Women are more than half of the world's population, but their participation in politics is still significantly below that of men, including in the EU. Bulgaria is no exception. Women in this country are also more active voters – 8 percent more in comparison to men. But their representation in the governing bodies of the parties and the higher levels of power remains low. This is what a survey of the Balkan Assist Association shows. The study was conducted under the project “More Women in European Politics.” It is realized with finances under a program entitled "Fundamental Rights and Citizenship of the EU" /2007- 2013 /, including 14 NGOs from Belgium, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Greece, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Czech Republic and Sweden.

The analysis shows that there are no major differences in the EU. But there is also a trend towards an increase of the number of women in leading party and government positions. 40 percent of Bulgarian MEPs are women. This is above the EU average of 35 percent. In the Bulgarian National Assembly, however, women are just 23 per cent. At lower levels of power the number of women is even lower. There are just 11 women mayors in Bulgaria.

Spheres like national security, finance, and economics are still considered men’s territory. In recent years, however, unlike the EU, more Bulgarian women have been involved in infrastructure policies.

There is also territorial imbalance as in Southern Bulgaria there are almost no women mayors, for example. In France, for example, there is a mandatory quota of 40% for women.

Equality will make the world more democratic and men and women will have equal share in the decision making, Iliana Stoicheva from the Bulgarian Women's Lobby says.

“In Bulgaria politicians do not speak much about the issue. Equality is paid attention to only when election campaigns start or when the work of NGOs is considered. The issue of gender equality in the political governance of the country concerns all of us and not only the NGOs. Political parties themselves should take measures to give more power to women. The aim is society to consider women as people who can contribute to the development of democracy.”

Bulgaria used to be above the average EU level when the participation of women in the EP is concerned but a decline is seen in the number of female candidates during the upcoming European Parliament elections.

"The number of Bulgarian women in the EP was above the average for a brief period of time. In 2009 when this country chose its MEPs for the first time, political parties obviously paid more efforts when making their choice. The number of women MEPs will decrease at these elections and Bulgaria should pay attention to the issue the way Europe does. The economic crisis also affected the situation as the position of MEP is an attractive one."

What should be the cause?

"The cause must be equal representation for men and women. I would even say – 51 percent for women and 49 percent for men as 51 percent of the world’s population are women. This is the only way to achieve democracy",  Iliana Stoicheva maintains.

English version: Alexander Markov