MLP in gender equality seminar - Advancing the participation of women in political decision making - 15-16 June 2016 - Slovenia

The mutual learning seminar, held in Ljubljana on 15 and 16 June 2016, focused on advancing the participation of women in political decision-making. The seminar reviewed good practices from Slovenia and the associated country, France.

Slovenia legislated for gender quotas in elections at local, national and European levels in the Elections of Slovenian Members of the European Parliament Act in 2004, the Local Elections Act in 2005, and the National Assembly Elections Act in 2006. The number of female representatives has significantly increased as a result. Broad coalitions were important for achieving change in the field. The coalition for balanced representation of women and men in public life was a key civil society platform that included prominent individuals and parliamentarians. The media was a key actor and initiatives were taken to increase the number of women in the media and improve media representation of women. Messaging was important, in particular the decision to emphasise the need for quotas for the under-represented sex rather than women’s quotas. International pressure played a role, especially through the EU accession process.

In France, political parties are required to present an equivalent number of female and male candidates in constituency based elections to the National Assembly. Failure to fulfil this requirement will result in a financial sanction. Political parties are further required to have gender parity on all candidate lists in the closed list elections at regional, municipality and European level elections. The sanction for non-compliance is non-acceptance of the candidate list. Each District level constituency elects a mixed pair of District Council members. The goal of parity democracy was assisted by legislation to prevent individuals from holding more than one elected office. The main actors in achieving these changes in French legislation were associations promoting gender parity, politicians supporting gender parity, the media, and public opinion.

The seminar concluded that legislated quotas were important but not sufficient. Legislated quotas are most effective when they apply to all levels of governance, include requirements in relation to placement on candidate lists, and are accompanied by effective sanctions. They need to be accompanied by further initiatives that provide support to women in politics and that stimulate the necessary culture change within political systems. Initiatives are also required to enable political parties to implement measures to increase the presence of women in the party, empower these women, and address the cultural barriers that are evident within their parties. Political institutions need to make plans in order to enhance the number of senior positions with clear visibility secured by women in politics and to improve the culture of these institutions. Specific initiatives are also needed to empower women, including networking, mentoring and training. At European level, the valuable contribution of the EU in influencing and monitoring action for gender equality in political decision making was emphasised.