Serbia is 23rd by number of women in parliament

Gojkovic said that in 2000, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia had 20 women members, and today it has 84, which is more than one third of the total number of Serbia’s parliamentarians.

It puts the Serbian parliament ahead of the other parliaments in the region, but also ahead of the parliaments of some EU member states, she said.

- Serbia ranks fifth in Europe and holds a high, 23rd place in the world by the number of women in parliament - Gojkovic said, adding that the current speaker and secretary general of parliament were both women, and eight of the 20 parliament committee chairpersons were also women.

She pointed out that it had taken a lot of effort, hard work and enthusiasm to achieve that and stressed that that work was an important step toward equality and strengthening the role of women in the political life of the countries of southeastern Europe.

Deputy Prime Minister and Chairperson of the government’s Coordination Body for Gender Equality Zorana Mihajlovic said that there could be progress or development without women, adding that women were becoming increasingly engaged in the fight for full equality.

Although much has been done, especially when it comes to legislation, more still needs to be done because we cannot allow women to be marginalized, half of them unemployed, making slower progress in their careers and being victims of family and partner violence, she said.

This conference is one of the crucial moments in which we can agree what to do and move faster towards realizing the targets of full equality and greater participation of women in the political and social life, said Mihajlovic, who also serves as minister of construction, transportation and infrastructure.

(Telegraf.rs / Tanjug)