VIENNA, 4 May 2010 – Representatives from the 56 OSCE participating States, civil society and international organizations will gather in Vienna on Thursday for a two-day meeting aimed at identifying ways to promote gender balance and the participation of women in political and public life.
The meeting, organized jointly by Kazakhstan’s OSCE Chairmanship and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, will discuss progress and challenges in promoting gender equality in the OSCE region, empowering women as political party members and elected officials, as well as ensuring gender balance and women’s effective participation in public life.
OSCE participating States have acknowledged gender equality as a fundamental aspect of a just and democratic society based on the rule of law and adopted an Action Plan in 2004 to guide measures for achieving this goal.
But progress in promoting balanced participation of women and men in governance structures remains uneven across the region. For example, the representation of women in parliaments ranges from 45 per cent to as low as six per cent.
Journalists are invited to attend the opening of the conference, which will be held from 15.00 to 16.00 on 6 May in the Hofburg Congress Centre.
Publicerad den 6 maj, 2010
