Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 6 March (BelTA) – Women’s role in politics should grow further in Belarus, Chairperson of Belarus’ Central Election Commission Lidia Yermoshina said during a video briefing hosted by the website of the National Press Center on 6 March, BelTA has learned.

“In recent years, women have really become major figures in Belarusian politics. First of all, the number of female ministers has grown. The number of female chairpersons of parliamentary commissions has also augmented. A vice speaker of the upper chamber of parliament is female, for the second time in its history since Tamara Dudko held this position. Women have taken key state positions, not to mention the parliament, local authorities, and middle executive authorities,” Lidia Yermoshina said.

She believes that female presence in the country’s political and social life should further expand as “they adapt to the newest challenges better”. Women are more flexible. They change professions, change jobs, and adapt to difficult life situations much better. Men are less mobile in this regard. This is why, objectively, women’s role and representation in politics should grow further,” Lidia Yermoshina thinks.

She said that, in this situation much depends on men in power today, on their attitude to ladies in politics. “Only if men encourage and welcome this trend, the number of women will grow, first of all, in representative bodies of power. Why? Because women are often reluctant to engage in politics. They grow professionally, start from an average clerk and rise to a ministerial chair. Regarding political life itself, for example, running for public offices, I believe that women are less inclined to such activities than men are,” Lidia Yermoshina stressed.

She characterized the female ambition to partake in the country’s political life as satisfactory, as the number of female candidates and elected MPs has already grown, at least, in the lower chamber of the Belarusian parliament. “However, I cannot say that this has been caused entirely by women’s strive for power. We should not ignore what we call ‘administration sources’. After all, it is the power itself that encourages female presence in power. The female percentage we have today in Belarus is the percentage that local authorities are asked to maintain by choosing appropriate female candidates, talking to them, asking them to take part in election campaigns, and so on. The power encourages women to get involved, and this is a right position. We have a majority vote system, and there is no other way for us to act,” Lidia Yermoshina noted.