Participation of women in the political field and even further, the percentage of women in the National Assembly is one of the most important indicators, which together with the ratio of registered female / male in the primary secondary and high school, and also the part of women not employed in the agricultural sector, helps to promote gender equality and empowerment of women .
Normally, in a population, where 50% consist of women, participating in decision making positions should be in the same proportion. But in fact, generally the figures speak for a world society run by men, where female participation is imposing primarily through international organizations. For this reason, in the Beijing  Platform is recommended that states should allow at least the level of 30% of parliamentary seats for women, a fact often cited by political parties on the eve of election campaigns in Albania. They always make sure to highlight the fact that women should not be a small voice in decision making and in the National Assembly.


Source: United Nations
Comments and Analysis: Open Data Albania (ODA)

Paradoxically, given that the percentage of seats held by women in the National Assembly helps to judge the democracy of a country, in Albania the highest participation of women in parliament has been before ’90. Years after the rapid developments of 90’s are accompanied by a decreasing participation of women in Albanian legislative body, to achieve the minimum in the years 2000-2004 (round 5.7%). Significant improvements seem to have brought the 2009 elections, bringing to the level of 16.4% the number of seats reserved for women, but still these levels are far from policy commitments for the achieving the level of 30%.
There are a lot of reasons which emphasize the importance of women in the political field, and above all in the National Assembly. First, equal opportunity for participation is the right of everyone. In addition, studies show that countries that have less than 30% of parliamentary seats held by women are less democratic and more discriminating. Secondly, women and men have different perceptions on policy priority of the country (Thomas 1991; Carolla 2001). Evidence shows that women are more involved in the laws from which benefit women, children and families. Therefore equality in representation enables better protection of women and their issues. The third but very important reason is that the evidence speaking for the improvements in governance and reduced corruption thanks to the participation of women.
Involvement of women in the electoral list in the proportional systems with closed list is a good step to ensure their participation in parliament, but not necessarily a successful reform. In such systems, like the one using nowadays in Albania, citizens vote for the party, which has defined the list of members based on a certain order. The declaration of the female candidatures at the level of 30% of women does not mean automatically mean that 30% of seats in Parliament (from each party) will consist of women. It is necessary to list them in positions which have high probability of winning. Otherwise, the result will be that of 2009. So, parties are basically in line with the completion of election lists but they place women in positions that have a small chance to win.

Source: United Nations
Comments and Analysis: Open Data Albania (ODA)

All the data is presented in the dynamic table below:


Source: United Nations
Comments and Analysis: Open Data Albania (ODA)