BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA: BiH Needs More Women in Government

Late last year, I hosted a conference in Sarajevo that brought together female parliamentarians from across the region. It was the second time the OSCE had supported this gathering, and over a two-day period participants discussed how to expand and improve the participation of women in politics.

The OSCE is a staunch supporter of such initiatives, which demonstrate our shared commitment to promoting equality for men and women. The Organization reaffirmed this position at its December 2009 Ministerial Council in Athens, where it adopted a Ministerial Decision on ‘Women's Participation in Political and Public Life'. The reason for our commitment is simple: elected bodies are most representative when their members reflect the diversity of the populations they represent. With the percentages of men and women about equal, democracies should see this reflected in voting results.

Sadly, this is not the case. Although the United Nations has set a minimum target of 30% female representation in elected bodies, many of our countries fall far short of this goal. Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is no exception. The BiH Election Law ensures that at least one in every three candidates is a woman, but the percentage of seats to which women in BiH are actually elected is low, and falling: from 20% in 2002 to only 14% in 2008. At present, BiH ranks only 45th out of 56 countries in the OSCE area when it comes to female members of state parliaments.

Will the country's October 3 elections bring about a further deterioration?

Let me be clear: these declining numbers are not a result of inattention by BiH authorities. The country deserves praise for its efforts, led by the Gender Equality Agency, to adopt legislation aimed at increasing the participation of women in political life. But de jure equality has proven to be quite different from de facto equality. The gender composition of elected institutions has not improved, and female voters are only rarely targeted in campaign messages.

In response to this situation, this summer the OSCE Mission to BiH is supporting a series of initiatives in a number of local communities to raise political parties' awareness of issues of particular concern to women voters, and to increase the visibility of female politicians. We stand ready to provide support or assist in other ways as well.

What more can BiH do to increase both the participation of women voters and the prospects of female candidates in the upcoming general elections? One challenge lies in the fact that elected women do not hold equally high-ranking positions as men in BiH. This fuels a perception among some voters that the reason for including women on parties' candidate lists is simply to satisfy legal requirements. One way to tackle this problem is to adopt ever-stricter requirements to ensure gender parity at all levels of government, in institutions, and even parties. Yet such measures offer little guarantee that the real influence of women in political life would significantly increase.

Voters are best served when they cast their votes based on the qualities of candidates to represent them, bearing in mind that diversity, including gender diversity, adds strength to elected bodies, and that political leaders from diverse backgrounds often bring unique perspectives to their important tasks. Christine Lagarde, France's Minister for the Economy, put it well recently in the International Herald Tribune: “Let us judge women on the basis of their deeds”. In October, BiH voters will have the opportunity to choose among all candidates, including strong female candidates, and task them with leading this country forward.