Member of the Azerbaijani Parliament, Vice-President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), and member of the IPU Executive Committee Sevil Mikayilova has addressed the current situation regarding gender equality in parliaments around the world. During the previous 148th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Sevil Mikayilova was elected to a special four-member working group responsible for monitoring gender balance in parliaments around the world. She was also appointed as a speaker on this topic.

Her presentation as part of the Gender Equality Group was given during the 38th Forum of Women Parliamentarians held at the Assembly.

In her speech, the MP emphasized that active participation from women is expected in this Assembly.

"36.4% of delegates announced here in Geneva are women. This is better than the past four Assemblies. But still well below the record 39% women delegates in Nusa Dua in 2022 and in Madrid in 2021. So we know we can do better than this," she said.

Sevil Mikayilova also emphasized that this time a record low number of all-male delegations is expected, along with a record high number of delegations with gender balance.

"Among the delegations announced to include at least two members, only 5 are expected to be all-male, and 2 all-female. This is the lowest number ever of single-sex delegations of two or more members, if we look at the past 10 Assemblies," she added.

Sevil Mikayilova also informed the Assembly participants about the upcoming COP29 conference in Baku.

"Quite a few days left to this very brilliant event, which will bring together nations in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to deal with climate change, challenges that we are facing, unfortunately," the MP concluded.

The opening ceremony of the event also featured remarks from IPU Secretary-General Martin Chungong and the organization's President Tulia Ackson.

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