[Brussels, 05 May 2011] On 30 June 2011 Lithuania will host a high level women’s leadership conference “Women Enhancing Democracy: Best Practices”. The conference is to be opened by President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite, President of Finland Tarja Halonen and the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Among the panelists will be Myria Vassiliadou, EU Anti Trafficking Coordinator and a former Secretary General of EWL.
The event is organised by Lithuania’s Presidency of the Community of Democracies in cooperation with the Council of Women World Leaders, Vilnius-based European Institute for Gender Equality, the U.S. Department of State, European and U.S. non-governmental organizations.
The roundtable sessions aim to reflect specific strategies or tools that can be used to increase women’s public participation. For the EWL, this under-representation of women in decision-making constitutes a serious democratic deficit, which undermines the legitimacy of the contemporary democratic ideal. Parity democracy and the promotion of women in decision-making positions are therefore important areas of action for EWL.
In view of the 2009 European elections, the EWL conducted a very successful European-wide cross-party 50/50 Campaign, which aimed at putting pressure on political parties and decisions makers to make sure that women were equally represented in the new European Parliament and Commission 2009-2014 as well as in all European top political posts.
The “Women enhancing democracy: Best practices” conference will probably be transmitted live via internet webcast. Different Non-Governmental Organizations around the world will be notified and will be able to watch the conference and to actively participate through the web platform. The most popular questions will be raised by the moderator enabling activists all around the world to participate in the discussion indirectly.
To consult the agenda: http://www.vilnius2011.mfa.lt/index.php?770266658
