Background and political system
With a population over 9.1 million, Belarus is located in Eastern Europe. It is a landlocked country, which borders Poland, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine. Belarus’ first multiparty presidential elections took place in 1994, after the country gained independence in 1991, while the first multiparty parliamentary elections took place in 1995.
The Constitution of Belarus, adopted in 1994 and subsequently amended through 2022, provides the framework for the country's political institutions and governance. Belarus is a unitary presidential republic, divided into six regions (voblastsi) and one municipality (horad) and governs via central and local government structures.
The State authority in the Republic of Belarus is exercised on the basis of separation of powers into Legislative, Executive and Judicial branches. The President is the Head of State, is elected directly for a five-year term (no term limits) and appoints the Prime Minister, who is the Head of Government, although subordinate to the President. The executive branch’s Council of Ministers is appointed by the President and is composed of the Prime Minister, the First Deputy Prime Minister, four deputy prime ministers and ministers. The legislative branch’s National Assembly (Natsionalnoye Sobranie) is a bicameral parliament formed of directly and indirectly elected members and members appointed by the President. The judicial branch hosts Belarus’ Supreme Court, which consists of the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson and several specialized panels for which the number of judges is set by the President and the court Chairperson, and the Constitutional Court which consists of a Chairperson, a Deputy Chairperson and 10 other judges, in addition to subordinate courts.
Gender equality and women’s empowerment
Women’s right to vote and stand in elections at national level was first ensured in the country under Soviet administration, in 1919. These rights were confirmed at independence, in 1991. The first woman in parliament was elected in 1990.
As of July 2024, 33.6 percent of seats in the lower chamber of Belarus’ parliament are held by women. However, there are still many challenges in the areas of implementing legal frameworks that promote, enforce and monitor gender equality under SDG 5, ending violence against women and creating gender parity in unpaid care and domestic work, as women and girls still tend to spend twice the amount of time compared to men in unpaid care and domestic activities.
Structure of parliament
The National Assembly, called the Natsionalnoye Sobranie, is made up of two chambers: the House of Representatives or Palata Predstaviteley (lower house) and the Council of the Republic or Soviet Respubliki (upper house). The House of Representatives is composed of 110 members who are directly elected for four-year terms. The Council of the Republic is made up of 64 members, 56 indirectly elected by regional and Minsk city councils and eight appointed by the President, for five-year terms. The Parliament is responsible for developing legislation, approving the appointment of the Prime Minister, considering the report of the Prime Minister on the governmental policy programme.
In Belarus, no gender quotas for the National Assembly have been adopted.
Women's representation in parliament
As of July 2024, the House of Representatives has 37 women members, representing 33.6 percent of total deputies, while in the Council of the Republic there are 18 women members, representing 28.1 percent. The next elections for the House of Representatives are supposed to be held in 2029.
Forecast based on past trends
If changes continue at the current pace, this is how women's representation in parliament will look like by 2030.
We calculated this forecast by taking the average rate of improvement from 1995 to 2023 and projecting it into the future.
Forecast based on recent trends
If changes registered in the past five years continue, this is how women's representation in parliament will look like by 2030.
We calculated this forecast by taking the average rate of change in the past five years and projecting it into the future.
Best case forecast
If the situation improves similarly to the country performing best in the region, this is how women's representation in parliament will look like by 2030.
We calculated this forecast by taking the rate of improvement from the country performing best in the region and accelerating the change with this amount over five years and then keeping it constant.
Worst case forecast
If the situation deteriorates similarly to the country registering the worst drop in the region, this is how women's representation in parliament will look like by 2030.
We calculated this forecast by taking the drop rate in the country performing worst in the region and deteriorating the situation with this amount over five years and then keeping it constant.
Women Chairpersons of Parliament Committees
The House of Representatives has 14 specialized Commissions on the topics of Law; State Building, Local Government and Regulations; National Security; Economic Policy; Budget and Finance; Agricultural Policy; Environment, Natural Resources and Chernobyl Catastrophe; Human Rights, National Relations and Mass Media; Education, Culture and Science; Labour and Social Affairs; Health, Physical Culture, Family and Youth Policy; Industry, Fuel-Energy Complex, Transport, and Communication; Housing Policy and Construction; and International Affairs.
As of July 2024, women are the chairpersons of the Commission on Law (Marina Lenchevskaya), the Commission on Labour and Social Affairs (Irina Kostevich), the Commission on Environment and Management of Natural Resources (Zhanna Chernyavskaya).
The Council of the Republic has five specialized Commissions on the topics of Legislation and State Administration; Economy, Budget and Finances; Education, Science, Culture and Social Development; Regional Policy and Local Self-Government; Foreign Affairs and National Security.
As of July 2024, women are the chairpersons of the Committee for Legislation and State Administration (Alla Bodak) and Committee for Education, Science, Culture and Social Development (Irina Starovoitova).
Structure of government
The President of the Republic is the Head of State, oversees all areas of government, and makes appointments to the legislative and judiciary branches, in addition to having the right to initiate legislation and to sign or reject laws. The Council of Ministers is composed of the Prime Minister, the First Deputy Prime Minister, four deputy prime ministers, the Ministers of Economy, Finance, Foreign Affairs and Justice, in addition to other functional and sectoral ministries and state committees. Within the executive branch, the Council of Ministers constitutes the Government of Belarus, which may include heads of other national state administration authorities, such as the Chairperson of the State Control Committee, and oversees the system of subordinate ministries and other executive bodies. The Council of Ministers is held accountable to the President and responsible to the Parliament in its activities.
The current Prime Minister of Belarus is Roman Golovchenko who has been in power since 2020. The current President is Aleksandr Lukashenko who has been in power since 1994. Belarus has not yet had a woman serve as Prime Minister or President. As of July 2024, Natalia Pauliuchnenko is the Minister of Labour and Social Protection and Alena Marhunova is the Chair of the State Committee for Standardization of the Republic of Belarus.
Ministers or Cabinet Members
Natalia Pauliuchnenko
Minister of Labour and Social Protection
Alena Marhunova
Chair of the State Committee for Standardization of the Republic of Belarus
Local government
At the local level, the government is organized into three tiers. The government consists of an upper tier of six regional-level local government units and the City of Minsk, an intermediate tier of 118 districts and 10 cities (not including the City of Minsk) and a lower tier of 104 district towns, 85 settlements and 1151 rural councils. The City of Minsk operates in a single-tiered system which combines the competencies of both the regional and basic levels of local government. Local level deliberate bodies are made up of 25-40 (district and city-level), 15-25 (district towns) or 11-15 (settlements and rural councils) elected officials, who make up the local council of deputies. The council chairperson is elected by the local council itself. For the City of Minsk and the regional level government, the Minsk City Council of Deputies and the regional council of deputies are composed of 40-60 elected members each. For all levels of government, local level executive bodies consist of a Committee Chairperson, deputy chairpersons and additional members who are appointed by the President, subject to the approval of the local council of deputies. There are no gender quotas at the local level of government.
For more information on gender quotas adopted at the national level, visit the women in parliament section.
Structure of public administration
The central government’s roles and responsibilities include elaborating the main directions of domestic and foreign policy; ensuring the implementation of a uniform economic, financial, credit and monetary policy; protecting national security and defense; ensuring the implementation of State policy in the field of science and innovations, culture, education, health care, ecology, social security and remuneration for labour, public and private partnership.
Regional and local government bodies are largely responsible for regional and local matters of politics, administration, and finance. Within each local jurisdiction, local councils of deputies are in charge of approving local budgets and programmes of economic and social development; setting local taxes and dues, determining, within the limits specified by law, the procedure governing the management and disposal of municipal property; and calling local referenda.
Women’s representation as employees and decision-makers in public administration
This visualization was developed based on data provided by GIRL@University of Pittsburgh.
Data across countries and territories is not comparable. For more information about the methodology and sources used, read here.
In the context of public administration in Belarus, women’s representation has steadily increased in recent years at the decision-making level, while remaining stable at the employee level. At the employee level, women’s representation in public administration measured 70.1 percent in 2021, a slight increase from 68.6 percent registered in 2019. What is more noteworthy is the increase in women’s representation at the decision-making level, where their representation has climbed up to 54.6 percent in 2023, compared to 48 percent in 2017.