Nadi, Fiji – The inaugural Pacific Women in Power Forum which ended on Wednesday, 27 March has confirmed the need for an ongoing Pacific regional network of women Members of Parliament, which aims to encourage more women to enter politics and support current women MPs.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — When it comes to political power, women are totally outnumbered by men, accounting for less than 7 percent of the world’s leaders and only 24 percent of lawmakers, according to the latest statistics.

U.N. General Assembly President María Fernanda Espinosa told delegates to the Commission on the Status of Women on Tuesday that there has been a “serious regression” in the political power of women across the world in recent years.

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The former Ecuadorian Minister of Foreign Affairs who leads the 193-member world body, pointed out that in 2105 it would have taken 30 years to close the gender gap, but now, she told the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), if current trends continue, gender parity will not be reached for “107 years”.

Women have come a long way since the early 1900s. Just this year, a record number of women were elected into Congress, and more women than ever before have launched their presidential bids, vying for the 2020 Democratic nomination.

As of 2019 from the 535 members in the United States Congress, 127 are women, and 47 out of these women are women of color.