The study has been carried out as part of the programmatic co-operation framework for 2015-2017 between the Council of Europe and the European Commission. The research has identified key facts and barriers that restrict women’s political representation in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
International standards, such as the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights (ECHR), are clear that women and men should have equal rights and opportunities to participate fully in all aspects of political life and the democratic process.
Despite the recognition of formal equal political rights of women and men, participation in the political process, including membership of and participation in political parties, standing as a candidate, being elected and holding office with legislative or administrative bodies, remains dominated by men. The Council of Europe Recommendation Rec(2003)3 on balanced participation of women and men in political and public decision making noted that “Men set political priorities, and political culture continues to be highly male orientated.” The same situation exists still in 2016.
- In all the countries women are less likely than men to stand for political office and to be elected both at legislative (national) level and at administrative (local) level. Women hold less than 20% of seats in parliament in all the countries with the exception of Belarus where 30% of parliamentary seats are held by women.
- An examination of the legal framework in each country shows that although there is a general legal basis for equality of women and men, in political life the reality is different. Lack of effective enforcement mechanisms weakens the very few specific measures in place.
- However, stereotypical views and assumptions about the role women should play in society are major barriers to women’s political representation in all the study countries. They affect women’s position in the economy and the labour market, reducing women’s likelihood of putting themselves forward as candidates, of being selected and of being elected.
- Data from the United Nations Human Development Index and from the country researchers show that women participate in the labour market at lower levels than men and their estimated gross national income is less than that of men, from 77% of male income in Moldova to 50% of male income in Georgia.
- Women are more likely to have higher education than men, however they do not occupy positions in central administration at the same rates as men. They mainly work in occupations that are lower paid than men such as in the public sector.
- The report has examined the role of political parties in supporting women’s political representation and found, with few exceptions, that women do not play a major role in the policy-making bodies of parties and that women’s issues and concerns are not visible in the policies and programmes presented to electors.
The key findings of the research in Armenia are as follows:
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Armenia is the only country that has adopted a legal quota for women in elections for the National Assembly. In practice this means that there must be at least one woman in every five candidates on a party list. However, OSCE/ODIHR EOM parliamentary elections in Armenia in May 2012 assessed that the effectiveness of the quota is limited as candidates may withdraw after the list has been registered and there is no requirement for the original gender proportions to be maintained. (p. 25)
Armenia has the lowest percentage of women elected (10%) and Belarus the highest (27%). (p. 50)
The percentage of women on the highest executive bodies ranges from 40% in one party in Azerbaijan to 5-10% in Armenia. Visible leadership of women is likely to encourage more women to come forward to be involved in political parties and also to have an influence on party policies. (p. 44)
The lowest percentage of women in higher/central administration is recorded in Armenia (11%) and Ukraine (16.1%). The highest women’s participation in local administration is reported in Belarus (52.9%). (p. 32)
Most parties in the study had women’s sections or organisations but this was not reflected in the policies of the parties. None of the parties included in the study in Armenia, Georgia, Belarus or Ukraine had adopted policies specific to women such as on women’s representation or violence against women and girls in their party programmes for the last elections. (p. 78)
Violence against women is a critical indicator of the way women are regarded by society. One measure is the countries that have signed and ratified the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (also known as the Istanbul Convention). Armenia[1] is not among the signatories to the Istanbul Convention. (p. 33)
In Armenia and Belarus there are no specific laws against violence against women. (p. 41)
The study identified negative stereotypical views and assumptions about women’s roles as being the major barrier to their political involvement. The 2015 Armenian Gender Barometer survey found 60% of respondents think men and women are unequal in Armenian society. 55% think this is due to the low level of awareness of women’s rights in society. (p. 38)
In Armenia party deputies that were women had access to the media but usually they had the role of communicating difficult messages to the public, while party leaders, who are all men, were mostly appearing in the media to communicate positive messages to the voters. (p. 48)
The evidence from the study is that in the cases of Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine, where quotas and affirmative actions were introduced at legislative and/or at local level, this had a limited but positive effect. (p. 69)
Recommendations
In Armenia consideration should be given to introducing measures to prevent the undermining of the intention of the quota of women on party lists, by the practice of women resigning once the list has been accepted or after election and being replaced by men. For example, this could be done by legislating that a retiring member should be replaced by the next one on the party list from the least represented sex. (p. 81)
Overall in all Eastern Partnership (Eap) countries political parties should take measures to encourage and support more women to come forward as candidates and get elected including:
- starting to encourage women to stand as candidates and provide training at least two years before the elections;
- increasing the visibility of women candidates and elected representatives in the media;
- challenging stereotypical views of women and raising issues of concern to women through public statements of leading party members, etc. (See more p. 82)
Governments/ruling parties should support the political representation of women in the following ways:
- introduce quotas for women chairs and deputies of government committees;
- develop awareness-raising campaigns for elected officials on gender issues and the importance of female political representation;
- consider introducing legislation which has a positive effect on women’s political representation, including measures that address the social and economic aspects of women’s lives as well as the introduction of legal quotas and affirmative actions which ensure that support, including financial support, is targeted at women, etc. (See more p. 82)
[1] In Armenia police statistics show an average per year of 621 reported cases, however women’s rights NGOs collectively have an average of 5 000 calls to hotlines a year. In 2013 a draft law on violence in the family was rejected on the grounds that it would be unenforceable. (p. 33-34)