Advocating for women in politics is a mission that Liberal International has undertaken over many years. Today LI opens our call for responses to the 2021 Women in Political Parties Index (WIPP Index), marking the second year that this ground-breaking index is open to our membership.

Using an online platform, this first-of-its-kind tool is designed to assist LI member parties in boosting inclusivity within their party structures and to advance the presence of women in politics. The Index is now OPEN to the entire membership!

The results of the 2020 WIPP Index found that in many ways, liberals are at the forefront of the global fight for gender equality. The global liberal family is consistently ahead of the regional trends for representation of women in parliaments, and many have comprehensive training programmes to strengthen and empower female candidates.

Despite this, many challenges remain. Many liberal parties have still never elected a female leader. Work remains to ensure that our party structures are equipped to record and follow up the threats and harassments we know that female candidates and politicians face. We must continue to actively acknowledge these challenges, and to train and educate our memberships as we strive to become more inclusive as political parties.

The 2021 report will follow these trends, and map out developments in the LI membership over the last year.

The index gives all LI member parties the opportunity to measure their party’s Women in Political Parties (WIPP) Index, i.e. the level of diversity and inclusivity within their party. The parties will then, with the help of the Inclusivity Handbook, have a chance to boost the inclusivity and diversity within their party structures through dedicated training sessions which will be run throughout 2021.

Initiating this work in early 2019, LI gathered representatives from our global membership at two expert forums, one at the fringes of the ALN General Assembly in Marrakech, Morocco and one hosted by LI Vice President Abir al Sahlani and Centerpartiet in Stockholm, Sweden.

In 2020, Liberal International launched the Index for the first time to our entire membership.

In providing these results, Liberal International’s objective is to assist our member parties in promoting greater participation of women in politics, which research shows benefits political parties, countries, and governments.

All international officers have received an e-mail with instructions for taking part in this year’s WIPP Index.