As the conference opened Sunday with a session on gender issues, Namibian lawmaker Nora Schimming-Chase said the number of women delegates has steadily declined since hitting a peak four years ago.

VOA: standard.2009.04.05

They also believe that the parliament takes itself less seriously today, "starkly evident" in the declining number of days it is in session - the number of sittings has declined by about a third since 1950s.

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He also points out that Congress is only in session a limited number of days this summer.

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This will be limited to the Parliamentary session or a maximum number of days.

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