24/05/2024 Women@PACE | Standing Committee
“With seven women and eight men as Ministers, your government has become the most gender-balanced cabinet in eastern Europe, with women holding key ministries, notably those of Justice, Finance, Economy, and the Interior,” said PACE Secretary General Despina Chatzivassiliou-Tsovilis, welcoming Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė to a Women@PACE working breakfast organised in Vilnius, on the margins of the Standing Committee meeting.
Welcoming the fact that the Parliamentary Assembly has now almost reached parity among its representatives, she outlined for the Prime Minister the latest PACE initiatives in promoting equality, notably the launch of the new Vigdís Prize for Women’s Empowerment, which will be awarded on Monday 24 June during the Assembly’s summer plenary session.
We’re living a paradox, Ingrida Šimonytė said. While our societies are equally balanced, our parliaments are not. In the case of the Lithuanian parliament, we have less than 30 per cent of women representation. So it is up to us to make women appear higher on voters’ lists, she underlined.
The Prime Minister referred to the stereotypes surrounding women’s presence in governments, where they are expected to hold culture or education ministries. In the first government in which she participated, there where indeed only two women, but they held the Finance portfolio, which she herself held, and the Defence portfolio. “Misogyny definitely surrounds our activities, but we cannot give up, being patient and not feel like victims, but rather convinced that changes in society may take longer than we wish,” she said.
She referred to the need to combat disinformation when it comes to defending the Istanbul Convention. Inaccurate interpretations of the text and propaganda can easily influence public opinion, she pointed out, but it is our duty and our challenge to counteract these.