Additional Activities:

During sharing and exchange of ideas at the 2004 Regional Gender and Politics Training held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, participants identified that there is a pressing need to strengthen the presence of women advocates in the formation of progressive parliaments in the region. To respond to this need, it was decided that the WPPP Task Force would compile contact information on those women who are engaged in politics in the region and who advocate for women’s concerns in their work. The idea behind this was that the database could be used to strengthen our networks by inviting the women on the list to upcoming parliamentarian meetings and to lobby and liaise on how to more effectively raise women’s agenda and set guidelines for governments and parliaments within the region. A “Database of Progressive Women’s Advocates in Asia Pacific” has been created which currently has a list of 11 women’s advocates.

The Task Force members in 2005 had discussions on how to make the database a more useful resource. As a result, the database will be expanded with the help of Task Force members and will also contain profiles, descriptions of political parties and affiliations of women’s advocates from Asia Pacific. The database will also contain advocacy on gender and women’s issues that these advocates have addressed in their capacity. This will be an ongoing activity for the programme and it is hoped that by the end of 2007, there will be a comprehensive database available.

Working under the context of globalisation and as a focal point on women’s human rights in Asia Pacific, there is increasing recognition of APWLD’s capacity to mobilise other organisations and project women’s human rights campaigns. And as the WTO 6th Ministerial Meeting was happening in our region, WPPP Task Force joined other programmes (Rural and Indigenous Women; Women and Environment and Labour and Migration) in Hong Kong to protest against the WTO. The APWLD delegation organised and participated in various activities with the objectives to raise awareness of the devastating impacts of the WTO and its trade policies on the lives of women and to express solidarity with the women’s movement.

Reversing the trend: parliamentarians and social movements for alternatives to neo-liberalism. Hong Kong, 13 and 18 December 2005
WPPP Task Force supported the participation of Toktokan Borombaeva, a former Member of the Kyrgyz Parliament, to the European United Left/ Nordic Green Left parliamentary groups of the European Union organised meetings during the WTO 6th Ministerial Conference. Toktokan attended a meeting where participants discussed defining alternatives to the current international trade negotiations and another which looked at prospects for common actions after the Hong Kong WTO meeting. At the meetings, Toktokan mentioned, interesting discussions have deepened her understanding on international trade agreements and the impacts they have on people’s lives.

Meeting with Progressive Women in Politics from the Philippines, Hong Kong, 15 December 2005
Toktokan also met with several members of the Gabriella Women’s Party from the Philippines to discuss and share strategies to enhance women’s human rights in their countries.

Lessons learnt
In 2005, the WPPP Task Force has continued to confront emerging trends in the region such as increasing state violence, fundamentalisms, anti-terrorisms, militarisms and anti-democracy movements within the context of globalisation. Through their collective actions and discussions, Task Force members have considered how these forces constrain women’s participation in all political spaces, in and outside of election periods, and have focused on how to build solidarity across the region in overcoming these obstacles to equal participation. In this framework, the WPPP Task Force members carried APWLD’s calls for the derailment of the WTO negotiations in Hong Kong. They joined and supported the women’s voices in exposing the trouble and the violence that the unjust and anti-people trade policies have brought into the lives of the rural communities in the last 10 years of the WTO's existence.
 
In December, the Task Force launched the results of groundbreaking research as a book ‘Seethings and Seatings: Strategies for Women’s Political Participation in Asia Pacific’, which documents strategies for increasing women’s successes in entering decision-making positions at the national level. The research is a critical resource for network members who are working to challenge existing electoral processes as it will provide data on country specific forces that prevent more women from being able to assert their voices within respective political institutions and highlight ways in which feminist agendas can be pushed within various levels of governments. For the Task Force, the finalisation and publication of the research within the projected timeline was in itself an achievement and will list the strategies used in completing this project as good practice. 

Ongoing Gender and Politics Trainings carried out by the Task Force have been an important venue for capacity building, developing feminist agendas and strategising about how to challenge existing gender discrimination in political processes and structures in Asia Pacific. Evidence of the success of these trainings is found in the continued requests by APWLD network for more training and for more APWLD resource publications on gender and politics. Leadership trainings drawn from the Gender and Politics manual are scheduled for members in countries where elections are upcoming.

Follow up with participants at the last Regional Gender and Politics Training reported that the exchange of ideas was useful in understanding common challenges in the region but also for sharing ideas on how various groups have been successful in advocating for increased representation and reform of repressive laws regarding political participation. Participants at national level trainings have also reported that they are drawing on the support and knowledge of other past participants as they run as candidates in upcoming elections.

Future Plans
At its annual meeting in December 2005, the Task Force outlined plans to continue to respond to its network’s need for current publications on gender and politics in the upcoming months. The research book will be translated into three national languages (Russian, Bahasa-Malayu and Korean) and distributed to individuals and organisations working on women in politics issues. There are Future Plans to refine the Gender and Politics training manual and produce a second level manual based on participants’ feedback to include more case studies and to strengthen the sections of the manual that deal with lobbying, advocacy and campaigning so that the manual can continue to be a useful and relevant educational tool. Participants who work in the area of politics have expressed interest in being part of this ongoing project and providing input to the revision of the manual and supporting materials. 

There are Future Plans for WPPP Task Force members to raise issues of Asia Pacific women at regional and international fora. Task Force members will be present at upcoming meetings such as the Commission of Status of Women’s regular session in 2006. At that time Task Force members will join with other groups from Asia Pacific to ensure that there is no renegotiation of BPFA texts and to advocate for the realisation of time-bound targets on women’s political participation. The Programme will also support progressive parliamentarians and women in politics to participate in regional and international fora to build their capacity and raise women’s agenda.

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