Today, the two-day conference on “Multiparty dialogue: involvement of women in politics” was open in Tbilisi Marriot Hotel. The gender analysis of 2012 Parliamentary Elections was introduced. The multiparty dialogue was open by the Speaker of the Parliament, David Usupashvili. The participants discussed the measures to improve women’s participation in politics and considered the existent challenges.

“If our country wants to perceive democratic civilization, we have to be able to provide men and women with equal opportunities in public life. The new Parliament doubled the number of female MPs in comparison with the previous Parliament and this is the progress but it still constitutes 11% of the total quantity of MPs while all know that 50% of the population are women”, - he stated.

He noted that he is against artificial growth of percentage and statistic rates but it is necessary to be active in another direction, is it labor legislation, arrangement of social issues or solution of domestic problems.

“We agree to discuss these topics on the legislative level in the nearest future and improve the legislation”, - David Usupashvili stated after the meeting.

The organizer of the dialogue is the South Caucasus representation of the Netherlands Institute of Multiparty Dialogue (NIMD). The participants of the event were the representatives of the Parliament of Georgia, the Honorable Consulate of Canada, the political parties and International organizations.