English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

CEDAW and the Law:
People’s Councils should be not less than 30 percent; (b) it must be clearly stipulated that this is
the minimum number for elected deputies, not simply candidates; (c) national strategies, plans
and targets must also aim for a proportion that goes progressively higher than the 30 percent proportion
of female candidates; and (d) in support of the 30 percent proportion of female deputies,
election laws must clearly stipulate the supportive measures for women to increase their chances
as a group of reaching the 30 percent target. These measures should be in place simultaneously
and include: (a) increasing the number of female candidates to more than 30 percent of the
total number of candidates; (b) providing skills building and empowerment trainings for female
candidates; (c) raising awareness of the electorate to recognize the skills of female candidates
and to not discriminate on account of gender through voters education workshops/consultations,
mass campaign on electing female deputies, and so on; and (d) setting up funds or resources
(for example, campaign spaces) to be utilized by female candidates. It is also suggested that the
Law on National Assembly stipulate the percentage of women in National Assembly committees
to be not less than 30 percent or in proportion to the total number of female deputies. It must also
be stipulated that 30 percent committees must be headed by women. This should be similarly
applied to People’s Councils.
THE RIGHT TO PUBLIC POSITIONS
Article 63 of the Constitution and Article 11 of the Law on Gender Equality provide general guarantees
on the right to participate equally in all fields, in particular in politics and state management.
Strategies and plans have more specific targets on women’s participation as public
employees, either as leaders or staff. Despite the legal documents, within the public administrations
central executive level, there are very few women in leadership positions. The situation of
women’s leadership at the local level is not very promising either.
In this light, it is recommended that age differentials in terms of recruitment and appointment
must be explicitly prohibited. In keeping with the Law on Gender Equality, legal documents
– such as the Decision on Leading Officials and Public Employees - must be amended to ensure
that men and women have the same age for first-time appointments. It is also urged that equal
retirement age must be stipulated for men and women, and appropriate amendments in the
Labour Code and Law on Social Insurance must be made. All qualifications, including age, must
be the same for both men and women.
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It is also suggested that a clear proportion of women in leadership positions in State agencies,
political and socio-political organizations of not lower than 30 percent be explicitly stipulated
in law; that is, supplementing the Ordinance on Public Employees and other legislation on
organization of State offices such as the Law on People’s Procuracies and Ordinance on Judges
and Jurors. State agencies and political and socio-political organizations must be mandated to
draft a plan to enable progressive compliance with the 30 percent proportion.
To ensure that gender equality is not set aside, a guarantee on non-discrimination on the
basis of gender be stipulated in the Ordinance on Public Employees and its supporting documents.
An explicit prohibition of sexual harassment must also be clearly provided in a legal document
for public employees. It is also recommended that gender equality courses and gender
sensitivity be included as a mandatory subject in the contents of training and fostering programmes.
Executive summary