Women represent a quarter of world parliamentarians

Women‌‌ 01:35 PM - 2021-03-06

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The Inter-Parliamentary Union announced that the participation of women in legislative councils around the world reached an unprecedented rate of 25.5 percent, while a member of the House of Representatives confirmed that the representation of women in Iraq is good.

 

"I am pleased to announce that, for the first time, women represent more than a quarter of parliamentarians around the world," Martin Changung, secretary general of the Union, said at a press conference ahead of International Women's Day.

 

For her part, a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) bloc in the Council of Representatives, MP Rezan Sheikh Dalir, said in a special statement to PUKmedia, on Saturday, that this percentage is a great development and that the representation of women in world parliaments should be more, indicating that the percentage of women’s representation in the Council of Representatives is good. 

 

MP Rezan Sheikh Dleir added that Iraq's constitution stipulates that the percentage of women in the parliament should not be less than 25%, meaning that 83 female representatives should be in the parliament out of 329, which is the number of members of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, pointing out that there are currently 86 female representatives in the parliament, which is even more than 25%. 

 

The  Inter-Parliamentary Union began in 1889 as a small group of parliamentarians, dedicated to promoting peace through parliamentary diplomacy and dialogue, has since grown into a truly global organization of national parliaments. Today, their membership inches ever closer to being universal, with 179 Member Parliaments ,13 Associate Members, and increasing numbers of parliamentarians from all over the world.

 

After the elections that took place in several countries in 2020, the percentage of women parliamentarians increased by 0.6% compared to the year 2019. The Secretary-General of the Union mentioned 3 countries that achieved gender parity in parliamentary representation, namely Rwanda, Cuba and the United Arab Emirates.

 

 

 

Reported by Fayaq Yazidi

PUKmedia