Women leaders of all ages have made essential contributions to the overall development of our world, and specifically to furthering gender equality. The importance of young women’s transformational leadership in particular, which is the focus of this toolkit, is evident at the national and international levels: they have been critical to reigniting interest in different areas of advocacy such as climate change, Indigenous rights, and mental health (among other themes) through a gender-responsive and intersectional lens, and offer unique perspectives and working methods that are integral to the continued growth and success of existing movements.

Despite this, young women’s efforts can be under-acknowledged, and many barriers remain that prevent them – and our societies – from fully realising the benefits of their talents and leadership. Sexism, traditional gender roles, and discrimination are factors often embedded in political systems, limiting women’s access to positions of influence and the exercise of their political rights. In the case of young women, these realities are exacerbated by cultural and societal norms that undervalue the vision, opinions, and experiences of young people. Furthermore, individuals can face additional barriers as a result of one or more of their intersecting identities, such as their race, sexual orientation, or (dis)ability.

These structural barriers that limit the exercise of youth and young women’s political rights ultimately hinder democracy by inhibiting the diversity in decision-making that is needed to achieve true representation. Young women themselves are negatively impacted both as a constituency affected by the decisions made and as vital current and future change agents. Civil society organisations and governments have increasingly recognised the importance of young women’s political leadership and have identified this as a priority in democratic and gender equality commitments and programming.

Youth political involvement can be achieved in part by promoting a series of mechanisms, spaces, and programs that enable substantive participation. In order to be impactful and enable meaningful transformation within political spaces, these efforts should seek out diverse youth voices and actively incorporate their inputs, interests, and demands in decision-making processes at all levels. At an institutional level, both for civil society organisations and parliaments, it is important to consider youth mainstreaming strategies that go beyond tokenism and enable youth leadership as a regular and sustainable practice. 

Crucially, promoting substantive youth political involvement demands that those mechanisms, spaces, programs, and youth mainstreaming strategies support youth in developing their capacities as transformational leaders and advance the removal of barriers to exercising transformational leadership. According to the Young Feminist Manifesto, developed by young people who took part in the 2021 Generation Equality Forum (GEF), transformative leadership is leadership for sustainable change and addresses the root causes of inequalities. It is deeply intertwined with feminist leadership and intersectionality, and these combined, aim to challenge and shift power to dismantle systems of inequality and oppression holistically.

Parliamentary initiatives for youth can be avenues to support youth political participation and gender-responsive leadership and action within the legislature and by participants. To do so, the programs and activities must seek to create meaningful connections between civil society (and youth in particular) and parliamentarians. It is also important that these programs facilitate constructive dialogue between youth and decision-makers on issues of importance to youth and model positive forms of leadership.

When designed in these ways, parliamentary youth programs and the connections they establish, based on mutual respect and knowledge sharing, can greatly contribute to the fulfillment of shared goals, expand the topics debated in the legislature, foster more inclusive policy-making processes, and promote parliamentary openness and democratic strengthening. In addition, civic education efforts that allow youth to learn about parliaments and see the opportunity for positive change that can be achieved in these spaces support them in becoming and remaining politically active and engaged members of society.

Concrete examples of such programs and activities, based on learning and initiatives by ParlAmericas, CIWiL, and FONAMUPP, include:

Participatory leadership workshops

Workshops, both online and in person, can provide a productive space for dialogue between youth leaders, parliamentarians, and subject matter experts on a variety of gender equality issues. It is important to conceptualise them as an opportunity for a two-way knowledge transfer and provide spaces for youth to contribute to the conversation, whether through presentations or participatory exercises.

Leadership workshops have been an integral part of YWiL and ILJ programs. Some examples of successful exercises and methodologies include:

• Town-hall sessions with parliamentarians, where youth participants can exchange ideas with decision-makers about a specific topic
• The “Privilege Walk” exercise , which demonstrates the concept of intersectionality and encourages consideration of its impact in policy-making
• Public policy analysis workshops that ask youth to apply a gender-lens to a specific issue, guided by parliamentarians and subject matter experts

Youth parliaments and simulated parliamentary sittings

Youth parliaments are an effective citizen participation mechanism for participants to become more familiarised and connected with the legislative process. Panama’s Youth Parliament, which has been organised on a consistent basis since 2002, brings high school students from across the country to the National Assembly to learn about the legislative process and collaboratively work on mock bills -- which, on some occasions, have been championed by parliamentarians and became national laws. Similarly, national parliaments in countries across the Caribbean host annual National Youth Parliaments (NYPs) where participants are trained in debate and parliamentary procedure to participate in a simulated sitting of the legislature either as members of the legislature or parliamentary authorities. 

The YWiL program follows a similar methodology but expands upon the themes of training to include transformational leadership, gender equality, and applying a gender lens in decision-making processes. Participants then apply this learning in the preparation of their contributions to simulated parliamentary sittings, which also focus on a bill or motion on a gender equality theme. The sitting, which is televised and widely shared at the national level, gives participants the opportunity to share innovative proposals on priority policy themes and learn about parliamentary protocol in an immersive way. It also encourages public discussion on gender equality topics. 

Gender equality learning can also be incorporated into the annual NYPs offered by parliaments. The Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago has included a training module on gender sensitivity in legislation in its program, which was developed in partnership with ParlAmericas. Other NYPs, such as those in Antigua and Barbuda and St. Kitts and Nevis, have hosted debates on gender equality themes as part of national commemorations of International Women’s Day and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Consultations with youth and youth-led CSOs

It is a good parliamentary practice to conduct consultations with civil society experts that include youth and youth-led CSOs. Individuals and organisations focused specifically on women’s rights, gender equality, or gender-responsive approaches to different issues should be included among the rosters of specialists in these spaces. From inviting them to be expert witnesses in committee hearings, to conducting national youth polls, to inviting youth to speak at national and international conferences, there are many ways to incorporate youth perspectives into the legislative process. Youth inclusion is incorporated in all Gatherings of the different ParlAmericas networks through Parliamentary Dialogues with Civil Society and Youth Representatives.

Production of knowledge resources

Parliaments can support the creation of resources that aim to increase public knowledge – and particularly that of children and young people – on the parliamentary system. Good regional examples include children’s books that illustrate the purposes and procedures of parliament, like those created by the Senate of Canada, the National Assembly of Guyana, and the Congress of Boys and Girls portal created by the Congress of Argentina.

Another example is the children's book Elena and the Ants: A Team to the Rescue, produced by FONAMUPP with the support of ParlAmericas, which relays the story of Elena, an Indigenous girl who mobilises her community to protect the health of their local river. Elena meets with the parliamentarian from her district and is invited to the National Assembly to talk about her project. The book has been approved for use within Panama’s education system and has been distributed in the National Assembly and to many libraries across the country. It provides children with examples of citizen participation, inclusive leadership, and environmental sustainability.

Co-creation of policy recommendations

One of the most impactful participation strategies is to incorporate youth inputs directly into the policy-making process. Through the ILJ Panama project, participants co-created a citizen’s initiative to promote and regulate  ecotourism in the country through a gender-responsive and intersectional lens and submitted this to the National Assembly. The citizen’s initiative was deemed viable and is now eligible to be discussed at the committee level in the National Assembly.

In recent years, the growing activism and social and political movements led by the hemisphere’s youth have been essential in denouncing inequalities exacerbated by sexism, racism, and other forms of systemic discrimination, as well as in putting relevant issues on the public agenda. Young experts have drawn attention to a wide variety of topics through various ParlAmericas, CIWiL, and FONAMUPP activities in recent years. Five priority areas that youth leaders have emphasised are outlined below:

Climate change and environmental sustainability

Youth are at the forefront of the calls to address the climate crisis and promote environmental sustainability, and often advocate for an inclusive approach to such action. During the 12^th Gathering of the ParlAmericas’ Parliamentary Network for Gender Equality (PNGE), a working group of young leaders and parliamentarians contributed to the final declaration by proposing the substantive inclusion of youth organisations in the preparation of national plans to address climate change and the importance of incorporating a gender-responsive lens in this process. Similarly, the 5th Gathering of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network on Climate Change featured a Parliamentary Dialogue with Civil Society and Youth Representatives in which legislative strategies were discussed to ensure that short and long-term climate plans are developed with an intersectional lens. Within the ILJ Panama citizen’s initiative on ecotourism, participants added considerations for women entrepreneurs and proposed inclusive environmental education strategies that incorporate Indigenous knowledge.

Social inclusion and intersectionality

As a group that is under-represented in decision-making spaces, youth (and in particular young women) often advocate for enhanced participation of young people in parliament and other decision-making spaces. Many youth also apply an understanding of intersectionality as a key principle in their advocacy for more inclusive decision-making and advocate more broadly for greater inclusion of other under-represented or marginalised groups, including rural leaders, members of the LGBTQ+ community, Indigenous leaders, and many others.

Further, young leaders have applied an intersectional lens in dialogues in leadership programs to draw attention to the angles of issues that may have been missed. For instance, in YWiL parliamentary interventions young women have advocated for a differentiated approach to food security efforts to meet the needs of rural populations, and through the ILJ program participants ensured the incorporation of measures to make ecotourism facilities more accessible to persons with disabilities.

Holistic healthcare and co-responsibility in care work

Youth advocate on a wide range of health topics, from increasing mental health supports during COVID-19 response and recovery efforts, to addressing period poverty to ensure all individuals have access to needed menstrual products, to expanding access to reproductive and sexual healthcare and rights. Young people are also part of calls to promote co-responsibility in care work, calling for state actors to recognise unpaid care work and invest in solutions that distribute responsibilities more equitably, breaking down traditional gender norms around care tasks.

Gender-based violence

Young women are at the forefront of movements to eradicate gender-based violence, such as #NiUnaMenos (Spanish for “Not one [woman] less”) that denounces femicides in Latin America, and #LifeInLeggings that focuses on sexual harassment in the Caribbean. These movements call for the elimination of violence at all levels, from the family to the institutional and societal levels. In addition, young leaders have championed global campaigns such as the 16 Days for Activism against Gender-Based Violence and UNiTE by 2030 to End Violence against Women.  

In different spaces, including in the YWiL parliamentary sittings and the 13^th PNGE Gathering on gender-responsive and data-driven social protection systems, young leaders have brought up these critical issues, noting how the COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated the fragility of social protection systems and persistent problems like domestic and political violence.

Equity in education and the workplace

Youth have recognised the importance of equitable access to education and workforce opportunities in a variety of settings. During the 12^th PNGE Gathering, a working group of young leaders and parliamentarians agreed that promoting education in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) is necessary for the labour force of the future, noting that women are under-represented in these fields. As part of the ILJ Panama project, youth included comprehensive education reforms as a key strategy to promote eco-friendly practices in tourism.

The need to ensure continuous access to quality education and employment – and the systems and technologies which facilitate this – in the COVID-19 context was also an advocacy priority for youth who took part in the 13^th PNGE Gathering on inclusive social protection. Particular attention was drawn to the importance of providing needed supports for rural youth, those living in poverty, and others who may have more difficulty accessing technology tools that facilitate remote participation.

Leadership programs like Young Women in Leadership and Youth Legislative Impact aim to provide tools for leaders of all ages to establish intergenerational partnerships, recognising that a multitude of actors are needed to foster and sustain youth political leadership. This section provides good practices for young leaders and their intergenerational allies to enable sustainable youth leadership for gender equality.

For young leaders

The additional barriers that youth face in exercising their political rights, in addition to the challenges of advancing gender equality in potentially adverse environments, can lead to overwork, stress, and even burnout. Backlash, trolling, and harassment are often used to silence those challenging unequal power structures and create distressing realities faced by many women leaders. Additionally, young leaders often do their gender equality advocacy in a volunteer capacity, or on top of full-time work or education.

Therefore, it is important for young leaders to pay attention to their own mental health, especially in the midst of multiple priorities that may appear to be more pressing. Self-care and establishing healthy boundaries can become important strategies for building resilience and maintaining efforts in the face of the additional pressures and barriers that young leaders may face. Truly grounding one’s leadership in a feminist approach requires a commitment to fostering holistic wellbeing for individuals, teams, and communities.

Here are some resources to support young leaders in prioritising their mental health:

• FRIDA’s team developed a Happiness Manifestx as a commitment to self-care at personal and collective level, that can serve as a model or inspiration
• This Wellness Planning Template by the Audre Lorde Project can help anticipate personal and community needs at various moments and plan for possible supports to meet them
• Doing What Matters in Times of Stress: An Illustrated Guide is a stress management guide created by the World Health Organisation to help individuals coping with adversity

Relying on strong networks of fellow gender equality advocates has also proven to be a good practice for overall wellbeing and effective leadership. These networks are an important source of resources, opportunities, and most importantly, mutual support among leaders of all ages.

For youth allies

Experienced parliamentarians and civil society leaders can be crucial allies for young political leaders, using their positions of influence, networks, and expertise to open doors and create safe spaces for the new generations. Some strategies that they can implement include:

• Ensuring that young leaders in parliament or within political parties have access to important information and are involved in key conversations
• Avoiding harmful stereotypes, including ageism, that inhibit youth’s full participation in politics and decision-making spaces
• Supporting the design and implementation of mechanisms for youth participation in parliaments, such as the ones highlighted in this toolkit
• Considering internship and mentorship opportunities to employ and train young leaders
• Incorporating consultations with youth as a regular practice in the legislative process, especially when proposing bills that directly impact young people.