Medina Mujić, PhD Political Participation of Women in BiH: The 2018 General Election , 2019. Political Participation of Women in BiH: The 2018 General Election Author: Medina Mujić, PhD Proofreading: Enida Čamdžić Layout and cover design: Tanja Ćurić Publisher: Cure Foundation, www.fondacijacure.org (coordinating organisation of WNBiH) For the Publisher: Jadranka Miličević

This publication is supported by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation. The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not represent views or opinions of the publisher or partner organisation. The author is responsible for this article. Translation funded by the Swedish Government’s project Women in Elections in , implemented by UNDP. Medina Mujić, PhD

Political Participation of Women in BiH: The 2018 General Election

Sarajevo, 2019. Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...... 7

1. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN’S MOVEMENT IN BIH ...... 7 1.2. THE INFLUENCE OF PATRIARCHY ...... 8 1.3. WOMEN’S ENTRY INTO POLITICS ...... 10 1.4. CONCLUSION ...... 11

2. RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN CONTEMPORARY BIH ...... 12 2.1. OVERVIEW OF LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK ...... 12 2.2. WOMEN AND POLITICS ...... 18 2.3. POLITICAL COMMUNICATION: THE WAY THE MEDIA TREAT WOMEN ...... 22 2.4. CONCLUSION ...... 24

3. POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN THE CONTEXT OF THE 2018 GENERAL ELECTION ...... 26 3.1. THE 2018 GENERAL ELECTION IN BIH ...... 26 3.2. SHARE OF WOMEN ON CERTIFIED LISTS OF CANDIDATES FOR THE 2018 GENERAL ELECTION ...... 29 3.3. REPRESENTATIONS OF WOMEN IN THE MEDIA DURING ELECTION CAMPAIGNS IN 2018 ...... 33 3.4. WORK OF NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS TOWARDS INCREASING POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN ...... 35 3.5. CONCLUSION ...... 38

4. DIRECT RESULTS OF THE 2018 GENERAL ELECTION ...... 39 4.1. PRESIDENCY OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA ...... 40 4.2. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE BIH PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY ...40 4.3. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE FEDERATION PARLIAMENT ...... 41 4.4. PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIKA SRPSKA ...... 41 4.5. NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIKA SRPSKA ...... 42 4.6. CANTON ASSEMBLIES ...... 42 4.7. SUMMARY ...... 44

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 46 REFERENCES ...... 48 ABOUT THE AUTHOR ...... 50 List of illustrations

Illustration 1: Division of gender equality responsibilities in BiH ...... 13 Illustration 2: The main obstacles for women’s participation in politics ...... 20 Illustration 3: Participation of women on the lists of candidates for the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly ...... 30 Illustration 4: Participation of women on the lists for the House of Representatives of the Federation Parliament ...... 31 Illustration 5: Participation of women on the lists for the RS National Assembly ...... 32 Illustration 6: Media statements during election campaigning by sex and thematic area ...... 34 Illustration 7: Sex structure of the electorate 2002-20 ...... 39 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Participation of politically engaged women in political processes in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been a subject of discussion in the public sphere of Bosnia and Herzegovina for many years. This issue is most frequently addressed by civil society representatives, both men and women, relevant institutions and individual female defenders of women’s human rights. The current situation regarding representation of women in politics is not satisfactory. Yet, it is quite rarely in focus of discussions among representatives of political parties who are held responsible, informally and formally, for the lack of women’s participation in government.

In order to make the context of the general status of women in the public sphere, with a special emphasis on politics, more comprehensible, the analysis provided below provides a brief overview of the historical development of women’s movement