Under-representation of women in politics is a threat to the legitimacy of democracies. The global situation is severe with less than 20% of parliamentary seats held by women and not even 5% women heads of state. At the end of a debate on the ways to increase women's representation in politics through the electoral system, the Assembly called on member states to employ a series of measures to rectify this situation by reforming electoral systems and by applying positive discrimination, such as introducing quotas for women on political party lists (in countries with a proportional representation system).
The adopted texts, based on the proposals by Lydie Err (Luxembourg, SOC), also encourage measures such as gender-sensitive civic education in political parties who, together with the media and trade unions, have traditionally often shown "built-in" bias against women.
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