Even though the Finnish elections were won by a male, women dominated Finland’s general election that took place on Sunday, with the most successful candidates being female.

The winner of the election is Peterri Orpo from the National Coalition Party with 20.8% of the vote, followed by Finns Party leader Riikka Purra in second place with 20.1% of the vote.

The proportion of women among the candidates for the 2023 Finnish parliamentary elections is higher than ever before, according to a press release from the Finnish Statistics Centre. Women now account for 42.9% of candidates, which is 0.9 percentage points higher than the previous election in 2019. The majority of candidates in past elections have always been male, but now there are 1,039 female candidates compared to 1,385 male candidates.

Despite the legal reforms that have been taken by various Arab countries following their ratification of various international agreements guaranteeing women's civil and political rights, women have not been able to achieve equal representation in elected councils.

No parliament in the world is fully gender-sensitive. Women and gender-diverse people are relatively recent arrivals into political life, so many parliamentary institutions have developed without respect for their needs and experiences. This has led to discriminatory and exclusionary cultures, practices, and outcomes, many of which are unintentional.

The Parliament of Zimbabwe has recently launched two initiatives to engage more youth and women in parliament.

At the 146th IPU Assembly in Manama, Bahrain, IPU Members voted in new Presidents of the Bureau of Women Parliamentarians and the Board of the Forum of Young Parliamentarians. Both Presidents were elected for two-year terms. They will also serve as Ex Officio Members of the IPU Executive Committee.

According to the latest IPU report, Women in Parliament 2022, women’s participation in parliament has never been as diverse and representative as it is in many countries today. And for the first time in history, not a single functioning parliament in the world is male-only.