The themes explored by ''Women in Parliament: Beyond Numbers', about the male-dominated gender roles in democratic systems, are the same that apply to the current debates here.

"The deep rooted perception that the public domain is reserved for men and that the social contract is about the relationship between men and government and not citizens and government,'' said Frene Ginwala, Speaker of the South African Parliament, in her foreword to the book published by the Stockholm-based Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.

Indeed, one could argue this may well be contributing to why, despite the lobbying by activists, the gender perspective in the Court's statute, approach and composition has not yet made the headlines.

The subject has so far been dwarfed by the complex technical and political  discussions regarding the definition of crimes, complementarity, role of the Security Council, the Prosecutor, and others. The direction that the debate is taking is not right, says Ana Elena Obando of Costa Rica, who represents the Interamerican Coalition of Activist Women.

She laments that most delegates still do not understand the difference between gender and women issues, and how important this is ought to be shaping the Court's characteristics. ''The gender language has been discussed for some 10 years in the United Nations and it is still mixed up with the issue of women,'' Obando said.

This means that the gender perspective tends to be treated as a separate matter, much like that of minorities, and not as an intergral part of the negotiations.

The Women's Caucus in Rome seeks to have the ICC have jurisdiction over all abuses committed against women's rights in conflict and a solid gender balance in the Court's composition, including the Prosecutor's office - which Obando sees as the only guarantee that crimes against women are identified as such in the first place. ''It is common that male prosecutors and lawyers tend to diminish abuses against women in cases of war, for example, on the ground that such atrocities are always committed by soldiers,'' she added.

Likewise, politics is often understood as a a males' sphere. This means that women are viewed as a minority to be protected, rather than the under-represented half of human society that they in fact are.  It is not by chance, the book 'Women in Parliament' says, that only 11 percent of the world's 40,822 parliamentarians are women, less than 11 percent of political leaders are women and only 18 of the 240 houses of parliaments are presided over by women.

Yet, women's rights are recognised in almost all constitutions and legal systems around the world. ''In common with women in other countries we found that the existence of rights in law does not automatically mean that women are able to claim and exercise these rights. Patriarchy and the subordination of women that is structured into society, as well as cultural and religious practice remain with us,'' Ginwala says.

Egypt's Azza Karam, editor of 'Women in Parliament', says in the book's introduction that ''translating the powers of numbers into the power of action for women, by women, and in partnership with men, is what the next millenium will be about.''

Of the 157 delegations attending this Conference, only 13 are led by women, of which four (Ireland, Spain, Sweden and Ukraine) are ministers and therefore do not participate in the actual bargaining table. In any case, the overwhelming majority of delegates and advisors of all delegations are male, with the sole exception of Finland. Still, women's advances so far in parliaments around the world may prove a useful strategy at the ICC negotiations.