UNDP Roundtable

1
UNDP RoundtableWomen and governance in
Eastern Europe and CIS

•  
• A Survey of Political Participation of Women in
  BiH
• Jasminka Džumhur
• Sarajevo, 11 November 2008
•  

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Women and political leadership

• Few female political leaders in BiH
• This has a negative impact on the political
  activity of women, because, despite their
  gender-sensitivity, their minority status within
  both party structures and political bodies makes
  them liable to observing party discipline that is
  frequently unfavorable for the promotion of
  gender equality principles.
• Women constitute a minority in the party organs
  and
• Most political parties in BIH have not included
  in their documents the principles ensuring gender
  equality.

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Representation of women in the political parties
and decision-making positions

• In the Party of Democratic Action of BiH (SDA
  BiH), the president, deputy president, general
  secretary and all five vice-presidents are male,
  while only 12 or 11,22 out of 107 members of the
  partys Main Board are female.
• In the Main Board of Croatian Democratic Union
  (HDZ), constituted at the X. jubillee Party
  convention held on May 11- 12 2007, only two or
  7,15 out of 28 members are female. Men also
  prevail in the party leadership, holding the
  positions of the president, deputy president and
  two vice-presidents, against a single female
  vice-president in the party. Furthermore, only
  two out of 18 members of the Presidency of HDZ
  BiH are female.

4
Representation of women in the political parties
and decision-making positions

• In the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats
  BiH (SNSD BiH) the leading positions are chiefly
  reserved for men. The partys president, the
  Executive Board president and the general
  secretary are male, while only one out of five
  party vice-presidents is female. Among 36 members
  of the partys Executive Board there are only 6
  women or 17,65. In contrast to other political
  parties participating in the political life of
  BIH, the SNSD BiH has a professional Womens
  section.
• Within the Social-Democratic Party of BIH (SDP
  BiH) all leading postions are taken by men
  (president, general secretary, three
  vice-presidents). Among 22 members of the
  Presidency of SDP BiH only 4 or 18,29, are
  female and among 83 members of the partys Main
  Board 26 or 31,33 are female. At the same time,
  the SDP documents guarantee a limited gender
  equality.

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Participation of women in the decision-making

• It is beyond doubt that the most important
  decisions in BIH are not made by the regular
  legislative and executive bodies, but within
  political parties, which includes a strict
  observance of party discipline
• Women participate in the decision-making bodies
  regardless of their gender-sensitivity and of
  cooperation with the non-governmental sector
  acting as a social corrective and a system
  capable of identifying social needs
• Key political acteurs in the political
  decision-making in BIH are the leaders of the
  main political parties.

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Representation of women in the BIH Parliamentary
Assembly

• In the House of Representatives of the BIH
  Parliamentary Assembly only 5 or 11,9 of 42
  representatives are female
• Age structure in the House of Representatives
  shows that 57 of delegates are older than 50,
  without a single delegate younger than 30.
• In the House of Peoples of the PABiH only 2 or
  13,33 out of total of 15 delegates are female

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Representation of women in the Parliamentary
commissions

• In the Commission for Finances and Budget and the
  Constitutional Commission of the House of
  Representatives all commission members are male
  (100)
• In the Commission for Foreign Trade and Customs,
  Commission for Traffic and Communications,
  Commission for Gender Equality Implementation and
  Commission for the preparation of the election of
  the BIH Council of Ministers respectively there
  is only one female member (11,11).

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Representation of women in the Parliamentary
commissions

• The most satisfactory situation is in the
  Commission for Foreign Affairs with the gender
  ratio of three women to six men (33,33).
• The commissions in the House of Peoples show a
  similar gender structure as that in the House of
  Representatives
• all members of the Constitutional Commission are
  male (100)
• there is a single female member in the
  Commission for Finances and Budget (16,66)
• the Commission for Foreign Trade, Customs,
  Traffic and Communications has only two female
  members (33,33).
• two commissions within the House of Peoples
  (Commission for Budget and Commission for Foreign
  Trade, Customs, Traffic and Communications) are
  chaired by women.

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Permanent parliamentary delegations of PA BiH

• In the Parliamentary Assembly of the European
  Council, BiH is represented by a delegation
  consisting of five members out of whom two are
  female (40),
• The delegation of the PA BiH in the Parliamentary
  Assembly of the Organization for Security and
  Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) consists of three
  male members.
• The same applies to the BIH delegations in the
  Parliamentary Assembly of the Central European
  Initiative (CEI) and the North Atlantic Treaty
  Organization (NATO)
• The BIH delegation in the Inter-Parliamentary
  Union (IPU) includes 11 members of whom two are
  female (18,11).  

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Participation of women in the executive power of
BiH

• In the Council of Ministers BIH, there is not a
  single woman on the ministerial position, while
  there are two female minister deputies (22,23),
  and one female ministerial secretary (11,12).
• Two out of five permanent bodies within the
  Council of Ministers have no female members
  whatsoever.
• The Council of Ministers of BIH includes the
  chairman and nine ministers.

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Representation of women in the judicial system
and the institutions for human rights protection

• In the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, only 16
  or 36,59 of 41 local judges are female. The
  Court of BIH has a female president.
• 14 or 37,83 of all prosecutors in the
  Prosecutors Office of BIH are female.
• Only three of nine judges in the Constitutional
  Court of BIH are female, while one of them is
  simultaneously president of the Court.
• Three of nine judges in the Constitutional Court
  of FBIH are female, beside a female president of
  the Court.
• All judges in the Constitutional Court of the
  Republic of Srpska are male.
• 8 or 38,1 of 21 judges in the Supreme Court of
  the Republic of Srpska are female, while
  president of the Supreme Court is a man.

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Reasons for reduced representation of women in
the decision-making bodies

• Legal and other reforms have excluded social
  measures geared toward ensuring equal
  opportunities of participation in the
  decision-making
• Reduced duration of maternity leave
• Inadequate legislation concerning maternity leave
  payment
• Reduced accommodation capacity of infant
  nurseries and kindergartens
• Extended working hours in the service sector such
  as shops, restaurants, supermarkets without
  adequate security measures and surveillance
  system have further removed women not only from
  the leading positions but also from employment in
  general, denying them economic independence.

13
Communication between the associations and women
elected in the decision-making bodies

• Communication unfolded in several phases
• Joint activities begun immediately after the war
  ended focusing on the building up of mechanisms
  ensuring participation of women in the
  decision-making
• Period of intense cooperation and partnership
  (1998 -2003) resulting in the passing of Gender
  Equality Law, introducing the gender mechanisms,
  adopting the Strategy of prevention of human
  trafficking and ensuring a relatively high
  representation of women in the decision-making
• The phase of ongoing yet less intensive and less
  strategically defined cooperation between the two
  groups

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The most important political issues concerning
womens rights in BIH at present

• Constitutional reform
• Accession into EU
• Constitutional reforms provide an opportunity of
  declaring the gender equality principle as well
  as the prohibition of discrimination on the basis
  of sex a constitutional category of equal
  importance as the principle of national/ethnic
  representation.

15
Pressures related to gender equality issues and
political participation of women in BIH

• The most severe pressure comes from the concept
  of ensuring rights of constitutive nations/ethnic
  groups
• Acknowledging collective rights at the expense of
  individual rights of citizens has led not only to
  the marginalization of the individuals who are
  not members of constitutive nations but also of
  certain social groups such as women

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Responsibility of authorities in the area of
gender equality

• Has the responsibility for gender equality in BIH
  been entirely transferred to gender mechanisms?
• Who is responsible for the implementation of UN
  recommendations and are the CEDAW recommendations
  exclusively the duty of gender mechanisms?
• Is gender equality treated by the authorities as
  a womens issue?