EU and partners launch WYDE – Women’s Leadership Initiative

The European Union and partners launch the Women’s Leadership Initiative, a component of the Women and Youth in Democracy Initiative (WYDE), in New York today during the 68th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen said: “In recent years, we have witnessed the erosion of democratic values. And when democracy is being eroded, women’s rights are under attack as well. Protecting democracy means ensuring an open civic and political landscape in which women can participate safely. This is the objective of the Women Leadership programme which I am pleased to launch today with our partners as part of the EU’s Women and Youth in Democracy Initiative.”

With €11.5 million from the EU for a period of three years, the WYDE | Women’s Leadership Initiative will promote the full and effective participation in decision-making of diverse women, especially those most often left furthest behind, by leveraging collective action, partnerships, coordination, knowledge, and resources at global level. The initiative will prioritise changing the social norms and cultural attitudes that portray the roles of women in communities and society as incompatible with political power. It will build the political skills of young women, and engage men, boys, office holders and the media as allies for gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The initiative will be implemented by UN Women, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) through a project entitled "Advancing Women’s Political Participation and Decision-Making through Social Norms Change, Networking and Global Advocacy.”

Strongly linked to the Gender Equality Forum Action Coalition 6 on Feminist Movements and Leadership, the four partners will leverage their convening power to facilitate feminist and women’s rights organisations’ participation in global and regional advocacy spaces and access to decision-making fora. They will seek to enhance synergies between women’s rights movements, member states, decision makers, the international community, the media and other key actors, including the WYDE community across its different components, to maximise the effectiveness of spaces for coalition building, advocacy, and campaigning to promote women’s political participation.

One of the flagships of the Youth Action Plan, WYDE seeks to strengthen the rights, empowerment, and participation in public and political life of youth and women as key actors of development and change. The initiative promotes political pluralism and the inclusiveness of democratic processes.

A multipartner initiative, WYDE includes five intertwined components: WYDE | Civic Engagement for youth participation in public affairs; WYDE | Freedoms for youth’s defense of freedoms of association and assembly; WYDE | Inter Pares for youth and women in parliaments; WYDE | Political Parties; and WYDE | Women’s Leadership. Each of these components aligns with the EU Gender Action Plan, the EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy, and the EU Youth Action Plan.