Women in Politics and Decision
Making
Jana Smiggels Kavková, M.A.
České Budějovice, 22.5.
Women in Political DecisionMaking
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Chamber of Deputies: 44 women of 200
members, 22%
Senate: 15 women of 81 senators, 18.5%
Government: 2 women of 16 members,
12.5%
Regions: 1 woman of 13 hetmans, 7.7%
Regional and Local Politics
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Regional Assemblies: 17.6%
Local Assemblies: 26% in average, 23% in
the largest cities
Mayors of Statutory Cities: 2 women of 23
statutory mayors, 8.7%
International Comparison
(www.ipu.org)
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Nordic countries
Americas
Europe (incl. Nordic countries)
Czech Republic
Europe (excl. Nordic countries)
Sub-Saharan Africa
Asia
Pacific
Arab States
42%
22.7%
22.7%
22.0%
20.9%
19.8%
18.8%
12.4 %
11.7 %
Czech Republic occupies the 56th place in the ranking together with Serbia,
Eritrea and Uzbekistan.
International Comparison
(World Economic Forum) – 75th place (135 countries)
Women on Corporate Boards
- Average in the EU countries: 13,7 %
- Very slow improvement (8,5 % in 2003)
- Women as chairs/presidents: 3,2 % in the
EU
- Situation in the Czech Republic: in 100
largest companies only 7 %
Causes of Underrepresentation of
Women in Czech Politics
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Individual Barriers – patriarchal model of family,
different measures for males and females, different
concept of power
Social Barriers – traditional concept of male and
female roles, women are interested in politics less
then men, absence of female role models, different
socialization of boys and girls
Institutional Barriers – internal mechanisms of
political parties, electoral system,way of nomination
of candidates, absence of affirmative action
programmes
Women in Political Parties
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Women are present in political parties: 30 – 52% of
members are women
Lack of women in leadership: 25% of women
The higher position in a party, the less women
(“glass ceiling”)
Result: women have only little opportunity to
participate in decision-making within their parties
(e.g. assembling ballots, promoting affirmative
action, funding women’s organizations within
parties)
Positive Measures/Affirmative
Actions
- Used worldwide to improve the situation
- 1. Soft measures: mentoring, training,
networking, campaigning
- 2. Hard measures: quotas; contoversial
in many countries, at the same time the
most efficient tool
Quotas
- Used mainly in politics
- New trend: quotas for corporate boards,
big issue in the EU
- Voluntary versus prescribed by law
- Two important thresholds:
- 30 % - critical mass
- 40 % parity threshold
Quotas in politics
Two types:
1. Reserved seats: less common; certain
amount of seats reserved for women
(Rwanda)
2. Quotas for the candidate lists/ballots: a
certain ratio of the candidates of both
sexes on the lists (Poland, France,
Belgium)
Forum 50 %: Basic Facts
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founded in 2004 as an attempt to change the
situation of women in Czech politics
strictly non-party association
main goal: increase women’s political
participation in the Czech Republic
(regardless of age, political opinions,
ethnicity, religion etc.)
Forum 50 %: Mission and Goals
Forum 50 % strives for society with equal political
participation of women and men
Goals:
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achieve at least 30% representation of women on all
levels of politics
introduce affirmative action programs within political
parties
enforce legislative changes in favor of equal
representation of women and men in politics
incorporate equal opportunities into the programs of
political parties
support and promote female candidates
Forum 50 %: „Chicken campaign“
Forum 50 %: „Chicken campaign“
Forum 50 %: „Chicken campaign“
Forum 50 %: „Chicken campaign“
Forum 50 %: „Chicken Campaign“
Chicken Speaking to Journalists
Everybody Wants to Be a Chicken...
Chicken with the First Lady
Protest against men-only
government
Thank you for your attention.
Jana Smiggels Kavková
kavkova@padesatprocent.cz
www.padesatprocent.cz