Silvia Adriana Ţicău

Senator

Romanian IPU Group

 

 

 

TALKING POINTS

 

At global scale, women continue to be under-represented in the political life, including in parliaments, and this is a serious democratic deficit on which parliaments themselves must focus in a more resolute way. We welcome the initiative to convene this parliamentary meeting on the occasion of the 49^th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, and are most honored to have the opportunity to share with you some of our ideas.

 

The Senate’s Standing Committee for equal opportunities for women and men was set up in 2003 as a specialized and permanent working body. A similar structure is established in the Chamber of Deputies. Our Committee includes 11 members, representing all political parties. Its membership reflects the political configuration of the Senate as resulted from the last elections of November 2004.

 

In exercising the legislative and oversight functions within its field of competence, the Committee aims at ensuring: the elimination of any type of gender based discrimination; the improvement of status of woman in society; the integration of the principle of equality for women and men in the relevant legislation, policies and programs; the incorporation, within the national legislation, of the provisions on equal opportunities for women and men, as stipulated in the international legal instruments Romania is a party to.

 

Since its creation, the Committee has examined legislation on: the prevention of and fight against family violence; the unemployment assurance system; incentives for employment; rights of children and young people in care of the public services of child protection; rights of mothers protected by maternal centers; rights of the children in care of professional maternal assistants; the prevention and suppression of all forms of discrimination.

 

The Constitution of Romania was revised in 2003, in order to include, among others, specific provisions on the equality of rights. The equal access for women and men to public positions and dignities became a Constitutional principle. Article 16, paragraph 3, of Title II – Fundamental rights, freedoms and duties, stipulates that the Romanian State shall guarantee equal opportunities for men and women to occupy public, civil or military positions and dignities.

 

The Romanian Parliament in 2004 adopted new laws for the election of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate and, respectively, for the election of the authorities of the local public administration. Specific provisions were included for a gender based approach in drawing up the electoral lists. According to these laws, the lists of candidates for the elections of deputies and senators, as well as those for the election of the local and county councils, shall be drawn up so as to ensure the representation of both sexes

 

All the 6 political parties that are represented in Parliament have adopted specific statutory provisions and/or have taken internal decisions designed to guarantee the presence of women on the electoral lists, on eligible positions.

 

As a result, in Romania, following the general elections of 28 November 2004, out of the 469 elected parliamentarians (137 Senators and 332 Deputies), 51 were women (13 Senators and 38 Deputies), representing 10.87% of the total number of parliamentarians. In comparison with the former legislature, the overall percentage of women elected in Parliament remains more or less the same (9,69% in the legislature 2000-2004), but there is an important increase in the percentage of women Senators, from 6% to 10 %.