This consolidated response in based on the commentaries and suggestions of an experts´ group about an analysis tool for electoral systems from a gender perspective elaborated by UN-INSTRAW.

On November 27th- day 2 of the 5th Special Session, Speaker Isaac V Figir and Vice Speaker Resio S Moses co-sponsored a bill that if passed, may forever change the landscape of the Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia. Congress Bill 15-169 which proposes four designated seats in the FSM Congress for women. The bill's stated purpose is for "increasing the representation of women in parliament by increasing the number of at-large seats and reserving said seats for women".

The bill inspired a healthy discussion of views among members of the parliament and they collectively applauded its introduction. As an amendment to the Constitution of the FSM, should the bill be signed into law, it would be placed for referendum.

I think it is a very progressive notion and a few Pacific Island countries have adopted it into their regime or are planning to use a similar system. PNG and Cook Islands have it, and it is commonly refered to as the "qouta system". it simply reserves seats exclusively for women in parliament.

Now we can truly expect women to be elected to a congress comprising of only 14 seats representing over 115,000 people.

In FSM, women represent less than one percent in state legislatures and 0% in Congress. The core idea behind qouta systems is to recuit women into political positions and to ensure that women not only a few tokesn in political life, or that women are not islolated in political life. The bill is directly consistent with current trends of the qouta systems because it represents a system that constitutes a critical minority of women representatives or at least 28% of Congress membership.

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