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Resolution 1706 (2010) Final version
Increasing women’s representation in politics through the electoral system
1. Equal participation of women and
men in political life is one of the foundations of democracy and
one of the goals of the Council of Europe, reaffirmed by the Organisation’s
Committee of Ministers as recently as May 2009.
2. Unfortunately, nearly thirty-five years after the first United
Nations World Conference on Women in Mexico City, and nearly fifteen
years after the fourth in Beijing, women remain grievously under-represented
in politics. Women still hold less than 20% of parliamentary seats
and ministerial portfolios worldwide, and less than 5% of heads
of state are women. This under-representation constitutes a waste
of talent, and also weakens democracy and human rights.
3. There are many factors which lead to women’s under-representation
in politics. The most important factor is probably the decade-old
backlash against women’s rights. In Europe, societies remain characterised by
attitudes, customs and behaviour which disempower women in public
life, discriminate against them, and hold them hostage to prescribed
role-models and stereotypes according to which women are “not suited”
to decision making and politics. Unsocial meeting hours and a lack
of child-care facilities for politicians can further deter women
candidates – politics is tailored to fit men who do not bear even
a minimum share of family responsibilities and who rely on their
wives to keep the household running.
4. The attitudes, customs and behaviour described above influence
a country’s institutional, party and electoral landscape; but conversely,
a change in that landscape can also impact on society’s attitudes. Changing
the electoral system to one more favourable to women’s representation
in politics, in particular by adopting gender quotas, can lead to
more gender-balanced, and thus more legitimate, political and public decision
making. This was already recognised by the Committee of Ministers
in its Recommendation Rec(2003)3 on balanced participation of women
and men in political and public decision making, and reaffirmed
by the Parliamentary Assembly on several occasions – most recently
when awarding its first Gender Equality Prize in September 2009.
5. However, changing the electoral system is not enough: to be
really effective, this change must be accompanied by measures such
as gender-sensitive civic education and the elimination of gender
stereotypes and “built-in” bias against women candidates, in particular
within political parties, but also within the media. In some Council
of Europe member states, constitutions also need to be changed in
order to accompany gender equality and anti-discrimination provisions
with the necessary exception allowing positive discrimination measures
for the under-represented sex, without them being considered a violation
of the equality principle.
6. The Assembly considers that the lack of equal representation
of women and men in political and public decision making is a threat
to the legitimacy of democracies and a violation of the basic human
right of gender equality, and thus recommends that member states
rectify this situation as a priority by:
6.1. associating the gender equality and anti-discrimination
provisions in their constitutions and their electoral laws with
the necessary exception allowing positive discrimination measures
for the under-represented sex, if they have not done so already,
as a precondition recognised by the European Commission for Democracy
through Law (Venice Commission) of the Council of Europe;
6.2. fully implementing the recommendations contained in Committee
of Ministers Recommendation Rec(2003)3, in Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1676 (2004) on
women’s participation in elections and Resolution 1489 (2006) on mechanisms
to ensure women’s participation in decision making, and in the Congress
of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe’s Recommendation
273 (2009) on equal access to local and regional elections, in particular
as concerns changing electoral systems and introducing gender quotas;
6.3. reforming their electoral system to one more favourable
to women’s representation in parliament:
6.3.1. in countries
with a proportional representation list system, consider introducing
a legal quota which provides not only for a high proportion of female
candidates (ideally at least 40%), but also for a strict rank-order
rule (for example, a “zipper” system of alternating male and female candidates),
and effective sanctions (preferably not financial, but rather the
non-acceptance of candidacies/candidate lists) for non-compliance,
ideally in combination with closed lists in a large constituency
and/or a nation-wide district;
6.3.2. in countries with majority or plurality systems, consider
introducing the principle of each party choosing a candidate amongst
at least one female and one male nominee in each party district,
or find other ways of ensuring increased representation of women
in politics, such as, for example, applying innovative mandatory
gender quotas within political parties, or “all-women shortlists”
or “twinned” constituencies, again accompanied by effective sanctions
for non-compliance;
6.4. limiting by law the number of political posts (at local,
regional, national or European level) which can he held simultaneously;
6.5. encouraging political parties to voluntarily adopt gender
quotas and to take other positive action measures, also within their
own decision-making structures, and especially in the party structure responsible
for nomination of candidates for elections;
6.6. accompanying these changes with measures such as gender-sensitive
civic education and the elimination of gender stereotypes and “built-in”
bias against women candidates, in particular within political parties,
but also within the media and trade unions.