Liberal International (LI) has been committed to promoting the role of women in political parties, an effort that was intensified with the initiation of a series of conferences and workshops on the role of women in political parties.  In line with the “Win with Women” Global Action Plan, Liberal International organized a training seminar in Bucharest, Romania in October 2004, followed by a roundtable in San Jose, Costa Rica, in November last year.  These events brought together women leaders and staff from political parties in Eastern Europe and Latin America, to devise strategies on expanding and deepening women’s political participation.  The third event will be a workshop and a conference in Taiwan, organized jointly with the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD), with a regional focus on Asian political parties.  

This event will consist of three elements and involve women and men from the grassroots to the elite level of political leadership: 

First there will be a workshop and training session designed for women planning to run for political office, plus political party staff and campaign workers.  The training is aimed to develop women’s campaign skills and help them gain confidence to run for political positions.  The workshop will also concentrate on how to overcome obstacles and how to find support within their political parties.  Political parties are the opening avenues to political participation.  The workshop will zoom in on how to manage women’s role within their parties and sharpening communication skills with personal action plans that set achievable goals.

Second, an expanded conference coinciding with the General Assembly of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, involving women political leaders, party executives and members interested in advancing women in politics through political parties.   Women from various countries will share their experiences and successful strategies.  LI President John Alderdice will present LI’s commitment to women in politics while past President Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck, who led LI’s initial efforts on this project, will speak on liberal action.    Taiwan Vice President Annette Lu, a long-time champion on women’s rights, will open the conference.

Finally, the conference will culminate in a handover ceremony for the rotating leadership of CALD, from the current Chairmanship of Chen Shui-bian, President of Taiwan, to the Philippines Liberal Party. 

This special event will be held in Taiwan, and hosted by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the current Chair Party of CALD, during October 2005.  Since becoming the ruling party in Taiwan’s first ever democratic transition of power in 2000, the DPP has made tremendous efforts to advance the role of women in political leadership, achieving the unprecedented numbers of women in parliament and the cabinet, at close to 25%.  Taiwan ranks highest in Asia and 37th in the world in terms of women’s participation in politics, according to data from the Directorate General for Budget, Account and Statistics of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), released on September 21, 2004. 

In both Bucharest and San Jose, it was discussed to follow the four themes of the Global Action Plan, which were:

a) Removing restrictions on women’s political participation, including restrictions on women’s suffrage and candidacy

b) Increasing the number of women elected officials at the national, provincial and local level

c) Ensuring that political parties include women in meaningful leadership positions and in meaningful numbers

d) Encouraging greater participation of women in government decision-making and advocating for legislation that enshrines full equality of men and women.

The roundtable gave the following recommendations:

1. Add a fifth plank that will look at female outreach. There seems to be a dilemma in the fact that that although women fully support the idea of more women in leadership position they seem hesitant to vote for women candidates.

2. Monitoring. Liberal International would ask member parties to give the number of women in their party, on behalf of their party in parliament and government. This will enable LI to produce an annual report, which presents the figures on women’s participation of all LI member and observer parties.

3. Role of the political leadership. To ask liberal leaders to take genuine reform steps to encourage women’s political participation and increase women’s leadership in their parties.

4. To include on the Agenda of a liberal leaders meeting the increase of women’s leadership in political parties.

5. To look at the mechanisms political parties have put in place to ensure a higher participation of women in leadership positions.

6. Inspiration through articles of influential and successful women.