Read more in Al Jazeera, published 14. December
Women are increasingly powerful in Bulgaria.
Today, one-third of company owners and top managers in Bulgaria are women. According to the (male) minister of economy, women under 30 years old make up about half of those positions. In the last five years, two women - who are also the two Bulgarian EU Commissioners - have been the most popular politicians in the county.
It's true that women make up only 23 per cent of Bulgaria's parliament - a higher percentage than in the UK - but they chair 40 per cent of the committees in parliament. It appears that once men are elected, they realise quickly who is up to the task. It's the same with the mayors - most of the small-town mayors are men, but the head of their mayors' association is a woman. The list goes on and on.
Read more in Al Jazeera, published 14. December
As democratic activists in the Middle East and North Africa have stepped up their fight for freedom, NDI and the government of Bulgaria have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to cement their partnership in aiding reform movements in the Muslim world and other transitional regions.
To read the complete article please visit ndi.org.
Quotas are needed to ensure equal representation of women in the private and public sectors, agreed most participants in a meeting held by the EP Women's Rights and Gender Equality Committee with national parliaments' representatives on Thursday, ahead of the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day on 8 March. Speakers also advocated changing national electoral rules to increase women's representation at local, regional and national level in politics.
To read the full article please visit European Parliament wesite
Prime Minister Boiko M. Borisov of Bulgaria, a thick-necked former karate instructor, bodyguard and onetime fireman, may seem an unlikely feminist. But the former tough guy mayor of Sofia has in recent months promoted a legion of women, heralding what some are calling a sexual revolution in the politics of this abidingly macho Balkan country. “Women are more diligent than men, and they don’t take long lunches or go to the bar,” insisted Mr. Borisov, who has cited his mother and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany as his role models.
“Women have stronger characters than men because when they say no they mean no, and they are less corruptible,” he said last summer, inaugurating the women’s wing of his center-right party.
Bulgarian Education Minister Yordanka Fandukova won a landslide victory in the mayoral by-election in Sofia on Sunday (November 15th), becoming the first woman to run the city in its 130-year history as the capital.
Fandukova, 47, was the candidate of the ruling centre-right Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) and was supported by the rightist Blue Coalition and the nationalist Ataka party. She won 66% of the vote, succeeding Boyko Borisov, who left the post to become prime minister on July 27th.
