51 4 ADVICE AND ASSISTANCE TO GOVERNMENT NHRIs can implement gender mainstreaming by developing gender-assessment strategies or impact analyses for draft legislation and existing laws, policies, programmes and activities. Supporting the government to find ways to integrate gender perspectives into its work across all government departments can be a powerful way of combating gender-based discrimination and advancing gender equality. 4.5 WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN POLITICAL AND PUBLIC LIFE “The (OSCE) participating States recognize that full and true equality between men and women is a fundamental aspect of a just and democratic society based on the rule of law. The full development of society and the welfare of all its members require equal opportunity for full and equal participation of men and women.”27 OSCE commitments further “call on the participating States to consider possible legislative measures, which would facilitate a  more balanced participation of women and men in political and public life and especially decision-making.”28 The right of women to participate in political and public life is enshrined in international standards and national legislation of OSCE countries. 29 This refers to women’s ability to participate on an equal footing with men in all aspects of political and public life, at all levels, and in decision-making. In spite of these commitments, women continue to be under-represented in governance structures in the OSCE region, currently 27 Document of the Moscow Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE, Moscow, 1991. 28 OSCE Ministerial Council Decision No. 7/09, “Women’s Participation in Political and Public Life”, Athens, 2 December 2009. 29 UDHR (1948), ICCPR (adopted 1966, entered into force 1976) Art 3; CEDAW, Art. 7, (adopted 1979, entered into force 1981), and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995), Art. 190–195. Example The Canadian Human Rights Commission is currently developing a Gender Relevancy Assessment, designed to offer practical guidance to NHRI staff, public servants and government officials on gender mainstreaming. To incorporate a gender perspective into their work, the staff should ask themselves the following questions: • What is the project/issue you are working on? • Are there divergences in the experiences of women and men that could impact them differently? (i.e., women prisoners as distinct from men prisoners) • Are there multiple or intersecting grounds present that could potentially aggravate their experience of discrimination? (i.e. a young woman from a minority group who has a disability) • If so, how could you address this reality in your work? SURVEY RESULTS 33% of NHRIs identified promoting women’s participation in political and public life as one of five priority areas.