It would require at least a 200 years to reach equal representation of women and men in the RoA National Assembly

It would require at least a 200 years to reach equal representation of women and men in the NA. One can come to this conclusion after analyzing the pace and trends in the increase in women’s numbers in the Armenian parliament during the last 20 years, which by the way, can be placed within the framework of the famous formula of political officials “We have no reason to make haste”.

In comparison, let us remember that in 1985. Women constituted 35.6% of the Supreme Council of Soviet Armenia.

On the eve of independence, the 1^st convocation of Armenia’s Supreme Council, which was formed in 1990 solely by the majoritarian electoral system, consisted of 260 MPs, 9 of which were women, which is 3.5%.

In the 1^st convocation of the National Assembly in 1995, 12 women were included from 190 MPs; that is 6.3%. However all the women that had been voted for through the proportional electoral system were elected from “Shamiram’s” electoral list, and 4 women were elected through the majoritarian electoral system.

The lowest number of women were included in the 2^nd convocation in 1999, – only 4 out of 131 MPs, which constitutes 3%. By the way, two out of those four were elected through the majoritarian electoral system.

In the 3^rd convocation of the NA in 2003, the unprecedented discriminatory 5% quota for women was introduced, and the number of women reached seven out of 131 MPs, which constituted 5.3%. Only one woman was elected by the majoritarian electoral system.

In the 4^th convocation of the NA the 15% quota was implemented and 12 women were elected; that is 9.2%. No woman was elected through the majoritarian electoral system.

In the  2012 elections the quota was increased to 20%. As a result 14 women MPs have been included in the 5^th convocation of the NA. This is to say women constitute only 10.7%, of which two have been elected through the majoritarian electoral system.

Thus in a period of 20 years the number of women in our parliament has increased by only 4%. Taking into account the dynamics of women’s representation, we can assume that another 200 years are needed in order to make the gender eguality in parliament  a reality.