From Quota to Parity [antikvár]

FOREWORD Dear Friends, The Central and Eastern European Networkfor Gender Issues decided to publish the second edition of its work "From Quota to Parity". The latest edition, dating from 2004, brought together a collection of contributions by several women from Central and Eastern Europe describing their view on quota systems and the importance of introducing quotas with the aim to achieve parity in decision-making bodies. Prior to this last edition, somé important geo-political changes and developments took place, which influenced the mapping ofthe new political scene in ten Central and Eastern European countries. Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and the Czech Republic joined the European Union in May 2004, followed by Bulgaria and Romania in 2008. Taking these changes into consideration,the CEE Network of Gender Issues felt the necessity to revisit and update its work and to invite once again women from different countries to share their view on what they feel is or has been the most important issue, process and reform needed to achieve parity in today's context. What has influenced the changes over the past years with respect to gender equality in their countries? Personally, I believe that the process towards EU accession of ten Central and Eastern European Countries had brought new impulses to the region. I observed significant positive developments in the field of gender equality, which were necessary for the accession process. We were all enthusiastic and believed this was the beginning of further developments. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Almost five years after the accession and with the European elections, I realised that being part of the European Union, the pressure on recently joined Member States to achieve parity and certain targets in the field of gender equality has not been as big as previously, leaving "new" member states sometimes in poorer situation with respect to gender equality compared to before. This has certainly an influence on the whole region; while the European Union is demanding neighbouring countries to respect and implement guidelines and targets for gender equality, Member States are struggling to implement these at national level. This said, somé EU neighbouring countries have developed considerably, such as Croatia, FYROM and Ukraine, where we can see that not only political will and introduction of gender equality laws and processes which have given women better and equal opportunities, but alsó cross-party cooperation on gender issues in order to achieve gender equality and come closer to parity. The EU should alsó take this into consideration and leam from neighbouring countries. Dear friends, I hope that like the previous edition, this publication will be a fruitful and interesting contribution to support your work in gender equality. Kind regards,