05/03/2010 President
Strasbourg, 05.02.2010 – According to Micheline Calmy-Rey, Chair of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, speaking on International Women's Day, women make up more than half the population and the electorate of the organisation’s member states, but are still grossly under-represented in key political and public decision-making posts in many of those member countries. "Yet women have a major role to play in our public institutions," she continued. "I am convinced of this, both as a woman and, even more, as a woman in politics."
Mevlüt Çavusoglu, President of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), added that the worldwide situation was serious, with less than 20 per cent of parliamentary seats held by women, and not even 5 per cent of heads of state being women. “A substantial increase of the representation of women in politics is indispensable to improve the quality of our democracies,” he said.
"As Chair of the Committee of Ministers," Mrs Calmy-Rey said, "I am very keen to see a more balanced representation of women and men in politics and public life. I call on member states' governments to take firm action on this at both national and international levels. Both human rights and democracy are at stake. I also call on women to deploy their talents on behalf of public life in all our countries."
Welcoming Mrs Calmy-Rey’s call to member states, the PACE President pointed out that in January this year the Assembly had adopted a recommendation on increasing women’s representation in politics through the electoral system. “We have also called on the Committee of Ministers to consider drafting an additional protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights in order to enshrine the right to equality for women and men therein, as well as the necessary exception allowing positive discrimination measures for the under-represented sex," the PACE President concluded.