Gender quotas increase women’s participation in Timor-Leste’s parliament
Quotas to help increase the amount of women in parliament appear to be working in Timor-Leste.
Timor-Leste has passed a 30 percent critical mass target and currently has 38 percent of parliamentarians are women.
Gender quotas have been written into Timor-Leste’s constitution. For every three candidates one must be a woman.
Women’s representation in other countries in Asia remains low despite gender quotas.
Information from the Inter-Parliamentary Union shows that only 19 percent of parliamentarians in Asia are women.
