Universal Periodic Review

Include women with disabilities in all political programmes for women

Proponent:

Remarks to progress by Liga (last modified Dec 31, 2024):

Since the non-partisan expert government of 2019 with Austria’s first female Federal Chancellor, a largely balanced gender ratio of federal ministers and state secretaries has been established, although in recent years this has gradually tilted back towards a male majority. The proportion of women in parliament has also risen steadily in recent decades, most recently reaching around 40%. As there are no legal requirements for the creation of electoral lists or the allocation of mandates in this respect, there is a significant difference between the political parties. Gender parity of 50% is only reached or exceeded in the Green, Neos and SPÖ parties. The ÖVP and FPÖ are below parity, with the latter party only achieving a female quota of 17%. At provincial level, the gender ratio in both governments and provincial parliaments lags behind the federal level. There is an extreme imbalance at municipal level, where there are only around 10% female mayors. This ratio is roughly the same across all parties.   Measures taken by the federal government in 2022 include the establishment of an „Austrian Fund for the Empowerment and Advancement of Women and Girls“, which operates the „LEA – Let’s Empower Austria“ project (website https://letsempoweraustria.at/), as well as the „Girls in Politics“ project, which enables girls and young women to accompany mayors at work in individual municipalities (information on the BKA website: https://www.bundeskanzleramt.gv.at/agenda/frauen-und-gleichstellung/gleichstellung-am-arbeitsmarkt/girls-in-politics.html. An evaluation of the projects is still pending. A report by the Women’s Section of the Federal Chancellery from 2022 provides a statistical basis for taking stock of the participation of women in political decision-making positions (as a PDF Further information is available at the following link: https://www.bundeskanzleramt.gv.at/dam/jcr:c1f8eb6d-b56e-480a-9463-38273dc136d6/frauen_in_polit_entscheidungspositionen_2022.pdf).