Advancing Equal Societies through Women’s Political Leadership

This project aims to improve equality and enjoyment of fundamental human rights. It enables politically active women in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries to safely exercise and sustain political careers with influence at regional and national levels. This project represents added funds to systematically address violence against women in politics (VAWP) and systemic barriers to women’s political leadership. Project activities include: (1) launching a gender observatory to develop a VAWP evidentiary base that informs reform efforts; (2) offering in-depth support to gender equality champions through a structured fellowship program; and (3) expanding to include Laos as fourth country of focus.

The expected outcomes of this project include: (1) increased adoption of standardized processes for collecting and assessing evidence related to violence against women in politics (VAWP). This is done across 4 target countries by a diverse multi-stakeholder partnership; (2) increased willingness of duty bearers and responsibility-holders to engage with evidence on VAWP its prevalence and impact on women’s political leadership; (3) development of a more robust evidence base to help identify entry points to address barriers to women’s political leadership (WPL); (4) improved access and opportunities for diverse women political leaders at national and regional levels to champion more inclusive practices and processes addressing barriers to WPL; and (5) increased understanding and commitment to implement inclusive practices and processes addressing barriers to WPL by political and non-political actors.