Gender and Democracy

This is the report of the Commonwealth Workshop on Gender and Democracy, which took place in Windhoek, Namibia from 9 to 11 February 2000.

The workshop participants - government ministers, parliamentarians, representatives of political parties, senior figures in civil society and academics from twenty-teo Commonwealth countries - considered gender in relation to three key aspects of the democratic process: elections, law-making and government action.

As the Commonwealth Secretary-General said in his message to the participants, it was an effort "to ensure that our democratic arrangements are characterised by gender equality, full and equal participation of both women and men and a genuine and effective partnership between them".

The workshop was the third in the Commonwealth Secretariat's Deepening Democracy series and was organised in co-operation with the Government of Namibia and with financial support from the United Kingdom Government.

Click here to download the report in PDF.