“Every day I struggle against stereotypes. We need to take steps to dismantle these stereotypes about women’s participation in politics,” said Zorana Mihajlovic, deputy prime minister of the Republic of Serbia, as she opened NDI’s Regional Forum on Women’s Leadership in Belgrade last April. She was joined by the U.S. Ambassador to Serbia, Michael Kirby, and representatives of leading international bodies focused on women’s empowerment and gender equality.

Mihajlovic’s sentiment resonated among the 60 women participants representing 15 countries in southeastern Europe and Eurasia. Each of the women has attained a position of power in government, politics, civil society or the private sector. In seminars and break-out sessions and one-on-one talks, they discussed how to promote women in politics and government, how to provide women with economic opportunity, how to ensure women’s security, how to build public support for women in office, and how to use media, information technology and research to frame issues and push for reform.

The geopolitical dynamic of the forum was itself a rare feature. The women leaders from both southeastern Europe, a region recovering from conflict and seeking to integrate into the European Union, and Eurasia, where many democratic transitions are challenged by autocratic backlash and military conflict, represented wide-ranging political and socio-economic experiences that added  considerably depth to the discussions.

Sonja Lokar, executive director of the Central and Eastern European Network for Gender Issues, presents on emerging trends in gender equality.

Sonja Lokar, executive director of the Central and Eastern European Network for Gender Issues, said that advancing gender equality means more than just passing laws. “We live in gender equality legal ‘heaven,’ but the gap between good laws and bad practice is growing,” said Lokar. She noted that the most tangible progress in the area of gender equality in southeastern Europe has been the increase in the number of women parliamentarians. In 1989, the percentage of elected women in parliaments in the Balkans averaged at 19 percent. That figure has now risen to 29 percent.

At the same time, women’s actual power in decision-making has been limited by political, cultural and economic barriers. While gender equality legislation has been passed in legislatures, governments have failed to implement these policies. The need for gender equality is seldom embodied in traditional values. And economic crisis, and subsequent austerity measures, have disproportionately affected the economic stability of women.

Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck, former president of Liberal International and former member of the European Parliament, shares about her decades of experience in political leadership during keynote remarks (pictured left).

Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck of Belgium, former president of Liberal International and former member of the European Parliament, drew upon her decades-long experiences in politics and government to speak about attaining leadership positions in male-dominated circles of government and politics. While sharing her own story, she touched on issues and challenges that women in politics face, including working alongside maternity leave and overcoming patriarchal values that tend to sideline women. Neyts-Uyttebroeck underlined how political parties serve as an important conduit for promoting women's issues. Her remarks reflected on nearly 40 years of dramatic political and social change to bring more women into politics, and she encouraged participants to carry this spirit forward.

Robin Carnahan, NDI board member and former secretary of state of Missouri (pictured right), discusses challenges and opportunities for advancing women's political leadership.

Robin Carnahan, NDI Board Member and former Missouri Secretary of State,  offered four areas to consider when pushing for women’s political empowerment: cultural prejudices against women’s leadership; family and childcare obligations that disproportionately fall on women; economic resources disproportionately held by men that pave the way to political power; and lack of confidence among women in presenting themselves to the public and not acknowledging their leadership attributes.

A main conclusion reached by participants was that progress has always depended on the ability of women to work across ethnic, religious and political divisions, and to engage allies across many sectors of society. Several discussion sessions focused on coalition-building and cross-sectoral cooperation.

Edita Miftari, a participant from Bosnia and Herzegovina, shares priority issues for gender equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, and the role of domestic and international stakeholders in that process.

A session on research, communication and technology focused on how to develop  successful communication strategies geared to promote gender equality to the general public.One of the featured cases was an anti-domestic violence campaign in Georgia. Guided by NDI polling data that showed widespread support for more women in politics, parliamentarians and activists formulated a message and communications strategy that emphasized that violence against women won’t go away unless more women are involved in politics. One tactic featured as part of the campaign was the effective use of social media, which helped promote the message to targeted audiences and develop a significant national following.

At the forum’s conclusion, participants worked in country groups to devise strategic goals around gender equality and women’s participation, and identified the steps that they, as leaders, both collectively and individually, need to take to realize their visions.

Forum participants greet old friends and make new ones during a break in-between sessions.

The forum was organized by NDI with the support of the U.S. Agency for International Development and in cooperation with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR).

Published on June 5, 2015