The Equal Future platform is a resource and hub for knowledge and information on the topic of women’s participation and leadership in politics and public administration. The platform collects, analyzes, and examines the current status of women in politics and public administration in the 19 countries and territories covered by UNDP in Europe and Central Asia. Equal Future also looks forward, gathering good practices around gender equality and the meaningful inclusion of women in leadership and decision-making roles, and presenting inspiring stories of women who have entered and thrived in the political sphere. Thus, our platform creates a space for UNDP partners, researchers, activists, and women leaders to learn, exchange, and be inspired to continue their essential work towards an equal future for all. 

We created Equal Future in 2020 as a testament to the progress women have made in politics over the 25 years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action and a reminder of how much work remains to be done to achieve gender parity in parliaments. We have since updated Equal Future to show changes in the number of women in parliament in 19 countries and territories and in key laws and policies. Since 2023, we have expanded the coverage of the platform to cover the area of women’s representation and leadership in public administration.

Women’s equal access to leadership positions is intrinsic to advancing gender equality. UNDP has a longstanding record of working with parliaments, governments, local authorities, civil society and other actors to advance gender parity in decision-making. Equal Future brings together a wealth of data, information, and stories to mobilize the public, governments, and parliaments to help accelerate progress towards this goal.

With swiftly dwindling time to achieve Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals, we need more tools to support data-driven analysis and hold governments accountable to their commitments to gender equality. By presenting some of this data visually, Equal Future aims to generate greater public awareness of the critical importance of these commitments.

Equal Future is an initiative powered by UNDP in Europe and Central Asia, covering 19 countries and territories in the Western Balkans, South Caucasus and Central Asia. The Equal Future platform aims to cover these countries and territories in depth, as well as sharing information about good practices from all over the world. 

In 1995, the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing produced the landmark Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action, a 132-page blueprint for women’s rights minutely negotiated between governments and women’s groups from all over the world.

For more than a generation, the Beijing Declaration has been a lodestar for women’s movements and all other actors committed to gender equality. No other global UN agreement since has so comprehensively established the rights of women and girls as an inalienable part of human rights and freedoms. Although not binding on governments in the way UN conventions are, the Platform for Action from the Beijing Women’s Conference served as a foundation for transformative actions in countries and territories worldwide for gender equality and women’s empowerment.