One important issue stressed during the presentation by Member of Parliament S.Odontuya at the national forum on “Women's Development and Participation” was the participation of women in the political decision making process.

Sixty percent of graduates of universities and institutes in Mongolia are women, but only 30 percent of mid-ranking managers are women and only 15 percent of high-ranking managers are women.

One recent study showed that 70 to 80 percent of the work load in Mongolia sits on the shoulders of women. When women polled in the study were asked if women's involvement in decision making was insufficient, 86.2 percent answered yes.

"In order to include women in the decision making process, we need to raise the quota of women nominees to 30 percent," MP S.Odontuya said during her presentation. 

The national level of unemployment among women is now 6.6 percent.  Among employed women, 55 percent are private entrepreneurs who aren’t included in state social insurance and other compensation provided by the state.

There are also salary discrepancies for women, with male employees receiving higher salaries than their female counterparts. Participants in the national forum stressed that the government should put more attention on policy concerning the wage gap. 

Concluding the forum, participants appealed to Parliament to discuss and approve the new draft law regarding families and domestic violence, the election law, to approve and implement articles about gender equality in the law on political parties, and to tighten up responsibility for violence against women and children.

In their appeal to the government, participants said the issue of gender equality should be addressed through legislation, and that each article of the gender law should address equality at economic, political, social, and cultural levels and be discussed by Parliament. They also called for the planning of real measures dedicated to the improvement of living conditions for women and for government to organize implementation of those measures.

Political parties were called on to have 50 percent of their nominees for Parliament and local area elections be made up by female nominees.