Parliaments & Representatives

As Nigeria continues its quest for socio-economic development, women have been encouraged to vie for political positions at all levels of government, from local councils to the National Assembly.

This call to action was made by the Chief Responsibility Officer, Mother Gold, Dr. Adeshina Fagbenro-Byron, at the third annual Mental Health Series themed “Rise, Speak, and Renew’, organized by the Victoria Modupe Foundation. at Wemabod Estate in Ikeja, Lagos, in commemoration of International Women’s Day.

Dr. Fagbenro-Byron emphasized the crucial role women play in the health and well-being of a nation, likening their exclusion from decision-making processes to having 50% of one’s body injured or malfunctioning.

He stressed that women’s participation in politics was not just a matter of equality, but also a matter of national interest.

Addressing women at the event, he said : “At least, 50% of the population of every nation are women.

Now, you imagine if 50% of your body is either excluded, injured or maligned in some way. What would happen to the total health of the body? So, if 50% of our women population are disenfranchised and excluded one way or another, what do you think will be the total health of the nation? It will not be as it should be.

“ By excluding women, we limit our problem-solving capacity and hinder our progress.Solution can come from either a man or a woman. So if you exclude women or make them redundant, that means the totality of where your ideas should come from, you have already blocked it. That means you are walking on half speed”.

Read here the full article published by The Vanguard on 13 March 2025.

Image by The Vanguard

NEW YORK | 11 March 2025 (IDN) — New data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women underscores the critical need for immediate action, as progress toward gender equality in political leadership at the start of 2025 has been unacceptably slow.

According to the 2025 edition of the IPU-UN Women Women in Politics map, men outnumber women by more than three times in executive and legislative positions. The map presents the latest rankings of women in executive positions and national parliaments as of 1 January 2025.

While the proportion of women in parliament has increased fractionally by 0.3 percentage points to 27.2% compared to a year ago, it’s concerning that it has declined by 0.4 percentage points in government positions, indicating setbacks in achieving gender equality.

IPU President Tulia Ackson underscored the global disparity in women’s parliamentary representation, stating that it highlights a systemic failure to advance gender equality in politics in some parts of the world. She called for decisive action to shatter these barriers and ensure women’s voices are equally represented in politics worldwide, emphasizing that the health of our democracies depends on it.

Martin Chungong, IPU Secretary General, stressed the need for men’s active participation in achieving gender equality in political leadership. He stated that our collective responsibility is to break down barriers and ensure that women’s voices are equally represented in leadership roles, fostering a more inclusive and robust democracy for all.

Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women, stated: “Thirty years after the Beijing Declaration, the promise of gender equality in political leadership remains unfulfilled. Progress is not just slow—it is backsliding. We cannot accept a world where half the population is systematically excluded from decision-making. We know the solutions: quotas, electoral reforms, and the political will to dismantle systemic barriers. The time for half-measures is over—it is time for governments to act now to ensure women have an equal seat at every table where power is exercised.”

Read here the full article published by IDN-InDepthNews on 11 March 2025.

Image by IDN-InDepthNews

Women’s equal participation and leadership in political and public life are essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. However, data show that women are underrepresented at all levels of decision-making worldwide and that achieving gender parity in political life is far off.

• Women in executive government positions

• Women in national parliaments

• Women in local government

• Expanding participation

• Notes

Women in executive government positions

• As of 1 January 2025, there are 25 countries where 28 women serve as Heads of State and/or Government [1]. At the current rate, gender equality in the highest positions of power will not be reached for another 130 years [2].

• Just 18 countries have a woman Head of State, and 16 countries have a woman Head of Government [3].

• Data compiled data by UN Women show that women represent 22.9 per cent of Cabinet members heading Ministries, leading a policy area as of 1 January 2025 [4]. There are only nine countries in which women hold 50 per cent or more of the positions of Cabinet Ministers leading policy areas [5].

• The five most commonly held portfolios by women Cabinet Ministers are Women and gender equality, followed by Family and children affairs, Social inclusion and development, Social protection and social security, and Culture [6].*

Women in national parliaments

• Only 27.2 per cent of parliamentarians in single or lower houses are women, up from 11 per cent in 1995 [7].

• Only six countries have 50 per cent or more women in parliament in single or lower houses: Rwanda (64 per cent), Cuba (56 per cent), Nicaragua (55 per cent), Andorra (50 per cent), Mexico (50 per cent), and the United Arab Emirates (50 per cent) [8].

• A further 21 countries have reached or surpassed 40 per cent, including nine countries in Europe, six in Latin America and the Caribbean, five in Africa, and one in Asia-Pacific [9].

• Globally, there are 21 States in which women account for less than 10 per cent of parliamentarians in single or lower houses, including three lower chambers with no women at all [10].

• At the current rate of progress, gender parity in national legislative bodies will not be achieved before 2063 [11].

• Women hold 36 per cent of parliamentary seats in Latin America and the Caribbean and make up 33 per cent of parliamentarians in Europe and Northern America. In sub-Saharan Africa, there are 27 per cent of women legislators, followed by Eastern and South-Eastern Asia with 23.5 per cent, Oceania with 20 per cent, Northern Africa and Western Asia with 19 per cent, and Central and Southern Asia with 17 per cent of women Members of Parliament [12].

Women in local government

• Data from 145 countries show that women constitute more than 3 million (35.5 per cent) of elected members in local deliberative bodies. Only two countries have reached 50 per cent, and an additional 26 countries have more than 40 per cent women in local government [13].

• Regional variations are also noted for women’s representation in local deliberative bodies, as of January 2024: Central and Southern Asia, 41 per cent; Europe and Northern America, 37 per cent; Oceania, 31 per cent; Eastern and South-Eastern Asia, 31 per cent; Latin America and the Caribbean, 29 per cent; sub-Saharan Africa, 26 per cent; Western Asia and Northern Africa, 20 per cent [14].

Expanding participation

• Balanced political participation and power-sharing between women and men in decision-making is the internationally agreed target set in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action [15].

• While most countries in the world have not achieved gender parity, gender quotas have substantially contributed to progress over the years. In countries with legislated candidate quotas, women’s representation is five percentage points and seven percentage points higher in parliaments and local government, respectively, compared to countries without such legislation [16].

• There is established and growing evidence that women’s leadership in political decision-making processes improves them. For example, research on panchayats (local councils) in India discovered that the number of drinking water projects in areas with women-led councils was 62 per cent higher than in those with men-led councils. In Norway, a direct causal relationship between the presence of women in municipal councils and childcare coverage was found [17].

• Women demonstrate political leadership by working across party lines through parliamentary women’s caucuses—even in the most politically combative environments—and by championing issues of gender equality, such as the elimination of gender-based violence, parental leave and childcare, pensions, gender-equality laws, and electoral reform [18].

[1] UN Women calculation based on information provided by Permanent Missions to the United Nations. Countries with monarchy-based systems are excluded from the count of Heads of State.

[2] UN Women calculations.

[3] UN Women calculation based on information provided by Permanent Missions to the United Nations. Six leaders hold positions of both head of state and head of government. Countries with monarchy-based systems are excluded from the count of Heads of State.

[4] Inter-Parliamentary Union and UN Women, Women in politics: 2025.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Inter-Parliamentary Union. Women in national parliaments, as of 1 January 2025.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid.

[11] UN Women calculations.

[12] Inter-Parliamentary Union. Women in national parliaments, as of 1 January 2025.

[13] UN Women, Women in Local Government. Data as of 1 January 2024.

[14] Ibid.

[15] United Nations (1995). Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Critical Area G, “Women, power and decision-making”.

[16] United Nations, Economic and Social Council (2021). Women’s full and effective participation and decision-making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls: Report of the Secretary-General (E/CN.6/2021/3).

[17] R. Chattopadhyay and E. Duflo (2004). “Women as policy makers: Evidence from a randomized policy experiment in India,” Econometrica 72(5), pp. 1409–1443; K. A. Bratton and L. P. Ray. 2002. “Descriptive representation: Policy outcomes and municipal day-care coverage in Norway,” American Journal of Political Science, 46(2), pp. 428–437.

[18] Inter-Parliamentary Union (2008). Equality in politics: A survey of men and women in parliaments.

[Page updated 11 March 2025.]

The pushback against gender equality is one of the findings in a major report from UN Women, the UN agency for gender equality, on the progress made so far in advancing women’s rights worldwide.

This latest version of the study, which is updated every five years, comes at a time of great uncertainty, as several donors announce major funding cuts, leading to the disruption of essential services for women worldwide.

The report measures the extent to which the aims of a groundbreaking women’s rights accord adopted in Beijing in 1995. Around a quarter of countries surveyed note a backlash against feminism and gender equality.

However, it is not all bad news: there have been many encouraging signs of progress over the last thirty years, from legal protections for women, to services and support for survivors of domestic abuse and bans on gender-based discrimination in the workplace.

Ahead of the launch of the report, Laura Turquet, the deputy head of the research and data team at UN Women, and Lydia Alpizar, a Costa Rican feminist activist based in Mexico City, spoke to UN News about the reasons for this renewed attack against feminism and what it means for the state of gender relations.

Read here the full article published by the UN News on 7 March 2025.