The number of women in the Angolan National Assembly repre sents 39 per cent of the total number of parliamentarians in the country and the figure meets the world's established quota, according to a report from the Angolan News Agency (ANGOP).
The was revealed Thursday in New York, US, by the Angolan MP, Faustina Fernandes Inglês de Almeida Alves, while addressing the 1-12 March Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting, as part of the 54th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women which began Monday at UN headquarters.
Alves, who belongs to the ruling MPLA parliamentary group, said that the Angolan achievement followed the wider women participation in decision-making organs in the country.
She said that in 1992, when the first set of women were elected into parliament, Angola had 26 women and 186 men in the legislature.
The figure, she said, had risen to 86 (134 men) in 2008, with 81 of them belongi ng to the ruling party and four to the opposition UNITA.
The 54th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women has as its main purpose to assess the progress made during the 15 years of implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action.
