In Lithuania, women make up more that half (52.8%) of the population. But the number of women in politics and government is not high. Historically, Lithuania bears a patriarchal stereotype of male and female roles, and their place in society and the family: the man is the family provider, the woman is oriented towards the family and home; she is not encouraged to take part in politics or public activities.

During the Soviet years, women made up more than 30% of the deputies in the Supreme Soviet of the LSSR. But in actual fact this institution did not really govern; and there were only one or two women in other governing structures, the highest Communist Party organs, and Councils of Ministers.

A multi-party system began to form in 1988-1989, the creation of Sàjûdis, and the Lithuanian Communist Party separating from the Communist Party of Soviet Union. 14 women (10%) were elected to the Lithuanian Supreme Council in 1990; their number actually fell to 10 (7.1%) after the 1992 Parliamentary elections. The following diagram shows the dynamics of women representatives in the Lithuanian Supreme Council and in Seimas (1992, 1996):

Figure 1. Members of Supreme Council and the Seimas according to gender (%)

1995 was the years of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women’s Issues. It so happens that the majority of women’s organizations in Lithuania were formed in the period between 1992 and 1996. Women’s sections became active within 6 political parties. That was one of the factors motivating political parties and unions to include more women in the election marathon. 33 parties registered with the Ministry of Justice prior to the 1996 Parliamentary elections. 28 parties participated in the elections. Of the 1,241 individuals included on the party lists for multi-mandate districts, 264 were women (21.3%). 878 candidates ran in single mandate electoral districts – of these, 170 were women (19.4%). A total of 279 women ran office, i.e. nearly 3 times more than in the previous elections (101 in 1992). Also, if in 1992, 3 of the 17 parties and unions within multi-mandate electoral districts did not submit a single woman candidate, in 1996, only 1 did not. 3 parties did not submit women candidates in single mandate electoral districts (in 1992, 8 parties did not). If in 1992 as many as 39 single mandate electoral districts did not have a single female candidate running for Seimas, in the last elections, only 3 did not. Only 5 out of the 24 parties achieved the required 5% vote and are represented in Parliament under a system of proportional representation. 9 additional parties have representatives in Parliament who were elected in single mandate districts. The Women’s Party, which did not achieve the necessary 5%, has 1 representative in Seimas. A total of 1,070 men (79.3%) ran for office in Seimas – 114 were elected (making up 82% of the Parliament); there were 279 female candidates (20.7%), and 25 of them were elected (18% of Seimas members). The number of women in Seimas increased 2.5 times compared to the previous elections.

Table 1

However, after analyzing the election data, one can see that the parties and unions increased the number of women candidates only on a visual level, since they basically put them in the second half of the electoral lists. In order for them to take advantage of the notion of equal rights and representation in government, they had to occupy higher positions on the party lists. In 1992, women were included among the first one-fifth of party candidates in only 4 out of 17 party lists. Women made up only 5.9% of the candidates with the greatest possibility of winning in the multi-mandate electoral districts. During the 1996 elections, women made up only 15.8% of the first one-fifth; without the Women’s Party – only 13% of the candidates. And in as many as 10 parties (out of 24), there were no women at all among the first one-fifth on the lists. 19 women (not counting the Women’s Party – 15) and 101 men (in 1992 – 5 and 80 respectively) were included among the first one-fifth. The only party apart from the Women’s Party to put a woman first on their list was the Union of Russians of Lithuania. Clearly, men are not inclined to give up their positions to women.

Local governments are the lower link of administrative units, and they operate in every region and city within the republic’s jurisdiction. There are 56 local governments – 44 regional, and 12 municipal. The situation vis a vis women on local government councils is somewhat more favourable. In the 1995 elections, according to data from the Head Electoral Commission, there were 5,486 male candidates (75.7%) of whom 1,199 were elected (80.6% of the delegates), and 1,759 female candidates (24.3%), of whom 289 were elected (19.42%) (Savivaldybiø, 1996).

There were 1,884 women candidates (30%) in the spring elections in 1997. Their number exceeded 20% of the candidates in all cities and regions. But the leading positions (the first 2 places) on the lists tendered by the political parties and unions were once again allocated to men. Women made up only 20.8% (excluding the Women’s Party – 15.7%), i.e. there were only 187 women compared to 709 men. The electoral lists of 4 parties and unions had no women at all in the leading positions. Women made up from 96.4% of the candidates for the Women’s Party, 54.6% for the National Progress Party of Lithuania, 50% for the Lithuanian Reform Party as well as for the Lithuanian Life Logic Party, and up to 11.5% of the Lithuanian Farmers’ Party, 12.6% of the Lithuanian National Economic Party, and 14.4% of the Lithuanian Liberal Party. There were more women candidates for local government councils than there had been for the Parliamentary elections in 1996. If during the Parliamentary elections there were 4 men running for every woman candidate, in the local government elections there were 2 men for every woman candidate.

The greatest number of mandates – 496 (33.4%) went to the Homeland Union (Lithuania’s Conservatives); 215 (14.5%) to the Lithuanian Democratic Labour Party, and 182 (12.3%) to the Christian Democratic Party. The Women’s Party won 17 mandates (1.1%). Confirmation of the results of the local government council elections revealed that the number of women, compared with the previous local government elections, displayed an insignificant increase – from 19.4% to 22% (i.e. 326 women and 1,158 men). The following graph illustrates this trend fairly well:

Only the one regional council has no women members. Women make up the majority on the council for city of Neringa (11women out of 21 members, i.e. 52.4%). On two regional councils women exceed 40%. 6 regional councils have from 30-40% women members, 25 have from 20-30%, 18 have from 10-20%, and 3 have from 1-10%. There are 2 women mayors, exactly half the number compared with the 1995 elections. Out of 58 vice-mayors, 9 are women.

At the present time, of the 15 Cabinet members, 1 is woman – the Ministry of Social Security and Labour; women head 2 of the 12 Parliamentary Committees, and there is 1 woman (out of 6 chairpersons) on the Parliamentary. 15 of the 25 women parliamentarians belong to the Parliamentary Women’s Group. There are 3 women acting as heads of Lithuania’s 40 diplomatic embassies.

References:

Savivaldybiø tarybø rinkimai (=Local government council elections). Vilnius, 1996.