Chairman of the Gender Equality Committee of the House of Representatives Mirsad Isaković addressed participants of the Symposium on the Participation of Women in Decision-Making Mechanisms in Ankara

Chairman of the Gender Equality Committee of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (PABiH), Mirsad Isaković, addressed today in Ankara participants of the Symposium on Women's Participation in Decision-Making Mechanisms - a two-day event that was jointly organized by the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men of the Grand National Assembly of the Republic of Turkey and the "UN Women".

Speaking within the framework of the session on the involvement of women in political life, Isaković stressed that women in Bosnia and Herzegovina are still less represented gender, since, as he said, at at all levels in the legislative power the representation does not exceed 40 per cents, which is an average as defined by the Law on Gender Equality in BiH.

Stressing that the representation of women in political life in BiH is within the average of the Member States of the European Union, Isaković listed a series of measures undertaken by the Gender Equality Committee of the House of Representatives of the PABiH, aimed at implementation of gender equality principles in institutions at all levels of government in our country.

According to Isaković, without equal position of women and men there is neither true democracy nor a prosperous society. In this regard, Isaković emphasized that the issue of gender equality in BiH must become part of every progressive policy, and that in general, it is essential for the society of Bosnia and Herzegovina to have equal participation and distribution of responsibilities between women and men in public life and in decision-making, as defined by the Law.

Approximately 200 parliamentarians and representatives of organizations dealing with gender equality participated in the Symposium in Ankara, which marked the 8^th anniversary of the work of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men of the Grand National Assembly of the Republic of Turkey. (End)