Today, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) approved a report on gender equality, which emphasised the need to promote female participation in politics. One of the recommendations was to set up gender quotas to ensure a better representation of women in politics.

The head of the Estonian delegation to the PACE Marianne Mikko believes that Estonia should implement the PACE recommendation on setting up gender quotas. “The Social Democrats have voluntarily set up a quota within the Party, which has also inspired the Reform Party to follow suit. As a result, our parliament has 27 female MPs, the most we have ever had,” Mikko said.

Marianne Mikko also spoke during the PACE debate on the gender equality report, highlighting female participation in governance as one of the indicators of the viability of democracy. “The larger the number of women who take part in the social decision making process, the more democratic the country. Our role models are the Nordic countries: in Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland, the percentage of women parliamentarians and cabinet members is around 40 per cent,” Mikko said.

The PACE also discussed intellectual property rights in the Internet, humanitarian situation in war-ravaged Ukraine, terrorist acts in Brussels, the Panama Papers, and other issues.

The Estonian delegation to this PACE session is made up of Marianne Mikko, Jaak Madison, Andres Herkel and Raivo Aeg.

Watch a video interview with Marianne Mikko on gender equality

Riigikogu Press Service
Kati Varblane
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