FEM-ABLE
Greece
Good practices on women political participation
Online panel for women’s participation in political domain
One-to-one mentoring with a woman candidate for city councilwoman
Online panel for women’s participation in political domain
- Objective
- Target group
- Implementation
- Results/Impact
- Lessons learned
- Transferability
- Resources/Support
- Contact information
To bring out a discussion around women’s participation in the political domain. The goal was to understand the reasons why there are not enough women politicians and to figure out practices to increase the percentage of women’s participation in politics.
- General public,
- women politicians,
- women who want to participate into political domain,
- young women and men.
- Local society (Crete)
An online live panel was carried out through the Facebook page of Women Do Business. The participants were 3 men and 6 women members of local authorities, and the 2 co-founders of women do business who coordinated the discussion. The main outcomes of the panel were:
- Open discussion for gender equality issues in political domain
- Dialogue between members of the local authorities and exchange of opinions in an open environment
- Participation of general public and direct questions to the participants
- Figuring out several reasons why women are not participating in politics
- Empowerment for more women to participate into politics
A discussion where both women and men who are involved in the political domain shared their opinion and their experience with the general audience. As a result, we found the struggles women who want to participate in politics are facing and the participants of the panel expressed their thoughts on how we could change the political reality in our country. In addition, we raised awareness about gender equality issues around the political domain and through our panel we promoted role models of women who have positions in the municipalities of Crete.
The panel helped the participants create an open dialogue about women’s participation in the political domain and the equal participation of both genders and people from different political parties helped the panel to include different perspectives and opinions on this issue.
In order to increase women’s participation in politics It is extremely significant to talk openly about this issue and to hear the opinion and the problems of women who are already involved in politics.
Also, transparency in Greece into the political domain is a very controversial issue. By promoting open dialogues between different people, we promote and empower not only women but also young people and the general public to participate more into politics.
The project of the panel can easily be transferred to other countries. The idea of carrying out a panel with participants from local authorities can be implemented by NGO’s, by local media or by municipalities.
The panel took place online on our Facebook page without the need of any additional staff or funding. It was just a question to find the participants from our local society who were willing to participate and help achieve our project objectives.
Women Do Business https://womendobusiness.eu/en/
One-to-one mentoring with a woman candidate for city councilwoman
- Objective
- Target group
- Implementation
- Results/Impact
- LESSONS LEARNED
- Transferability
- Resources/Support
- Contact information
To empower, motivate and prepare a woman on how to be a candidate for city councilwoman.
Women who want to be candidates for elections
Through a 3 month’s mentoring programme carried out by Women Do Business, a mentor of our network provided full support to a woman who wanted to take part as a candidate to the next elections for city councils. Through different practices like role playing, self- presentation and preparations for interviews the mentor helped the candidate to boost her confidence and get familiar with public speech and interview processes.
The practice had significant results for the participant, some of them are:
- Learned how to do a public speech
- Learned how to handle difficult questions
- Get empowered to make her step into political domain
- Learned how to manage negative opinions
- Improved her communication skills
- Organised her ideas
Mentorship is a useful method in order to empower women in different sectors.
It is really important to train women who want to be candidates for the elections through interactive methods such as role playing because it helps them experience how the real situation will be and what possible struggles they will face.
Mentoring sessions for candidates of elections is a practice that can be easily transferred to other countries.
To support the practice funded by the company “Plastics of Crete” in terms of corporate social responsibility.
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.