In comparison with the previous convocation, the 9th convocation of the Parliament (2016-2020) is actively working towards providing gender equality and strengthening women’s rights. In this regard, the following important legislative amendments were carried out in 2016-2017:

• The new Constitution stipulates that the State provides equal rights and opportunities for men and women. The State takes special measures to ensure the essential equality of men and women and eliminate inequality.
• The Parliament ratified the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention). Based on this Convention, a number of amendments were made in the legislation to improve women’s rights.

Hearings on the important legislative initiative on women’s rights is underway in the Parliament, including introduction of gender quotas and prohibition of sexual harassment. Work on parts of the legislative amendments are carried out within the Gender Equality Council.

It is important for the discussions around these issues not to be delayed and for the amendments to be timely adopted. We hope that the legislative amendments related to providing gender equality and bolstering women’s rights (including political rights) will enjoy broad support from within the Parliament.

The authors of the draft laws on women’s rights are mainly female MPs. The same tendency was observed during the 8th convocation of the Parliament. This should be taken into account when deliberating on the relevance of participation of women in politics.