THE REPUBLIC OF THE GAMBIA’S COMBINED REPORT ON THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN & PEOPLES’ RIGHTS & INITIAL REPORT ON THE PROTOCOL TO THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA 5.2 Temporary special measures in favour of women Section 15 of the Women’s Act provides temporary special measures to be adopted by every organ, public institutions, authority or private enterprise aimed at accelerating de facto equality between men and women. Under this Section a distinction is made between de facto and de jure discrimination. As a result of deep seated social and cultural beliefs in The Gambia, de facto equality is yet to be achieved especially in politics. For example, in the last National Assembly and Local Government elections, political parties were encouraged to present more women candidates but unfortunately, only 22 women contested in the 2017 National Assembly elections out of a total of Two Hundred and Thirty-Nine Candidates 9239). In the 2018 local Government Elections, Forty-Nine (49) women contested out of a total of Four Hundred & Nine (409) candidates. Despite the great disparity in female representation, Gambian Women constitute 58% of the electorate but only 10% of representation in the National Assembly are women. As of 2016 there were 4 female National Assembly members out of which 2 are elected and 2 nominated by the President. Following elections in 2018, there are five female National Assembly members two of whom were elected with three nominated by the President. Thus, the proportion of female parliamentarians is well below the 30% goal. Table 6: Representation at the National Assembly by Sex, 2016 Component Public Sector Indicators Members of National Sex Both Sexes Female Male 4 44 48 1 4 5 - 1 1 Assembly (elected) Members of National Assembly (nominated) Speaker of the National Assembly 156 Remarks