Esharelife’s trustee and Secretary General, Ms Zilah Skerritt, and trustee Mr Enrico Scambia attended an exclusive working breakfast, organised by charity “Five talents”, with a special guest speaker, Mrs Meg Munn, a former MP who served for 14 years in the UK Parliament, as well as a Minister in the Foreign Office and Minister for Women and Equality.
The topic of the networking event was “Increasing Diversity in Parliaments – Getting More Women into Power,” drawing on Mrs Munn’s experience in Kenya, Iraq, Egypt, Djibouti, Georgia, Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Morocco, and Malta, as well as the UK, exploring how to increase the number of women in leadership positions in parliament and make parliaments more gender sensitive.
The event benefited from the participation of 20 guests from different charities and organisations, who listened to Mrs Munn’s long experience working to improve women’s representation in parliaments around the world and shared their reflections on this important topic during a Q&A session.
According to Mrs Munn, increasing diversity in the parliament is not only about getting more women into power but also about increasing the representation of marginalized groups and people with disabilities. This aspect is also important to create a more inclusive and representative democracy.
Esharelife joined the others in sharing the view that increasing diversity in the parliaments of any country, specifically getting more women into power, is an important issue as it can lead to more representative and inclusive decision-making in the country, thus improving democracy and its processes.
Some latest research has shown that having more women in politics leads to policies that are more responsive to the needs of all citizens, including women, children, and marginalized groups. Additionally, creating a more supportive and inclusive political culture, for example by changing the tone of political discourse and countering negative stereotypes about women in politics, can help to attract more women into politics.
Want to join Esharelife’s efforts to empower women and girls in some of the most deprived regions of the world? Then, have a look at Esharelife’s projects and join Esharelife’s amazing team of volunteers and supporters!