Demo Finland and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs warmly welcome you to a seminar titled Women, power and politics – stories from Finland and Zambia.
Date: Wednesday 10th of June 2015, at 8:30–12:00
Venue: Ministry for Foreign Affairs: Merikasarmi, Engel Hall (Laivastokatu 22, Helsinki)
Registration: By noon 8th of June at info(at)demofinland.org
Women continue to be underrepresented in all political arenas. Democracy cannot truly deliver for all citizens if half of the population do not have access to the tables of power. In a representative democratic system, political parties have the power to enhance the participation of marginalised groups, including women. Women’s participation in politics is also hindered by the lack of networks for women.
In the seminar you will hear stories on women’s political participation in Finland and in Zambia, how women’s cross-party cooperation enhances equality in politics, what Finland does in order to support gender equality in politics in its development cooperation and why is it important that political parties are inclusive. A toolkit titled “Gender Equality within Political Parties and Women’s Cross-party Cooperation – How to Build the Capacities of Women Politicians and Political Parties” produced by Demo Finland will be launched in the seminar.
The speakers include for example the Minister for Gender (Zambia) Nkandu Luo, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Lenita Toivakka, and Under-Secretary of State Anne Sipiläinen.
PROGRAM AND SPEAKERS
8:30 Coffee and tea
9:00 Opening remarks by the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Lenita Toivakka
9:15 Zambian story of women in politics
Minister for Gender (Zambia) Nkandu Luo
9:30 Panel discussion – How women’s cross-party cooperation enhances equality in politics
Minister for Gender Nkandu Luo; Member of the Parliament of Zambia Moono Lubezhi; Member of Parliament Tarja Filatov; Vice Chair of NYTKIS – The Coalition of Finnish Women´s Associations Sirpa Hertell
10:15 Questions and a short break
10:45 How Finland supports gender equality in politics in its development co-operation
Ministry for Foreign Affairs – Under-Secretary of State Anne Sipiläinen
11:00 Why is it important that political parties are inclusive and how to get there?
Consultant, Author of the publication, MSocSc Elina Hatakka
11:15 Launch of the publication “Gender Equality within Political Parties and Women’s Cross-party Cooperation – How to Build the Capacities of Women Politicians and Political Parties”
Demo Finland – Senior Adviser Sari Varpama
11:30 Questions & networking
12:00 End of the seminar
The language of the seminar is English.
More information and registration by noon 8th of June info(at)demofinland.org.