Cambodia joins Asia to promote women’s participation in Politics

MANILA, Philippines – Advocates for gender equality in political participation from five countries in Asia – Bangladesh, Cambodia, the Philippines, Timor Leste and Vietnam – converge at the Berjaya Hotel in Manila, Philippines, for a three day international congress to advance women’s participation in politics and governance, October 9-11, 2013.
Organized by Paz y Desarrollo Spanish International NGO, over 70 participants take part in the Third Regional Congress on Women’s Participation in Politics, an avenue to support regional initiatives for debate and analysis. Government representatives, key influencers and right holders have joined the encounter, where experiences of women’s involvement in electoral processes and local governance and different strategies to mainstream gender at the University have been shared.
In her opening speech, Ms. Mercedes Cornejo, representative of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) in the Philippines, considered the event as “a great opportunity to discuss the situation of women, from the perspective of different cultures, and specially the situation of women’s participation in politics”.
Despite the rapid progress made by the female population in terms of human development, disparities still exist between women and men in Asia, specifically in Cambodia, Vietnam, Timor-Leste, Bangladesh and the Philippines. At the national level, only in Timor Leste women holding seats in Parliament fall below the critical mass of thirty percent.
In some of the participant countries, the situation of women has improved through the adoption of quotas and reservation for women, especially in the field of local governance. Mr. Francisco Serrano, PyD’s Regional Coordinator explained that “although special provisions have been made to increase women’s political participation, the percentage of women in the higher levels of the political power structure has not risen yet. Women have been discouraged from taking an active part in politics, largely due to violence, corruption and discrimination. It is therefore essential to make politics clean and green to motivate more women to participate in politics”.
Ms. Aurora Javate-De Dios, women’s right activist, educator and Executive Director of the Women and Gender Institute (Miriam College, Philippines) emphasized that “education and political participation are intrinsically together”, applauding the efforts of country delegations to mainstream gender in the academe.
Among the special guests that joined the event were the Spanish Ambassador to the Philippines, H. E. Jorge Domecq Fernández de Bobadilla, and delegates from the national agencies on women’s empowerment and gender equality. Academic and Non-Governmental Organization representatives from Bangladesh, Cambodia, the Philippines, Timor Leste and Vietnam actively took part in workshops and other ad-hoc Congress activities.
The Third Regional Congress on Women’s Participation in Politics lends continuity to agreements and strategies devised in previous meetings. The 1st Regional Congress was held in the Philippines in 2011, gathering 144 participants. In its second edition, held in Cambodia, the Regional Congress brought together 122 individuals.
Paz y Desarrollo (PyD), a Spanish International Non-Government Organization. Among its development efforts in Asia, PyD currently implements a Regional Program to Promote Gender Equality in Political Participation, which aims at contributing to the realization of women’s civil and political rights by increasing their participation in formal and informal decision-making spheres. Press Release of