Women make up only 23.5% of Members of Parliament according to the latest available data of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. While significant strides in women’s political participation have been made since the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995, which set Member States’ target of achieving gender balance in political decision-making, women are still underrepresented in political decision-making at all levels and gender balance remains an aspirational goal. Gains in women’s participation have been notable in countries that have taken proactive steps to support women’s political participation, including reforming or amending discriminatory laws, taking concrete action to address violence against women in politics and gender discrimination within parliaments, addressing gender-specific barriers, and supporting women in all forms of decision-making including at local level and in executive government.
The new-look European Parliament includes the youngest person ever to sit as an MEP.
Kira Peter-Hansen, from Denmark, is just 21 and was still studying at university when she was elected.
Hon Catherine Gotani Hara, a lawmaker with the main opposition Malawi Congress Party, MCP, has been elected speaker of the country’s parliament becoming the first woman speaker.
South Africa's president on Wednesday named a trimmed-down Cabinet that is 50% women, making the country's one of few in the world to be "gender-balanced."
The number of women members of the European Parliament has doubled since direct elections were first held in 1979 but they still remain the minority, particularly in the top jobs.
Spain’s new parliament, sworn in on Tuesday, has the largest share of women in any European legislature, no small achievement for a country still reinventing itself four decades after the end of a right-wing, traditionalist dictatorship.
The next federal parliament is set to have a record number of women but Australia still has a "long way to go" until it achieves gender parity in its corridors of power.
The IPU and UN Women held a joint parliamentary event at the 63rd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (
How do we know whether women are achieving equitable levels of political representation? For many years, scholars have focused on women’s representation in legislatures.
This GSoD In Focus showcases global and regional data around trends in and the progression of gender equality, based on data from the Global State of Democracy (GSoD) Indices.