From discussion to action: The impact of Women Constitution-Makers’ Dialogues

Women constitution-makers utilize International IDEA’s knowledge and networks to give high-quality advice and advance inclusive practices in constitution-building processes. Of the 75 countries that underwent constitutional reform or a negotiated transition from authoritarianism to democracy between 1990 and 2015, only 19 per cent of the members of the constitution-making bodies involved were women. And even as the representation of women in constitution-making bodies grows, their contributions are often pigeonholed into ‘women’s issues’, leading to the systematic exclusion of women from crucial discussions over forms of governance.

International IDEA, in collaboration with the Peace and Conflict Resolution Evidence Platform (PeaceRep) and the Edinburgh Centre for Constitutional Law, established the Women Constitution-Makers’ Dialogue in 2019. This initiative provides a peer-to-peer platform for women to exchange experiences in constitutionmaking. To date, participants have included members of constitution-making bodies from more than a dozen countries, including Chile, Tunisia and Yemen.

Feedback collected in 2023 revealed the transformative impact of these annual Dialogues. Participants not only expanded their knowledge and capacity for constitutional negotiations but also deeply valued the supportive network of solidarity created by the Dialogues, particularly given the pushback or even backlash many of them have faced because of their involvement in constitution-making processes.

Many participants have integrated and utilized the knowledge they gained from the Dialogues in subsequent constitution-building activities. One participant from South Sudan, for example, trained over 100 national- and state-level legislators on the constitution-making process.