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Photo-Paulo Whitaker/Reuters

SÃO PAULO—This year, for the first time in Brazil’s history, two women—incumbent President Dilma Rousseff and former environment minister Marina Silva—had a serious chance of winning the presidency. Marina, who sought the country’s highest office after the death of her running mate in August, ultimately fell short, coming in third in voting this week behind Dilma and Aécio Neves, who now enter a runoff.

The heady days when Sydney women looked up to a female prime minister, female premier, governor and governor-general are long gone.

There is just one female cabinet minister in Canberra. And now the NSW parliament is likely to emerge from the next election with its worst result for women’s representation in the upper house in decades.

NSW Labor has ignored Labor’s rule that 40 per cent of candidates pre-selected for winnable seats must be women. The Nationals and Liberals' merit-based promotion of female candidates has similarly failed.

Fianna Fáil has conceded it is “disappointed” with the proportion of female candidates it is running in the local and European elections in May.

The passage of a draft law seeking to provide 30 percent women participation in all political parties was stalled recently by a motion for reconsideration made by Nimba County Senator Thomas Grupee.

Senator Grupee's motion for reconsideration angered several women leaders who have expressed disappointment in the senator's action.

Some of them told a local radio station that Senator Grupee is against women leadership.

There is a big debate in the world of those advocating gender parity and it goes like this.

Most companies and countries around the globe have a dearth of women in leadership roles. Many people agree we should be at 50-50, but they don't agree on how to get there.