Women in Politics and Decision Making

Women in politics

In the recently held 2017 national elections, Albania has reached a new milestone, as the number of women representative elective rose to 40, making 28.5% of Albanian parliamentarians women. However, women continue to be underrepresented in the country’s decision-making processes, which has lead to gendered institutions, and the issue remains a national priority among gender equality advocates.

Main barriers to women being equally represented in politics are:

• Women are more likely than men to perceive the electoral environment as highly competitive and gender-biased, and thus lack the confidence to put themselves up for elections.
• Women are less likely to get suggested to run for electoral campaigns.
• Once women become part of the electoral process, it is more difficult for them to get a feasible spot on the election list.
• Women bear the burden of most of childcare and household tasks

Through the years, GADC has been very sensitive to the issue of women’s role in decision-making and politics and has continuously been involved in initiatives and projects related to this concern.  GADC has exercised strategies as a way of improving and continuing community-level dialogue about women as a political constituency, monitoring the application of local level quotas and sanctions as contained in the Electoral Code and working with communities, including youth.