Equal Opportunities and Freedom of Choice: IWDU Meeting London
Written by IWDU Chairwoman Sofia Brambilla, MP, Argentina
More than 50 political leaders from 30 IDU member parties met at the IDWU meeting held during the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the world’s most important center-right political organization. This was in London, the city that in 1983 brought together the world’s top leaders to found the International Democrat Union, an alliance that defends and promotes values such as freedom, peace, justice, and democracy.
Although the Ukrainian War had a special place among the topics discussed, of course, the main debate focused on the challenges that, even in the 21st century, women around the world face, not only in politics, but also in any field outside the home.
While recognizing that women have gained space in the world of work and the political arena, it is also true that these achievements have represented new responsibilities on top of the tasks and roles that women had already been doing, especially those related to the caring for children, the elderly, and the responsibilities of order and maintenance of household chores. In other words, caregiving tasks are still not shared and work responsibilities are added to them, with the result that many women face situations of stress and excessive demand.
On the other hand, although societies have made progress during the 20th century and even more so at the beginning of the 21st century in achieving equal opportunities, there is still much to be done. Women still suffer much more discrimination and violence than men. During the meeting, it was discussed how countries are advancing legislation aimed at eradicating discrimination, violence against women just because they are women, and closing the gender pay gap.
The main speakers at the meeting were the 4th President of Croatia and the first woman to hold the highest office in the country, Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, and the British MP Caroline Nokes. Both women, who have prominent careers and are recognized for their tenacity, struggle, and perseverance, provided an opportunity to discuss the fact that women, as human beings, have the same rights as men and, therefore, should also have the right to choose a life project that allows them to reconcile family and professional development.
It is proven that women have more barriers to accessing positions, that we are required to have more training, and that we receive lower wages for equal tasks than men. These are situations that, for those of us who are active in politics, should be part of our work agenda and was one of the points agreed to work on the future with our organization.
IWDU members such as political leader Louisa Atta Agyemang from Ghana and Chairperson of the Democrat Union of Africa, said “The IWDU meeting in London was a very impactful moment as I had the opportunity to interact with amazing women in the political space, learning from their experiences, challenges, and successes. I was especially intrigued by the discussions on the biases against women succeeding or showing signs of success in politics. To a large extent, the success of some women is downplayed. Sometimes women’s success in politics is mistakenly associated with sexual or undue favors from men. This prejudice, in most cases, often minimizes women’s efforts as if they were non-existent or incompetent. It also prevents other women from participating in politics, fearing that they cannot succeed without granting sexual favors. It is important that we do everything we can to end this bigotry, as it is collapsing the political space for more women than we can imagine.”
Orjola Pampuri, MP from Albania, commented: “The 40th anniversary of the IDU was preceded by another very important event organized by the IWDU, led by Sofia Brambilla, president of the International Union of Democratic Women, which took place at the Carlton Club, a very significant place for conservative women, the club where Margaret Thatcher became a full woman member for the first time. The speaker of the meeting was the former president of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, who shared with all of us, participants from all over the world, her experience as a politician and president. Despite all the obstacles she had to overcome to achieve her political goals, she showed us that being strong is always a great challenge. It was a teatime talk, in which each of us had the opportunity to share her experience in politics. And what we learned from each one’s experience is that women all over the world have the same challenges, the same difficulties, the same stones thrown at them, and the only chance they have to move forward and succeed is to use these stones to build the castle of achievement, of success. This is the most important thing. When we are together, we talk, we share our experiences, we would have the great opportunity to build strategies, to help each other in our steps, and to facilitate the experience of the next generation in politics. We can collaborate by tightening this network, which helps us to be stronger. These meetings are excellent opportunities to share ideas and proposals that can be useful and profitable for women in politics. We have to raise our voices to protect ourselves from slander and threats, to raise our voices for each other, and above all to raise our voices to build good policies, to help women in politics around the world”.
At the IWDU we work in a unified way and are adding day by day women political leaders who are the protagonists of transforming the world into a better, freer, more just, more equitable, and more peaceful place.
If you want to be part of the work of IWDU, please contact Chairwoman Sofia Brambilla via email sofia.brambilla@idu.org. We are looking forward to growing and welcoming new members of parliament and political leaders and conservative activists into IWDU!