The Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council addressed the IPU Global Conference of Women Parliamentarians in Mexico, which was attended by over 500 delegates from 56 countries.
A delegation of the Federation Council led by Deputy Speaker Inna Svyatenko took part in the IPU Global Conference of Women Parliamentarians in Mexico. Its theme was From Mexico to the world: Let’s mobilise for gender parity. The opening ceremony was attended by President of the United Mexican States Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo.
The Deputy Speaker held meetings with delegation members from Pakistan, India, Morocco, Uganda, Cuba and Iran on the sidelines of the conference and also addressed an open debate on good practices and challenges in advancing parity in parliament.
Inna Svyatenko pointed out that Mexico played a special role in the global history of struggle for the equality of men and women. “The country is giving priority attention to issues of gender parity at the national level. As a politician who has been elected several times, I jumped at this opportunity to explain Russia’s stance on this issue,” she said.
She noted that the Russian government issued an executive order giving men and women equal voting rights 108 years ago. “That provision was later included in the first constitution of our country adopted in 1918. It was only added to the US Constitution two years later.”
Inna Svyatenko recalled that President Vladimir Putin stated more than once that the equality of women was one of Russia’s traditional values.
“The Russian legislation includes legal guarantees of gender equality. The Russian Constitution states that men and women have equal rights and freedoms and equal possibilities to exercise them. Women are actively engaged in government activities in the spheres of gender and family affairs, the upbringing of children, social protection and social services, as well as the affairs of indigenous peoples,” Inna Svyatenko added.
She said that Russian experience could be applied in many other countries and that this dialogue would continue on the sidelines of the Eurasian Women’ Forum in St Petersburg.
Member of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building Natalia Kuvshinova took part in a themed discussion titled Breaking the ceilings: Tribute to women’s leadership. She spoke about protecting the rights and interests of Russian women and government support for them.
“A great deal is being done in Russia so that women don’t have to choose between the family and career, so that they can balance both. Legislative measures have been taken to preclude labour discrimination. There are effective professional training and advanced training programmes for women, including after maternity leaves,” Natalia Kuvshinova stated.
Dozens of events have been held during the IPU Conference in Mexico City, including debates on good practices and challenges in advancing parity in parliament and discussions on zero tolerance for online and offline violence against women in politics.
The final declaration of the Conference includes an action plan for advancing gender parity in parliament.