On Women’s Day take ODIHR’s short quiz on

women’s rights and achievements

Question No. 1: Recognizing equality between women and men Which document of international relevance was the first one to recognize the equality of women and men?

A. United Nations CharterB. Universal Declaration of Human RightsC. Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination

Against Women (CEDAW)

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Recognizing equalitybetween women and menCorrect answer: A. United Nations Charter

UN support for the rights of women began with the Organization's founding Charter in 1948.  Among the purposes of the UN declared in Article 1 of its Charter is “To achieve international co-operation…in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.”

Source: http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/women/

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Question No. 2: OSCE and gender equality

When and where was the OSCE Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality adopted?

A. 2011, WarsawB. 2004, SofiaC. 2000, Vienna

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OSCE and gender equality Correct answer: B. 2004, Sofia

The 2004 OSCE Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality is the key OSCE document assigning responsibilities and tasks to all parts of the OSCE and its 57 participating States in attaining gender equality.Among its objectives are:• To ensure all OSCE policies, programmes and activities are gender

mainstreamed, in other words, assessing the different implications for women and men in all OSCE planned activities and policies;

• Within the OSCE, developing a professional, gender-sensitive management culture and working environment; and

• Supporting the efforts of participating States in achieving gender equality.

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Question No. 3: Top barriers for entering into politics

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While there is a general assumption that women do not enter politics because of lack of confidence, Inter-Parliamentary Union research shows that women actually face different barriers, compared to men. What are the three top barriers for women?

A. Domestic responsibilities, stereotypes about women’s and men’s role in society, lack of family support

B. Lack of support from electorate, lack of finance, lack of support of political parties

C. Lack of interest for politics, fear of discrimination and concerns over prejudices

Top barriers for entering into politics

This visual is from the Compendium of Good Practices for Advancing Women’s

Political Participation in the OSCE Region.To learn more, visit,

www.osce.org/odihr/224171

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Correct answer:A. Domestic responsibilities, stereotypes about women’s and men’s role in society, lack of family support

Women are more often overburdened with household and family responsibilities and presumptions of their gender roles that do not support them being leaders. For men these barriers do not factor in, and they mostly struggle with gaining support from the electorate and political parties, as well as access to campaign financing.

Source: Equality in Politics, A Survey of Women and Men in Parliaments, IPU, 2008.

Questions No 4: Women’s representation in parliaments

While women’s representation in national parliaments has been changing over the years, some countries are making more progress. Name the top four countries in terms of women’s representation in national parliaments in the OSCE region:

A. Hungary, Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine

B. Sweden, Finland, Iceland, SpainC. Canada, United States of

America, France, Kazakhstan. 8 16

This visual is from the Compendium of Good Practices for Advancing Women’s Political Participation in the OSCE Region.To learn more, visit, www.osce.org/odihr/224171.

Women’s Representation in ParliamentsOSCE Average

Women’s representation in parliaments Correct answer: B. Finland, Iceland, Spain and Sweden

Women’s participation in parliaments is crucial to improving the representative nature, accountability and quality of democracies, and has a profound impact on the way politics is practiced in terms of policy-making agendas and political content. Yet despite the many international conferences, documents and commitments, with a small number of exceptions, parliaments remain a long way from parity between men and women. Only 17 OSCE countries are currently above the 30 per cent target set by the UN Economic and Social Council to be reached by1995 (50 per cent by 2000). Only four countries can boast more than 40 per cent women MPs in their lower or single houses – Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Spain.

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Questions No. 5: Women in conflict prevention, peace- negotiations and peace- building

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Even though numerous studies demonstrate the benefits of women’s contribution to conflict prevention, peace-negotiations and peace-building, a study of 31 major peace processes between 1992 and 2011 revealed that …..% of chief mediators and ….% of signatories were women:

A. 2% chief mediators and 4% signatoriesB. 5% and 10% respectivelyC. 10% and 15% respectively.

Women in conflict prevention, peace- negotiations and peace- building

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Correct answer: A. 2 per cent chief mediators and 4 per cent signatories

Data on the numbers of women in peace talks are scarce, as this information is not consistently tracked by any authority. A sample of 31 major peace processes between 1992 and 2011 reveals that only 4 per cent of signatories, 2.4 per cent of chief mediators, 3.7 per cent of witnesses and 9 per cent of negotiators are women.

This is in spite of growing participation of women in politics and that peace negotiations characterized by high civil society involvement are less likely to result in resumed warfare.

Source: Women’s Participation in Peace Negotiations: Connections betweenPresence and Influence, UN Women, 2012.

Questions No. 6: Violence against womenHow many women experience physical or sexual intimate-partner violence or sexual violence by a non-partner at some point in their lives, according to global statistics?

A. 1 in 10B. 1 in 7C. 1 in 3

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Violence against womenCorrect answer: C. 1 in 3

It is estimated that 35 per cent of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate-partner violence or sexual violence by a non-partner at some point in their lives.

Source: http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/facts-and-figures#sthash.SXrpzaoz.dpuf

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Question No. 7: Women in sportsIt’s not known definitively whether women took part in ancient Olympic games. In which modern Olympics did women first compete in five sports: tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrianism and golf?

A. Athens, 1896B. Paris, 1900C. Stockholm, 1912

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Women in sportsCorrect answer: B. Paris, 1900

Twenty-two women competed for the first time at the 1900 Games in Paris.

With the addition of women’s boxing to the Olympic programme, the 2012 Games in London were the first in which women competed in all sports, making up 44 . per cent of the participants.

Source: http://registration.olympic.org/en/faq/detail/id/135

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Thank you for taking the quiz!

• ODIHR works to strengthen gender-equality institutions, identify discriminatory laws and policies, and increase women’s participation in politics and electoral processes.

• Through gender equality training for parliamentarians, civil society and security-sector personnel, and by encouraging women’s recruitment and promotion within the security ranks, ODIHR supports effective institutions, policies and programmes that reflect the needs and interests of both men and women.

• To learn more, visit www.osce.org/odihr/gender

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