A key focus of CPA UK’s work is achieving representative democracies by helping women promote themselves in parliaments across the Commonwealth and develop the skills they need to be fully effective and to deliver gender sensitive governance. CPA UK continues to develop programmes and projects to promote the role of women parliamentarians across the Commonwealth. 

GENDER SENSITIVE SCRUTINY WORKSHOP

CPA UK facilitated the Westminster Workshop on Gender Sensitive Scrutiny in June 2019 where 40 Parliamentarians from 25 legislatures met to discuss how budgets, policies and legislation impact women and men differently.

CPA UK drew on best practice from across the Commonwealth to design a programme to enable parliamentarians to reflect on their own roles, responsibilities and opportunities, and develop skills to improve their capacity in the crucial functions of scrutiny and oversight with a gender perspective.

All delegates were asked to reflect on their contexts and formulate pledges setting out how they would support existing gender sensitive scrutiny frameworks in their own parliaments or take forward new scrutiny initiatives, from raising a question in the chamber to engaging with civil society. A key area of interest was in conducting gender sensitive parliament audits which the UK Parliament undertook in 2018.

WOMEN’S PARLIAMENTARY CAUCUS OF PAKISTAN

Since 2012, CPA UK has been working with the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus from the National Assembly of Pakistan, on both a multilateral and bilateral level. This engagement seeks to deepen women’s participation in public life and create a community of informed parliamentarians who feel empowered to raise issues of gender representation and equality in their parliaments.
CPA UK hosted Members of the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus of Pakistan in January 2020 for a programme focused on Women and Gender in Legislation, Scrutiny, and Oversight.

The Secretary of the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus, Hon. Munaza Hassan MNA, led the delegation of eight Members of the National Assembly and five Members from Provincial Assemblies. Newly elected Chair of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians Hon. Shandana Gulzar Khan MNA also participated in the programme.

The programme explored issues relating to women and gender in different representative bodies including the UK Parliament, the Greater London Assembly, a London Borough Council, and a London constituency. In addition to introducing delegates to the UK Parliament and Westminster committee system, speakers – including parliamentarians, party candidates, councillors, and academics – discussed gender-sensitive scrutiny, legislation to improve gender equality, and diversity and inclusion.

The representatives were also hosted by the former PM Theresa May who commended the delegation’s commitment to strengthening women’s voices in politics in Pakistan despite the many and diverse challenges they face.

At the end of the programme delegates shared ways in which they would champion changes in their respective legislatures. After observing an evidence session hosted by a Lords committee, delegates from the Provincial Assemblies resolved to recommend to their Speakers that committees invite external experts to committee sessions for the first time, ensuring parliamentarians benefit from diverse views and evidence.

Delegates also learnt about different approaches to mainstreaming gendersensitive scrutiny, such as the Equality Impact Assessments undertaken in Scotland, which could serve as a model for their own scrutiny work.