In the modern world, women and men face the challenge of combining professional and personal life. The ability of national authorities to create the conditions for achieving work-life balance plays a key role in ensuring inclusive participation and gender equality.
People who decide to dedicate their careers to politics and decision-making also face these challenges, among them members of parliament and parliamentary staff.
Parliaments are workplaces where members of parliament and staff are also parents. Yet the absence of adequately adapted infrastructure and accessible premises, including childcare facilities, exclusive and properly equipped areas within parliamentary buildings for breastfeeding, and requirements such as physical presence for voting, which moreover occurs at variable times and short notice, create additional barriers to participation in political life, especially for women, who are already underrepresented in most countries' parliaments. Recent experience has shown that secure remote voting can be organised and can increase participation.
The presence of family rooms and childcare facilities in parliaments has the potential to help MPs and parliamentary staff to achieve work-life balance by reconciling their legislative work and family responsibilities, making parliaments a more inclusive place to work.
According to the Council of Europe Gender Equality Strategy 2018-2023, ensuring women’s and men’s work-life balance should be taken into consideration to guarantee that both women’s and men’s human rights are fully and equally respected.
With reference to Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 1921 (2013) “Gender equality, reconciliation of private and working life and co-responsibility” and Resolution 2235 (2018) “Empowering women in the economy”, the Assembly should conduct a detailed study on the issue in the Council of Europe member States and beyond in order to identify the most successful practices and make recommendations to national parliaments and governments to promote inclusive participation in parliamentary and political life.