Political party financing and equal participation of women: Kenya, Tunisia, and Colombia

‘Political party financing and equal participation of women’ is a series of studies conducted in Tunisia, Kenya, and Colombia on political party financing and womens’ roles in politics.

In Kenya, the study specifically looks into the role and extent to which access to financial resources determines the success of women running for elective positions. It discusses the main findings on financial barriers for women politicians in Kenya, and makes recommendations for political parties, politicians and potential candidates, Kenya’s electoral management body and other oversight bodies, as well as for democracy assistance providers, to facilitate reforms in this area.

The report on Tunisia makes recommendations on how reforms related to the role of money in politics could help women participate and continue to be engaged in politics. These include providing increased public funding to lists headed by women; and providing ongoing public funding to political parties, with specific funds earmarked for activities related to gender equality. Increased transparency in political parties and election campaigns could also, with time, help to balance the participation of women and men in the political sphere.

Finally, in Colombia, the study focuses on the experience of Colombia, a country that, like many other Latin American countries, continues to struggle with the legacies of pervasive social, economic and political inequality that disproportionately affect women. It explores the role of political finance in hindering women’s access to political power and its relative weight with respect to other obstacles to women’s political participation. It also suggests a number of institutional changes that might ameliorate some of the problems identified, while being fully cognizant of the limits to institutional change recasting deep-rooted gender imbalances.

Below, you can also download the NIMD-International IDEA Factsheets on women’s access to political finance in Tunisia and Kenya.