Kyrgyz MP Roza Aknazarova addresses the conference (top left); Swedish MP Margareta Cederfelt speaks with former President of Kyrgyzstan Roza Otunbaeva (top right); a view of the conference's opening plenary on 15 May (bottom)
BISHKEK, 16 May 2015 – OSCE parliamentarians led by Kyrgyzstan's Roza Aknazarova joined government and parliamentary leaders and representatives of international organizations and civil society in Bishkek on May 15-16, calling for improvements in women's rights and opportunities, exchanging experiences and best practices and discussing how to fully harness the power of legislatures to help achieve gender equality.
Aknazarova, the Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and Environment, initiated and co-ordinated the conference, held under the theme "The role of the parliament in achieving gender equality in the context of the Beijing +20 process." Jogorku Kenesh, Kyrgyzstan's Parliament, hosted the conference, supported by the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, the OSCE PA, the United Nations and other international organizations.
Kyrgyz Prime Minister Temir Sariev; Vice Prime Minister Damira Niyazalieva; Parliament Speaker Asylbek Jeenbekov; Deputy Speaker Asiya Sasykbaeva; Supreme Court Chair Feruza Djamasheva; former President Roza Otunbaeva; and several Kyrgyz parliamentarians addressed the event. They offered their perspectives on domestic successes and challenges in promoting women's rights and political participation, as well as gender equality in government, society and the workplace. A speech was also delivered on behalf of Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev.
Among the prevalent themes of the conference was the need for parliaments across the OSCE area and beyond not only to pass legislation to advance gender equality, but to more actively and effectively consider all legislation through the prism of gender, taking into account the potential impact on women.
Participants noted that a key recommendation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted 20 years ago on the occasion of the Fourth World Conference on Women, stated that each country "should have a mechanism - parliamentary or otherwise - such as a national committee or an ombudsman, for measuring the impact on the situation of women of any draft law or bill and any related budgetary provisions."
Another key recommendation to emerge from the conference was the necessity for parliaments to increasingly focus on their oversight functions, helping to close the gap between legislative aims and implementation, which often lags behind.
Several participants also noted that parliamentarians, as the direct link between citizens and government, can similarly lead in looking behind the statistics and at reality on the ground. Greater access for women to higher education does not necessarily translate into more equitable hiring practices, they cited as one example.
Within parliaments themselves, statistics do not always provide a complete picture, said Margareta Cederfelt, the Deputy Head of Sweden's Delegation to the OSCE PA and the Rapporteur of the PA's Committee on Political Affairs and Security:
"Sweden's parliament today has about 43 per cent women, but the number in itself is not enough, and there is still a lot to be achieved when it comes to gender equality in positions, influence and roles. A parliament that functions properly is one in which members can exercise the confidence to express themselves on truly equal terms."
Bold Luvsanvandan, a Member of Mongolia's Delegation to the OSCE PA, highlighted the role of parliaments as models for society and their power to lead by example:
"A gender-balanced and gender-sensitive parliament is also a powerful publicity tool to promote these values in society at large," he said.
Irena Kotseva, a Member of Bulgaria's Delegation to the OSCE PA, provided an example of how legislative provisions can help modify gender stereotypes and promote gender equality:
"A major challenge is to work on policies and incentives that encourage and allow men to take more responsibilities within the family. Since 2009 a new rule has been in force under the Bulgarian Labour Code which entitles the father to a 15-day paternity leave upon childbirth. After the child becomes six months old, the father can also use up the remainder of the maternity leave of up to 410 days instead of the mother. This right is particularly important for a balanced participation of men and women in employment, as well as for sharing the family obligations," she said.
Rabiyyat Aslanova, a Member of Azerbaijan's Delegation to the OSCE PA, and Ilya Kostunov of Russia's Delegation to the OSCE PA, addressed women's economic opportunities and political participation, respectively.
The Assembly's Deputy Secretary General, Gustavo Pallares, also addressed the conference, providing an overview of the PA's efforts to promote gender balance in its leadership and delegations and discussing opportunities for parliaments to take action on gender matters.
Nearly half of the members of the Bureau of the OSCE PA, its elected leadership, are women. At the 2014 Annual Session in Baku, women were elected to lead all three of the Assembly's General Committees.
The Bishkek conference also featured separate work sections, including on the role of parliaments in enhancing women's opportunities for political participation; the role of parliaments in increasing economic opportunities for women; and women's rights as human rights.
In her section on women's access to health and education, conference leader Aknazarova called for the implementation of a gender-sensitive approach in professional-technical education in Kyrgyzstan and elsewhere:
"The goals of this approach must be equal access for both genders to education; an end to segregation on the basis of gender in the education process for various specializations; an end to biased treatment of either gender in educational programs and textbooks; and the introduction of a gender-sensitive approach in teaching and training that equally engages both genders. This will help provide the most effective utilization of human resources in society," she said.
The conference concluded with the presentation of a final document, containing wide-ranging observations, recommendations and goals on achieving gender equality and fully utilizing parliaments to do so.
Photos from the conference are available here.
