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UNITED NATIONS, March 12 (Xinhua) -- The proportion of women ministers is at an all-time high at 20.7 percent, 2.4 percentage points higher than that in 2017, according to data in the 2019 edition of the biennial IPU (Inter-Parliamentary Union)-UN Women map released Tuesday.

"Women's representation in political decision-making continues to rise slowly, with slight improvements since 2017," according to the map of Women in Politics launched during the 63rd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW63) at the UN headquarters in New York.

The map, however, finds that women's representation in top-level leadership has decreased from 7.2 percent of elected heads of state to 6.6 percent (10 out of 153), and from 5.7 percent of heads of government to 5.2 percent (10 out of 193).

Ethiopia saw the largest increase in women's political representation in the executive, from 10 percent women ministers in 2017 to 47.6 percent in 2019.

Mexico made the biggest strides in the Americas, with the addition of five women ministers, increasing the overall share of women ministers by 26.3 percentage points to 42.1 percent.

The number of countries with no women ministers decreased from 13 in 2017 to 11, according to the map.

Strikingly, more women are in charge of portfolios traditionally occupied by men compared to 2017: 30 percent more women ministers cover defense, 52.9 percent more women cover finance, and 13.6 percent more women cover foreign affairs.

"More women in politics leads to more inclusive decisions and can change people's image of what a leader looks like," said UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. "We still have a steep road ahead, but the growing proportion of women ministers is encouraging, especially where we see a rise in the number of countries with gender-balanced ministerial cabinets. These are the types of bold moves that we need if we are to dramatically increase women's representation in decision-making."

Source: Xinuanet.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Ellen Wulfhorst,

UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of women in the top echelons of world politics has crawled to an all-time high, but progress is so slow that more quotas and incentives are called for, female leaders said at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Countries with legal targets and sanctions are making the biggest strides toward gender equality in politics, said the heads of U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which released a yearly map charting women in global politics.

At the start of this year, one in five ministers around the world was a woman, the most ever and up 2.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the groups said.

The number of women in parliaments edged up less than a percentage point to 24 percent in 2018.

“That’s a lot of men making laws for all of us,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations’ agency on women, at a news conference.

“We are obviously concerned. We were hoping that by this time we would have been very far in terms of the progress that we would have made,” she said. “We do have snail’s pace progress.”

Of the 10 countries making the most progress in terms of female leadership, eight have some form of gender quotas in their laws or political parties, said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, president of the IPU, an international organization of parliaments.

“We need to make institutional changes to make faster cultural changes. Otherwise culture takes too long, and we cannot afford to wait any longer,” she said.

More than 130 countries have institutionalized some form of electoral gender equity rules, which might include quotas, legal targets, incentives for political parties that promote women and sanctions, according to the IPU.

But women advancing in politics often face harassment, legal discrimination, abuse on social media and violence, the advocates said.

“The environment right now is not the most enabling environment for women to rise,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“There is push-back,” she said. “We just have to be stronger in pushing back against the push-back.”

Nine countries, up from six in 2017, have 50 percent or more women in ministerial positions, led by Spain, followed by Nicaragua, Sweden and Albania, the data said.

But women as elected heads of state dropped to 6.6 percent from 7.2 percent, and 11 countries have no female ministers at all.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation.