SARAJEVO, January 13 (FENA) – In Bosnia and Herzegovina, election results over the years have shown a very pronounced underrepresentation of women in political life, as evidenced by the results of the recent local elections in October 2024, announced the Gender Equality Agency of BiH, an agency of the Ministry for Human Rights of BiH.

In the 2024 Local Elections, a total of 142 mayors were elected, of which 134 were men and 8 were women (5.6 percent). In municipal assemblies and municipal councils, 3,177 candidates were elected, of which 2,454 are men and 723 are women, meaning the proportion of women in representative bodies at the local level is 22.7 percent.

By comparison, in the 2020 local elections, five female mayors were elected, or 3.6 percent, and 19.64 percent of women were elected to municipal assemblies/councils.

Despite the slight increase in the number of elected female mayors, councilors, and representatives in the 2024 local elections, women’s participation is still far from the principle of equal representation in decision-making bodies at 40 percent, as prescribed by Article 20 of the Gender Equality Law in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This fact reminds us of the need for greater investment in raising the awareness of voters and strengthening the role of women in political parties. Equally important, to unlock the potential for greater participation of women in public and political life in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is essential to invest more in the economic empowerment of women, promote a more equitable division of unpaid labor in the family, and work on improving the balance between private and professional life for women in our society, the statement said.

Multi-party democratic elections, in addition to being an indicator of the political orientation of voters, also reflect the state of gender equality in a country.