The participants of the working meeting, the National Assembly’s women MPs, were greeted by Irena Cerovic, Executive Director of the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence, who commended the female MPs' interest in the topic and informed them on the women’s caucus models in the region.
Kristin van der Leest, OSCE/ODIHR Advisor on Gender Issues, presented an analysis of parliamentary structures. She said that there are different types of parliamentary structures for women MPs with different organisational structures, different activities, but with the same goal – to establish ties with different focus groups. Some countries in the region have a model of rotating presidency of the bodies, while some have a permanent leader, some caucuses’ aim is to influence legislation, while others wish to strengthen their contact with society, Kristin van der Leest added. These bodies also differ in the level of formality, but are all united by the fact that they share a common interest - to promote the improvement of the status of women.
The women MPs stressed that Serbia has done a lot as regards improving the position of women, first of all by adopting the Gender Equality Law, as well as the amendments and modifications to the Law on the Election of MPs which stipulates that one third of MPs must be women. The current Serbian Parliament has 33% of women MPs, which shows a clear step toward the resolution of their status issues.
In the discussion, the women MPs added that Serbia is willing to form a structure of this kind, adding that some of the topics the caucus would address would be increasing the percentage of women in key positions in all the segments of society, increasing the participation of women MPs in assembly committees and delegations, promoting women’s health care, as well as preventing violence against women.
On the behalf of the Women’s Political Network, Dragana Petrovic presented the history of the fight for women’s rights and the organisation’s efforts in the field.
In the continuation of the working meeting, Biljana Maletin, expert in the field, led a discussion, explaining to the women MPs the goals, topics, organisational structure and potential support of the women’s parliamentary caucus, as well as the main challenges and threats to the networking of women MPs.