Day 2 of the Westminster Workshop on Gender Sensitive Scrutiny
Published 19 June 2019
On Day 2 of the Westminster Workshop on Gender Sensitive Scrutiny, participating delegates shared information about how to put the theory of gender sensitive scrutiny into practice.
Panellists and delegates spoke about suitable mechanisms for implementation, including collaboration with specialist organisations, the work of committees and the role of audits.
Delegates participated in discussions with practitioners who work with parliamentarians from around the world to mainstream gender sensitive scrutiny into legislation and budgets. The importance of the third sector in highlighting key issues and working to facilitate practical solutions was explored in detail.
Rt Hon Maria Miller MP spoke about her role as the first and only Chair of the UK Women and Equalities Select Committee. The Committee selects laws to scrutinise and produces reports which the UK Government must respond to. This work also forces these issues up the news agenda.
To find out more about the UK Women and Equalities Select Committee, please click here.
Delegates learned how the UK Parliament commissioned and carried out the UK Gender Sensitive Parliament Audit 2018. It was the first bicameral gender sensitive parliament audit to be held in the UK Parliament and utilised a self-assessment toolkit developed by the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
After consulting as widely as possible, the final report recommended 50 improvements. The House of Commons and House of Lords Commissions took forward four key recommendations including addressing bullying and harassment, making parliament more family friendly, tackling online abuse of parliamentarians and gender mainstreaming scrutiny of legislation and budgets.
The UK Gender Sensitive Parliament Audit 2018 can be accessed here and the Inter-Parliamentary Union Self-Assessment Toolkit can be accessed here.
Delegates learned how the UK Parliament commissioned and carried out the UK Gender Sensitive Parliament Audit 2018. It was the first bicameral gender sensitive parliament audit to be held in the UK Parliament and utilised a self-assessment toolkit developed by the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
After consulting as widely as possible, the final report recommended 50 improvements. The House of Commons and House of Lords Commissions took forward four key recommendations including addressing bullying and harassment, making parliament more family friendly, tackling online abuse of parliamentarians and gender mainstreaming scrutiny of legislation and budgets.
The UK Gender Sensitive Parliament Audit 2018 can be accessed here and the Inter-Parliamentary Union Self-Assessment Toolkit can be accessed here.
Finally, delegates heard from a panel of young people from around the Commonwealth talk about issues including knife crime and its impact on young men, improving work experience opportunities and sexual violence against women and girls.
For more details about this Workshop, please visit @CPA_UK twitter page here.
A session on gender sensitive scrutiny in practice
Baroness Thornton discusses the UK Gender Sensitive Parliament Audit
Rt Hon Maria Miller MP, Chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, and Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods, Chair of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians
Session on Institutionalising Gender Sensitive Parliaments