Increasing women’s representation in decision making advocated

Odonchimeg 2016-05-11 09:05

Economy

Increasing women’s representation in decision making is advocated.

Increasing women’s representation in decision making is advocated. A national forum themed “Women’s Participation at the Decision-Making Level” was held to raise awareness of the political gender divide. The forum informed the participating female leaders of the election process and encouraged women to participate actively in forthcoming June parliamentary and elections in order to ensure more balanced representation in decision-making bodies. Speaking at the forum, Speaker of Mongolian Parliament Mr Enkhbold told that in Mongolia, attempts have been made to increase women’s representation in politics, including the introduction of quota system in favor of female candidates. During the previous 2012 elections, the women’s quota was 20 percent and accordingly, Mongolian Parliament now has 11 female members. Past year, Parliament resolved including a mandatory 30 percent quota of female candidates in the amended election law. However, a quota alone will not get women elected. Political parties need to actively promote women candidates. The Democratic Party’s decision to apply a voluntary quota for women candidates in local elections would hopefully followed by other parties, noted the Speaker of Parliament. To give some facts, as of January this year, the world average stands at 22.6 percent. In the Asia-Pacific region women hold on average 18.8 percent of legislative seats. In Mongolia, 14.5 percent of seats in the national parliament are held by women.