Emma Gamisonia

Emma Alekseevna Gamisonia is a politician and scholar from Abkhazia. A member of the People's Assembly of Abkhazia for fifteen years, she served as Vice-Speaker of the Parliament and currently heads the Department of Political Science and Sociology at the Abkhazian State University.

Early life and education Gamisonia was educated at the Moscow Regional Pedagogical Institute (named after Krupskaya) from 1978 to 1983. She later attended postgraduate studies at Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) from 1993 to 1995. In May 1995, she successfully defended her dissertation at MSU titled "Environmental Problems and the Women's Movement in Russia," earning a Candidate of Philosophical Sciences degree (PhD equivalent) specializing in political culture and ideology.

She was returned to the Assembly in the elections of 2007 and 2012, becoming the only woman to win a seat in the latter body. She served as Vice-Speaker of the Parliament from 2012 until 2017.

In 2016, as the only woman serving in the Assembly, she was one of only two lawmakers to vote against a total ban on abortion. In 2017, she spoke critically of the 2008 gender equality law, noting that while its goals were laudable, the legislation remained ineffective in practice.

Selected publications Ecological problems and the women's movement in Russia (Monograph), 1995. "State and modern problems of Abkhazian parliamentarism", Bulletin No. 7, Vladikavkaz, 2009. Political Science (Textbook in the Abkhaz language), ASU, 2010. "New and important aspects of Russian-Abkhazian relations", Alagala No. 6, 2011. "Traditions of parliamentarism and inter-parliamentary dialogue in the formation of modern Abkhazian statehood", Sochi, 2017.