FEM-ABLE: Promoting women’s participation in the political domain

About

For most of democracy’s history, women were not allowed to participate in politics as voters or candidates. This changed in the 19th century with the women’s suffrage movement, and by 2015 all countries had granted women the right to vote.

However, as of 2019, women only hold 24.3% of parliamentary seats globally, and political power for women is insufficient in Europe according to the Gender Equality Index.

Despite efforts to increase gender equality in politics, the political sphere remains a the challenge for women: women are underrepresented in political decision-making at all levels: regional, national and local government.

~ It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent. ~

Madeleine Albright

What's our goal?

The project FEM-ABLE aims to promote gender equality in political decision-making by developing evidence-based national strategies and cooperating with stakeholders to integrate research findings into national policy. The project contributes to a more equal representation of women and men in political decision-making, leading to more inclusive and equitable societies.

The project also aims to research, measure the underlying reasons that perpetuate female low political power scoresvide solutions and an innovative means for promoting women in politics and participation at a National and European level. For the purposes of this project political participation of women is identified as females who hold key positions of political power.

Why fem-able?

Our partnership of seven organizations from Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain and Sweden is focused on promoting gender equality in politics and empowering women to actively participate in political decision-making.

We invite you to explore our website to learn more about our project, our partners, and the activities and initiatives we are undertaking to promote gender equality in politics.

Thank you for your interest and support!

objectives

Our project aims to address the underlying problem of women’s inactivity in politics across Europe by identifying and addressing the barriers that prevent women from participating fully in political life. Through a range of activities and initiatives, our project seeks to empower women to take an active role in politics and increase their representation in elected and appointed positions.

key objectiVes of fem-able project:

1. A research-based handbook that presents national gender equality strategies to promote equal representation of women and men in political decision-making and examines the correlation between these strategies and voter behaviour in relation to gender equality. Comparison of countries by indicators of the gender equality index. Preparation of a scientific publication based on these conclusions.

2. Development of national strategies to promote equality between women and men in political decision-making, taking into account the indicators of the Gender Equality Index. Emphasis is placed on the sharing of good practices and on the provision of impact assessment tools to quantify and monitor the impact of these strategies in each sector.

3. Cooperation with local political parties, national authorities involved in gender equality to implement the findings of the study and integrate them into national policies, using platforms such as public dialogues, conferences and roundtables.

~ There cannot be true democracy unless women’s voices are heard. There cannot be true democracy unless women are given the opportunity to take responsibility for their own lives. There cannot be true democracy unless all citizens are able to participate fully in the lives of their country ~

Hillary Clinton

Partners

Our project is co-funded by the European Union and is being implemented by a consortium of partners from across Europe.

FEM-ABLE:

Promoting women's participation in the political domain

Co-funded by the Citizens, Equality, Rights & Values Programmeof the European Union

Project Number: 101088295

2023 - 2025

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

FEM-ABLE: Promoting women's participation in the political domain