UAE among leading nations paving way for gender parity in parliamentary elections

The UAE is among four countries that have attained the largest progress in women's political representation over a 25-year period, revealed an Inter-Parliamentary Union, IPU, report.

According to the report 'Women in parliament: 1995 - 2020', the largest progress in women’s representation has been achieved by "Rwanda, the United Arab Emirates, Andorra and Bolivia, with +57, +50, +42.8 and + 42.3 percentage points gained between 1995 and 2020, respectively, in their lower or single houses."

The IPU report noted that global women's parliamentary participation has more than doubled over the past 25 years, reaching 24.9 percent in 2020, up from 11.3 percent in 1995.

The UAE has positioned itself in fourth position globally as a result of the UAE's 50:50 ratio for parliamentary participation. The report noted that the UAE is among three countries that have made "great strides in women's participation" following the adoption of the 2019 presidential decree mandating gender parity in the UAE's Federal National Council, FNC.

The report went on to cite the importance of quotas to drive up women's representation in parliaments. "Before 1995, only two countries – Argentina and Nepal – applied legislated gender quotas," the report noted adding that today, "elections in 81 countries are held under legislation that provides for gender quotas."

The FNC and the IPU strengthened their mutual ties by signing a cooperation and technical partnership agreement in March 2014, which is the first to be signed by the IPU with a national parliament, on the sidelines of the participation of the Emirati Parliamentary Division in the IPU’s General Assembly "129-130," held in Geneva from 12th to 20th March, 2014.

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