In public administration across Europe and Central Asia, women still face an uphill battle in achieving equal representation and implementing policies that consider the needs of women and girls specifically. A UNDP report shows that while many national legislations have anti-discrimination laws in place, these laws frequently do not include protection measures against gender-based discrimination or sexual harassment. The 2021 Global Report on Gender Equality in Public Administration has also shown that gender inequalities persist, both in politics and public administration, and that policy shortcomings when it comes to inclusion and addressing the many forms of gendered discrimination have been exacerbated and illuminated by crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing conflicts. These also pose increased barriers to women’s career advancements: despite being well represented in public administration in many countries and territories, globally and in the ECA region, women still remain significantly outnumbered by men in decision-making and leadership positions.

Similarly, despite the research demonstrating the positive effects of inclusive policies and the participation of women in political decision-making roles, underrepresentation continues. Governments remain dominated by men in both elected and appointed positions, at both local and national levels, with women representing just 26.3 percent of parliamentarians in Europe and Central Asia, and less than one in five ministers/cabinet members, as of July 2024.

There have been some positive developments: for instance, gender quotas have served to increase the representation of women in parliaments and local government bodies. Leading the region, Moldova’s parliament as of July 2024 is made up of 40.6 percent women, having committed to a 40 percent gender quota, which mandates that for every ten seats on the candidate list, at least four must be allocated to each sex. As of July 2024, 12 out of 19 countries and territories in the Europe and Central Asia region have enacted gender quotas. Some of these quotas require a certain minimum percentage for both men and women; some require spaces for candidates on the list of potential MPs, but not selected parliamentarians; some apply only to proportional representation rather than roles; and some combine gender with age, disability, or minority status. 

However, pushback against such gains has been swift; in 2021, Kyrgyzstan approved a constitutional reform, and the electoral system was transformed into a mixed system, with the 30 percent gender quota now only applying to the proportional component, while Kazakhstan recently reformed the electoral code to refer to a 30 percent representation of women, youth, and people with disabilities - these measures de facto reduce the impact of the quota on women’s representation. More recently, Georgia abolished its mandatory gender quotas for election lists at both national and local levels, just four years after their introduction in 2020, signaling a setback for women's representation and gender equality in parliament.

Other forms of legislation, despite not impacting women’s access to and representation in politics and public administration directly, reinforce the idea that certain activities cannot be performed by women, and overall undermine their ability to choose their paths, including in politics, freely.

In employment, women still are not allowed to perform certain tasks. For instance, in Tajikistan, legislation prevents women from working in railway or road transportation and civil aviation, while in Türkiye, women are not allowed to work underground or under water (mine hearths, cable laying, sewage, and tunnel construction). However, there has been some progress in evening the playing field. In 2021, Kazakhstan eliminated all restrictions on women’s employment, enabling women to work in industrial jobs and in jobs deemed dangerous in the same way as men. Similarly, in 2019 Montenegro eliminated restrictions on women’s employment in industrial jobs such as mining, construction, manufacturing and the water sector. It also removed restrictions on women’s employment in jobs deemed dangerous. 

While some advances have been made, according to the OECD, women in the Europe and Central Asia region still earn on average 30 percent less than their men counterparts, and account for just nine percent of the board members of central banks, 15 percent of members of the governing boards of trade unions, and fewer than 15 percent of board members of companies registered on stock exchanges. As recently as 2019, Uzbekistan and Georgia prohibited gender-based discrimination in access to financial services, making it easier for women to access credit; and Georgia enacted civil remedies for sexual harassment in employment. 

At the family and household level, there are a number of formal and informal laws, social norms, and practices that fall under legal structures that serve to reinforce gender norms and limit women’s decision-making power and status. For example, in some countries, child, early, and forced marriage remain legal or tolerated; unpaid care work combined with a lack of family support services - often casualties of budget cuts and economic strains - confine women to domestic tasks; and women do not share equal rights of recognition as heads of household. While divorce is largely legal across Europe and Central Asia, customary laws are still prevalent, and often prevent women from initiating divorce proceedings, with social stigmas remaining high in the region. In Central Asia in particular, inheritance laws also hold discriminatory practices, increasing women’s vulnerability to economic hardship and dependence due to patrilineal systems that favor both men and families of husbands. Such types of legislation do not address political participation directly, but create indirect barriers through presenting additional challenges to women obtaining the full rights and freedoms that would enable them to be socially and economically stable and supported enough to consider political activities as a viable and achievable opportunity. 

While the ECA, as well as the wider UNECE region, has made strides in the development and implementation of legal frameworks to end discrimination against women and girls, there are still key gaps in the sectors of public life, violence against women, employment and economic benefits, and marriage and the family, all of which contribute to indirect barriers to full political empowerment and participation.