Gender Equality Deficienacy - Underrepresentation of women in decision-making levels in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract: Why are there only 21% female politicians in the highest decision-making body, the Parliamentary Assembly, in Bosnia & Herzegovina, when there has been established a law that requires a 40% quota of gender representation in these positions? Because of all the laws and regulating documents that have been determined by the state to improve the gender inequality issue, it can fairly be claimed that the top-down approach is deficient in this area. That is why I am going to analyse the importance of NGOs in gender equality development and therefore focus on a bottom-up approach as a theory. I am going to have an anthropological feminism perspective during my thesis, which will help me clarify the importance of gender symmetry and that the development has to be approached through social norms instead of laws and policies. In this explanatory single case study I am going to do a process tracing to find out the causal mechanisms between my dependent variable Y, which is the underrepresentation of women on decision-making positions, and the bottom-up approach X. I have chosen implications from my empirical material, which I will be testing by putting them against my evidence in my analysis to confirm why the bottom-up approach explains my Y. My primary material consists of reports and documents from EU and UN, government documents such as laws and regulations and lastly e-mail conversations I have had with some of the NGOs that are the foundation to my evidence material. The conclusion to my research question to why women are underrepresented in decision-making positions is because of an ineffective approach to the gender issue so far. Gender stereotypes and cultural norms permeate the high political positions and are preventing women for making changes for themselves.