Pia Kauma participates in the Helsinki workshop on 4 June 2025.HELSINKI, 4 June 2025 – More than 60 parliamentarians and experts from Europe and Central Asia gathered this week at the Finnish Parliament for a two-day workshop on gender-sensitive parliaments, organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) with support from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and OSCE field operations. Entitled Realizing Gender Equality in and by Parliaments, the workshop highlighted the critical role of national parliaments in driving progress toward gender equality.
“It is difficult to recognize inequality when you are on the side of the privileged. Equality work must be continuous to respond to societal changes. The goal of equality policy is a society in which every individual has the opportunity to grow to their full potential,” highlighted Tarja Filatov, Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Finland in her opening remarks.
“A gender-sensitive parliament does not only mean equal participation of women and men,” said OSCE PA President Pia Kauma (Finland). “It is much more than that. It reflects the diverse needs and experiences of all people in its work, structures, policies, and culture. That is why advocating for gender-sensitive parliaments does not mean favouring women. It simply benefits democracy, good governance, and peace and security.”
In the 30 years since the Beijing Platform for Action set out international norms on women’s rights and gender equality, many national parliaments across the OSCE region have taken steps to implement gender-sensitive practices, often in co-operation with academia, civil society, and international partners. Some parliaments have conducted gender audits, developed parliamentary gender action plans, set up targeted gender equality committees, and introduced practices of gender-sensitive lawmaking and oversight. However, significant gaps remain, and much work is still required to ensure that all parliaments across the OSCE region become truly gender-sensitive institutions.
“As institutions at the heart of our democracies parliaments are uniquely positioned to legislate for change, and at the same time they embody the values of equality, inclusivity and representation,” said Tea Jaliashvili, ODIHR’s First Deputy Director.
The workshop provided a platform for Members of Parliament to reflect on how to embed gender equality more effectively within parliamentary work. Discussions underlined the importance of institutional reforms, gender-sensitive legislation and oversight, addressing violence against women in politics, and engaging men as active partners in advancing equality.
A highlight of the workshop was the endorsement of the Helsinki Pledges on Gender-sensitive Parliaments in the OSCE Region by all participants. The Pledges call on national parliaments to commit to working towards gender-sensitive parliaments and targeted action to realise this aim in all their functions, from representation through lawmaking, to oversight.
“All of the legislative work we do in our national parliaments needs to be looked carefully through the gender lens and unfortunately none of us is doing this well enough yet. We have to do better. Also, we can do better in empowering women in business as well as in politics. We need to start engaging women from grass-roots level and support them for example with finding the proper funding,” said Saara Sofia Sirén, Finnish MP and the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on Gender.
Participants agreed that the Helsinki Pledges should be discussed widely in parliaments across the OSCE region and used as a basis for action and dialogue.
To download the Helsinki Pledges, please click here.
President Kauma’s full speech is available here.
Photos from the event are available at the Flickr page of the Finnish Parliament.
