ANALYSIS: Male politicians in RSM do not want to leave decision-making in the hands of female politicians

Since independence, North Macedonia has never had a woman elected as president, prime minister or speaker of the parliament, with only two women holding the latter two positions for less than a month. The country recently elected a new government of "men" and has once again failed to address the issue of gender equality and women's representation. Only 20 percent of current ministers are women, all from SDSM, so the ratio of ministers to women is four to one. Albanian parties have not entrusted a single woman with a ministerial position. The situation is more alarming at the position of deputy minister, where the ratio is eight to one, or more precisely, only two women are deputies out of a total of sixteen, one of whom is Albanian and the other Macedonian. Unlike the executive branch where 20% of ministers and 10% of deputy ministers are women, the situation in the Assembly is better, i.e. around 40% of MPs are women, as the Electoral Code allows.

The Electoral Code  states: "In the submitted list of candidates for MPs, at least 40% of the candidates belong to the underrepresented gender, as follows: for every three seats at least one seat belongs to the underrepresented gender and additionally at least one seat for every ten seats".

The current Assembly of North Macedonia, constituted on August 4, 2020, has 47 female MPs out of a total of 120 MPs. Gender representation in the Assembly is also protected by law, but this does not apply to the position of the Speaker of the Assembly.

Another argument for losing the battle with gender equality is the last local elections held last October. According to official data from the State Election Commission (SEC), 299 candidates participated in the local elections, of which 274 were men and 25 were women. In the Albanian parties, out of a total of 59 candidates, only 2 of them were women.

The number of women who won the mayoral mandate was scandalous, with only two managing to win this “double” war. The council lists are more favorable in terms of gender representation, since according to the law, at least 40 percent of the lists for councilors in municipal assemblies must be women. In the last elections, 55% of the candidates for councilors were men and 45%  were women. Regarding the position of mayor, the laws do not provide for gender quotas.The state produces professional female staff, who with professional training can contribute to politics and decision-making, but the parties do not want to do so.

Although some, even politicians, often justify the lack of professional staff or courage as the reason for the lack of women in politics and decision-making, data from theState Statistical Office (SSO) show that the country has a professional staff of girls and women, and their preparation would contribute to politics and decision-making processes. SSO data show that in 2020, out of a total of 6,907 students who graduated, 4,110 were girls, or specifically 59.5%.

According to SSO data, this is the number of female graduates in 2020 from some of the social and law faculties, which also include political sciences:

• University „St. Kliment Ohridski", Faculty of Law - 6 girls out of 17 students,
• University „St. Cyril and Methodius University, Faculty of Law - 91 girls out of 132 students,
• Goce Delchev University, Faculty of Law - 14 girls out of 24 students,
• Tetovo University, Faculty of Law - 65 girls out of 164 students,
• Mother Teresa University, Faculty of Social Sciences - 4 girls out of 12 students,
• International Balkan University, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences - 17 girls out of 27 students,
• International Balkan University, Faculty of Law - 5 girls out of 27 students,
• International Balkan University, Faculty of Communications - 3 girls out of 5 students,
• Southeast European University, Faculty of Contemporary Social Sciences - 48 girls out of 113 students,
• Southeast European University, Faculty of Law - 48 girls out of 89 students,
• American College, Faculty of Political Science and Public Administration - 6 girls out of 8 students,
• American College, Faculty of Law - 6 girls out of 8 students,
• European University, Faculty of Law - 7 girls out of 17 students,
• MIT University, Faculty of Law, International Relations and Diplomacy - 1 girl out of 6 students,
• AUE University – FON, Faculty of Law and Political Science - 17 girls out of 38 students,
• International Slavic Institute „G. R. Derzhavin, Faculty of Law - 19 girls