 "International Women’s Day 2024: Which country has the most women in parliament?")
It’s International Women’s Day today (8 March) and it’s a good opportunity to look at how far women have come so far. Even though, the progress is admirable, there’s still a long distance to go to reach parity, say experts.
And one field where progress is being achieved, albeit at a slow pace, is representation in parliaments. As of today, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) notes that women are largely underrepresented in parliaments worldwide. In its report, the IPU stated that the global proportion of women in the world’s voting chambers inched up to 26.9 per cent.
On this momentous day, we take a deep dive into the data released on women’s representation and which countries are top performers and also why their presence in politics is still an uphill battle.
What does the data say?
The IPU has noted that women’s representation in parliaments is now 26.9 per cent, which means that just over one in four lawmakers in national parliaments worldwide are women. The IPU further noted that if things continue as such, it would take more than 80 years to reach parity.
According to IPU, the figure has increased by 10 per cent since 2004, but is only up by an estimated three per cent up from 2014, when the share was 22.1 per cent of female representatives in legislatures.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsInterestingly, in March last year, the IPU noted that every functioning parliament in the world had at least one woman for the first time in history.
When looking at the data regionally, the Americas lead the pack, with women’s representation at a high of 35.1 per cent.
The IPU report has also highlighted that gender issues frequently emerged high up the list of voter priorities during election cycles, with women’s reproductive rights, namely abortion remaining a contentious issue.
For instance, in Poland’s election of 2023, abortion became a key issue after a 2020 court ruling severely restricted access to abortion. The IPU report suggests that this was one factor which led the ruling party to lose power.
Which countries are faring well?
It might come as a surprise for many, but it is not a European or American nation that tops the list when it comes to women’s representation in parliament. According to the IPU, the central African nation of Rwanda is at the top of the list with women accounting for 61.3 per cent of seats in parliament.
Notably, Rwanda was also the first country to have a female-majority parliament, back in 2008. In fact, today Rwandan politics is cited as a model of gender inclusiveness.
Following Rwanda, as per the IPU report, is Cuba and Nicaragua where women’s representation is respectively 56 per cent and 52 per cent.
This year’s report has also ranked the United Arab Emirates at fifth position, with a 50 per cent representation in its parliament.
Developed countries such as Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom didn’t feature in the top 10 list. In fact, the IPU stated that Germany’s national parliament, the Bundestag, ranked 47 of 184 in terms of female representation.
But it’s not all good news. There are several countries that are performing poorly when it comes to women’s representation in parliament. Yemen has no women in its lower house, and just one in its upper house.
The report also points out that in 20 countries such as Nigeria, Qatar and Iran, women hold fewer than 10 per cent of seats.
Notably, Sri Lanka , which was the first country to ever have a female prime minister, is also lagging behind today. As of date, women make up only 5.3 per cent of its parliament.
Japan, which is also a leading developed power, also performs poorly on this ranking. In 2022, women only held 10 per cent of the seats in the lower chamber — way below other developed nations.
What about India?
As of date, India’s Parliament houses a total of 104 women lawmakers (78 in Lok Sabha) and 24 in Rajya Sabha. This means that women make up 13 per cent of the Parliament .
However, women’s representation in the country’s parliament is expected to get a boost as lawmakers approved the Women’s Reservation Bill , under which one-third of all seats in Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies will be kept aside for women. A similar Bill had been introduced in Rajya Sabha in 2008 , and was passed by the House two years later. It lapsed after the dissolution of the 14th Lok Sabha in 2014.
But it’s important to note here that the actual implementation of the legislation could take years as it depends on the redrawing of electoral constituencies, which will only happen after the completion of India’s once-in-a-decade census.
Why are women leaders quitting?
While the IPU report’s data shows that women are progressing, there was one issue of concern. The IPU reported highlighted that several high-profile female leaders had left the political arena in 2023. Many of them had cited burnout and increasing online harassment as the main reasons for leaving.
It began in January last year when New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern announced that she was stepping down, saying: “I know what this job takes and I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice.”
Months later, in March, Scotland’s Nicola Sturgeon tendered her resignation after eight years. In her speech to the public, she had said, “It’s only very recently, I think, that I’ve started to comprehend, let alone process, the physical and mental impact of it on me.”
Even Moldovan leader Natalia Gavrilița quit citing a lack of “support and trust at home”. And in April 2023, Finland’s Sanna Marin also resigned following her party’s narrow defeat in the general election.
Harriet Marsden had then written in The New Statesman, “It has been a dismal few months for women in politics… The recent spate of resignations should force us to face the reality for women in power, and question why anyone would even want the job.”
Many note that politics is indeed a very tough workspace for women. They are victims of severe abuse and harassment; in fact, in the UK, 93 per cent women MPs said that online abuse or harassment had a negative impact on how they felt about holding their role.
Many women in politics also complain of the intrusive and often sexist scrutiny they receive. For instance, after a video showed Marin dancing at a private event provoked a public outcry, she was forced to take a drugs test “for her own legal protection”.
As Farida Jalalzai, a professor of political science at Virginia Tech, wrote in The Conversation, “Women in leadership positions will get asked certain questions that men do not.”
Women will be criticised for appearing “too hard and too aggressive”, but also if they are seen as “overly soft and emotional”. And “there isn’t an easy way” around that major problem facing our female leaders, she added.
With inputs from agencies
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