A Russian senator stresses gender equality at the civil service should be supported by principles of professionalism and not by the establishment of legislative quotas
Gender equality at Russia’s civil service should be supported by principles of professionalism and not by the establishment of legislative quotas, member of the Federation Council and Chairman of Russian Women’s Union Yekaterina Lakhova told TASS today.
“We are against quotas. We had quotas during the Soviet era. Equality should be based on professionalism and not on ‘you’re a female, so we take you on’,” the senator noted.
As she said, the law on political parties was amended to establish gender equality. “We’ve got an article on exercising equal rights, freedoms and opportunities for both men and women in the law on political parties, so equal rights can be exercised through parties,” the senator noted, adding that, to date, Russian woman are promoted with the help of political parties. For example, there are around 40% of women in the dominant party’s administration.
According to Lakhova, “it is important for a woman to be a professional and to be heard by her party.” “Women should be promoted only through their parties, and any quota-related issues should be tackled exclusively within the party,” she elaborated.
The Gender Equality Survey Conference aims to provide a platform on which OSCE member countries, their partners, executive organizations, civil society organizations and academic circles will be able to determine the progress achieved through the implementation of the OSCE 2004 Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality.