Koalice za vyrovnané zastoupení žen a mužů v politice
Rostya Gordon Smith, MA, HR manažerka
Women in Politics - general information
Forum 50 % have elaborated political essays and analyses concerning representation of women in the whole political spectrum and on lists of candidates for elections 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010.
Under Women in Regional Parliaments we provide an analysis of ballots of each party represented in the Parliament in all regions as well as an analysis of the results of election to regional assemblies held in October 2008. There are charts summarizing the election results in all thirteen regions. As a comparison we included an analysis of the regions during the electoral period 2004 – 2008. After the 2008 election representation of women in regional bodies increased from 15 % to 17.6 %.
Great deal of attention was dedicated to the election to the Parliament of the Czech Republic in 2010. Pessimistic prognosis regarding representation of women in the new Chamber of Deputies fortunately were not proven after the final counting of votes. Number of women deputies increased from 36 (31 immediately after the election in 2006) to 44, their participation thus increades from 18 % to 22 %. In the ranking worked out by the Interparliamentary Union the Czech Republic takes the 49th position at the present.
Under Women in Parliament we provide papers focusing on representation of women on ballots of each Czech political party (so called gender audit of lists of candidates). Further there is a content analysis of equal opportunities within the election to the The Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic and discourse analysis of Czech women politicians’ media image presented in the electoral term by selected press media. Comparison of results of election to the parliament here and in Slovakia is enclosed.
Similar analyses of representation of women and men on lists of candidates of each political party related to the election to the upper house of the Parliament of the Czech Republic and studies on the influence of majority rule voting system on election results can be found under Senate. There is an analysis of women nominees in elections 2006, 2008 and 2010, assessment results of the last election to Senate in October 2010 including a list of all women Senate members. Number of women senators has risen from 14 to 15 after the last election, which means that their representation increased from 17 % to 18,5 %.
The gender analysis of municipal elections 2010 is accessible only in Czech. It says the opportunities for women to become part of the decision making body are not equal. The situation that is becoming stereotypical for the Czech environment is that about 31 % of women appeared on the list of candidates for Municipal Elections 2010. Despite this relatively high number women were placed on posterior, ineligible positions. After the election women were devolved to average 26 % of mandates in municipal boards. However, women only form less then 23 % in corporate town councils which means that the bigger municipality is the lower number of women representatives it has.
Present political system distinctively disadvantages women above all in respect with composing the lists of candidates. The only means that voters could use to support women are preferential votes. Unfortunately their significance is in nowadays voting system very low therefore their mass usage cannot really influence the situation. It is pity that the election law amendment which was to increase their influence was not passed on time. It is high time our political representation finally stopped relying on the natural development and admitted that low participation of women in the decision making process is a serious problem which needs resolving. Therefore we call for taking concrete measures so that the Czech politics would no longer be solely male world where women are rare specimen.
