Women and political participation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the third republic

Democracy as a form of government is based on a quantitative conception of the degree of citizen participation in decision-making and public management. This participation is understood as all electoral and non-electoral activities by which citizens try to influence the selection of leaders and their action. Any State that wishes to be democratic is dependent on the fact that its entire population participates in its construction without discrimination. This implies that the people should be invited to participate in political life in various ways, because a democratic society is a society in which the authorities respect citizens in their rights and dignity. It is a society in which citizens respect each other, in which the poorest and the weakest are helped and rescued. Thus, in the process of establishing the rule of law, the political participation of women is a major challenge in the quest for gender equality in terms of rights in the so-called "countries of the South". This is also the case for the DRC, particularly as regards the vote and the amendment of certain laws, including the law on the implementation of women’s rights and gender equality and the revised Family Code. It is in this sense that, in order to bring itself up to date, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has ratified several international legal instruments relating to the specific rights of women, and also has the principles of gender parity in the Constitution in its articles 14 and 15.