Broader reform required for gender-balanced parliament, commission says

A gender-corrective mechanism is only one element of the reforms necessary to achieve gender balance in parliament, according to the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality (NCPE).  Referring to the ongoing debate about representation of women in parliament, the NCPE said such reforms acknowledge the need to address the structural obstacles to political participation experienced by women and delineates several actions required to achieve this aim. MPs are currently discussing a gender-balancing mechanism which would see seats added to parliament to ensure gender balance. The mechanism would kick in if one gender obtains fewer than 40 per cent of seats and would allow up to 12 additional seats to be added to re-balance parliament. The proposal, first floated in 2019, is backed by the Nationalist opposition, which has however proposed amendments to existing proposals.  Since the allocation of additional parliamentary seats will kick in when the under-represented sex obtains a percentage of less than 40%, this mechanism will not be necessary if political parties and institutions are more effective in increasing the participation by women in political life by, for example,...