The findings show that women are remarkably absent from the power structures in Eastern Partnership countries. On average only 17 out of 136 senior ministerial positions in Eastern Partnership countries were held by women in 2015. Women constituted 16 % of the elected Members of Parliament, well below gender balance. In the highest ranking civil servant positions, women accounted for only 17 %. The study “Women in Power and Decision-Making in the Eastern Partnership Countries” not only allows direct comparisons and benchmarking among Eastern Partnership countries, but also with EU countries.
The study provides an overview of the most recent policy and legislative developments in the areas of women’s and men’s access to and participation in power and decision-making. It also presents a selection of good practice examples from the region to promote women’s participation in decision-making, ranging from gender mainstreaming in the Georgian Defence Ministry to temporary support measures for women in Moldovan politics.
The data collected for this study and other Eastern Partnership data will be incorporated into EIGE’s new Gender Statistics Database. The database contains comparable statistics on the situation of equality between women and men in the EU and its neighbourhood in a single, easy to use source.
