Doc. 9238

26 September 2001

Gender balanced representation in the Assembly

Motion for a resolution

presented by Mrs Zwerver and others

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only the members who have signed it

1.       The Assembly recalls that the realisation of equal opportunities for women and men is a necessary condition for the functioning of a democratic society.

2.       The examination of representation in the political institutions of the Council of Europe member countries has shown that women are very under-represented and this under-representation is reflected in the composition of national delegations to the Parliamentary Assembly.

3.       In this respect the Assembly supports the proposals of the Gender Partnership Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union presented at the last IPU Conference in Havana to amend the Union’s Statutes in order to remedy the weak participation of women to IPU conferences and in the Union’s governing bodies and standing committees.

4.       The Gender Partnership Group proposes, in particular, three amendments to the Union’s Statutes suggesting sanctions against those delegations, which fail to include at least one woman among their members. Those delegations will automatically be reduced by one member and the number of votes to which they are entitled at the Conference will also be diminished.

5.       The results of the consultations with the Union’s members about these amendments have shown the firm support of these measures by IPU member countries.

6.       In the light of this initiative the Assembly proposes to change the Assembly Rules of Procedure with a view to ensure the gender balance principle in the work of the Assembly and consequently recommends:

-       to introduce a new paragraph after the paragraph 6.2 of Rule 6 (Credentials) proposing to ensure a fair gender representation in national delegations, insisting on a minimum 30% representation of women in each delegation. If this rule is not respected the Assembly shall not ratify the credentials of this delegation (new paragraph proposed to 7.1). Until now there are 5 national delegations composed exclusively of male parliamentarians;

-       to amend the rule 45.1 on bureaux of committees by including the following sentence: “The principle of gender equality should be respected in the composition of the Bureau”;

-       to include in the Rule 49 on the reports of committees a provision stipulating that all reports preparing by the committees should take gender dimension into consideration and this should be reflected in all resolutions, recommendations and orders.

Signed : ¹

Zwerver, Netherlands, SOC

Aguiar, Portugal, EPP/CD

Akhvlediani, Georgia, LDR

Cryer, United Kingdom, SOC

Err, Luxembourg, SOC

Fyfe, United Kingdom, SOC

Herczog, Hungary, SOC

Holovaty, Ukraine, LDR

Keltošová, Slovakia, EDG

Manukyan, Armenia, UEL

Marmazov, Ukraine, UEL

Oliynyk, Ukraine, UEL

Schicker, Austria, SOC

Stankevič, Lithuania, LDR

¹        SOC: Socialist Group

      EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party

      EDG: European Democratic Group

      LDR : Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group

      UEL: Group of the Unified European Left

      NR: not registered in a group