23 October 2003

U.S. Pressing for U.N. Resolution to Help Increase Women's Political Participation, October 15, 2003

(A vibrant democracy needs women's voices, Ambassador Sauerbrey says)

By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- Early in her political career she knocked on doors asking for voters' support for her candidacy. Now, at the United Nations, Ambassador Ellen Sauerbrey is knocking on the doors of diplomats asking for their support for a resolution to help women around the world participate in the democratic process.

Sauerbrey is the U.S. representative to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women and a delegate to the 58th General Assembly session. The United States is sponsoring a resolution that will help promote and protect the rights of women to associate freely, express their views publicly, debate policies openly, petition their government, and, generally, to participate in the democratic processes in their countries.

"The resolution is an attempt not only to reaffirm broad principles that the U.S. and countries around the world said they support -- on women's right to vote, to hold office, to govern, to lobby, and so forth -- but also to create ... a blueprint that underdeveloped and developing countries can take back home and say this is what an international body has suggested that we try," Sauerbrey said in an interview October 15.

The United States has been working with other delegations on the resolution and Sauerbrey said that the initiative "has been very well accepted and recognized as an important issue."

"The resolution has a lot of references to the human rights of women," the ambassador said, "but in concrete terms we talk about governments' responsibilities to remove -- or at least try to address -- all the barriers that are in the way whether they be legal barriers, structural, or societal barriers."

The resolution sets out specific actions governments can take to encourage reform of the electoral systems where there are barriers to women's participation, she said. Part of the resolution also deals with what civil society and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) can do to help women participate in the democratic process.

The U.S. draft resolution is going "well beyond" previous resolutions and documents of the General Assembly and U.N. women's conferences, she said. "We are proposing concrete initiatives from fundraising to the use of new communication technology, particularly in areas like public speaking, how to organize and run a political campaign, parliamentary procedure -- things that women need to know and understand if they are going to have the opportunity to participate and be effective in government."

The ambassador, who was active in political organizations before becoming a candidate for state legislature, listed many areas where women need help: working with the media; urging the media to be more responsive to women candidates and recognizing the importance of women's participation in the democratic process; urging educational institutions to develop curricula to train young people to be more sensitive to women's rights and to the importance of women's participation in the political process.

Sauerbrey is the former minority leader of the Maryland House of Delegates and the 1994 and 1998 Republican candidate for governor of Maryland. She represented her northern Baltimore County district in the House of Delegates from 1978 to 1994 where she served on the Economic Matters, Ways and Means, and Appropriations committees. She has been a delegate to seven Republican National Conventions and chaired the Maryland presidential campaign of President George Bush.

In a speech to the General Assembly, the ambassador said that the United States "is firmly committed to women's rights, which is why we are sponsoring a resolution this year on women and political participation. We have seen disturbing attempts in some countries -- for example by the former governments of Afghanistan and Iraq -- to quiet the voice of women."

"A successful democracy cannot exist without the active participation of all its members, including women. In a vibrant democracy, all voices are heard and issues of concern to men and women are addressed by a responsive and accountable system," she said.

"Having been involved in politics for over thirty years, I have seen firsthand that women are successful campaigners, organizers, and mobilizers, but that they too rarely contest for public office," Sauerbrey told the General Assembly.

Sauerbrey also discussed some U.S. efforts to train women to run for office and lead nongovernmental organizations.

In Afghanistan, the United States is providing more than $8 million to support the election process. Some programs will educate women on the importance of voting and political participation while other programs will train women candidates in running campaigns and help political parties mobilize female members, the ambassador said.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is constructing "women's resource centers" in 14 Afghan provinces, Sauerbrey said. "These aim to provide a safe environment for women where they can, among other things, receive job skills training, participate in literacy programs, and learn about political participation."

A hallmark of President Bush's Middle East Partnership Initiative is the creation of regional campaign schools that will provide leadership and organizational training for women seeking regional elective office, the ambassador said. Both the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and the International Republic Institute are working with the State Department to organize the first regional campaign school in Qatar in December 2003 to train women political leaders from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and Yemen in a range of hands-on organization, communications, and leadership skills.

In Senegal, the National Democratic Institute trained over 2,000 women in campaign techniques and skills before the 2002 elections, she added. In the elections, 93 percent of the more than 1,500 women elected to local government positions had participated in the training.

The ALVA Consortium, another U.S. joint project, has taught women politicians from Rwanda and Kenya the basics of running for office. A number of recently elected or appointed officials in those countries received consortium training, Sauerbrey said.

Sauerbrey said she has met with many women's groups around the world in the last several years. During those meetings the discussion often turned to political participation. In many underdeveloped countries and emerging democracies women are eager to understand the democratic process.

"Often they have no idea how to run campaigns or overcome barriers preventing their participation," she said. "Governments and civil society must provide the tools for them to learn."