics. The world cannot wait this long - more women are required in politics now.
Join us in 2020, and over the course of the next decade, to help us achieve political parity by 2030!
The Changing the Face of Politics podcast series is an initiative by the National Democratic Institute, launched as part of NDI's commitment to a decade of action to accelerate the pace of change on women's political empowerment.In candid conversations recorded from home, an intergenerational, multi-sectoral and multi-national array of established and emerging women activists and politicians from around the world will interview each other about their experiences of political leadership, and reflect on how the Changing the Face of Politics campaign can actively protect and promote women’s political empowerment globally.
Instead of a single host the series will be built on a “daisy chain” model, whereby each participant is first a guest, and then an interviewer.
Our hope is that this podcast presents inspirational examples to other women, particularly young women and marginalized women, of the possibilities of political leadership.
Read an article by Birgitta Ohlsson about the launch here
Political Parties Weren’t Made For Women—That Needs to Change
Read Caroline Hubbard and Saskia Brech's new piece to learn how new parties can be more #inclusive
This article was originally published on Apolitical
Related Links
- NDI: #NotTheCost Call to Action
- UN Women: Generation Equality
- Women Deliver Policy Brief: Strengthen Girls’ and Women’s Political Participation and Decision-Making Power
- World Economic Forum: Global Gender Gap Report 2020
- The Catch-22 at the Heart of the COVID-19 Crisis
- Political Parties Weren’t Made For Women—That Needs to Change