Gender Task Force

The Stability Pact Gender Task Force held its Fifth meeting on May 18 - 19, 2001 in Ljubljana Slovenia. The Meeting consisted of 3 components: On May 18, A Joint Task Force on Parliamentary Cooperation and Gender Task Force Preparatory Meeting for the Second Conference of Women Parliamentarians of South Eastern Europe and on May 19, a Gender Task Force Experts Meeting on Improving Political Participation of Women and Gender Equality Machinery, followed by the Gender Task Force V Regional Meeting.

The events on May 19 were hosted by the Slovenian Government and funded through voluntary contributions by the Austrian and Norwegian Governments. The meeting, which was chaired by the GTF Chair Sonja Lokar, included governmental and non-governmental representatives from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia, Montenegro, and Vojvodina), Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Greece, Hungary, Slovenia and the UN Administration in Kosovo/a, GTF Advisory Board Members from Croatia, FYRoMacedonia, Italy, ODIHR- Poland, and Slovenia, as well as guests from the Austrian Government, Norwegian Peoples Aid, OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the STAR Network.

During the Joint Meeting of the two Task Forces, Ennie Wesseldijke, Executive Secretary of the Task Force on Parliamentary Cooperation and Sonja Lokar, Chair of the Gender Task Force, signed an Agreement on Cooperation between the two Task Forces. In this Formal meeting held in the Parliament of the Republic of Slovenia, the Task Force on Parliamentary Cooperation and the Gender Task Force produced an initiative to include Women Parliamentarians as third focal points in the Gender Task Force Structure, (NGO and Governmental Focal Points from each country/territory already exist), which was fully supported by the Gender Task Force, the modalities of which will be developed further by the two Task Forceís respective leaderships.

The Expert Meeting was addressed by Professor Alison Woodward, of Vesalius College, Belgium, an expert on Women in Politics working with the Council of Europe, who provided an overview of the lessons learned and the difference in approaches taken in advancing womenís political representation. Three Working Groups followed, which addressed issues of: 1 Governmental and Parliamentary Mechanisms for Gender Equality, 2 Electoral Systems and Political Party Legislation, and 3 Developing Active Womenís Citizenship, out of which Regional Initiatives were developed for GTF consideration. Outcomes included a call for a broad region wide information campaign for increasing gender awareness; an integrated approach for national governmental machineries including civil society and decentralized structures; a project for increasing minority women's participation in political parties; and a project for SEE Regional Women's Long Term Elections Observation to be developed jointly with ODIHR.

The purpose of the Gender Task Force V Regional Meeting was to identify the next steps in the GTF Strategy, inform on developments since the last GTF Regional Meeting in February 2001, as well as to coordinate current project implementation and evaluation. The GTF continues to work within a framework that incorporates sustainable grassroots activity regarding womenís political empowerment and gender equality into national and regional economic, social, and security policies. Sonja Lokar, Chair of the Gender Task Force provided an overview of the GTFís accomplishments since its establishment as well as the latest developments in the Stability Pact. In particular she addressed the outcomes of the Working Table One Meeting in Portoroz in which the Gender task Force "cross-cutting" approach was applauded and support was given for GTF participation in the remaining two Stability Pact Working Tables.

Outcomes of the Fifth Regional Meeting included identification of further steps in the GTF Institutionalization process of setting up a Regional Institute in Zagreb, Croatia and local GTF Offices in SEE Participating States. The GTF suggested a timeline for preparation for the Stability Fall 2001 Funding Conference. The GTF also decided to recommend Liljana Popovska, GTF Advisory Board member to participate as a keynote speaker in the Council of Europe International Seminar on Participation of Women in the Prevention and Resolution of Conflicts to be held in Strasbourg in September 2001.