The National Assembly for Wales' Presiding Officer, Dame Rosemary Butler AM, has addressed the Plenary Assembly of CALRE in Milan– an umbrella organisation made up of speakers from regional parliaments across Europe.
The subject of her address was her #POWiPL- Women in Public Life campaign, aimed at getting more women into public life.
At the previous CALRE Plenary Assembly in Galicia last year, the Presiding Officer agreed to chair and coordinate a Gender Equality Working Group, as part of CALRE's 2015 Work Programme.
The working group met at the National Assembly in June this year, where best practice was discussed.
"I believe that the National Assembly for Wales has a good story to tell when it comes to the representation of women in democracy," Dame Rosemary told the CALRE session in Milan.
"An important part of the remit of the Assembly's Women in Democracy Caucus, which I established last year, was to seek and impart best practice, especially from other parliaments.
"My aim through this Working Group has therefore been to discuss and exchange this best practice with fellow CALRE Members in a range of areas."
The areas discussed in the working group have included:
- measures that parliaments and parties put in place to encourage and ensure female representation at varying levels; and
- identifying whether parliaments with strong female representation create distinct policies and legislation as a result of this positive representation;