Almost 17 per cent of parliamentarians worldwide are now women - an all time high. In 1995, only 11.3 per cent of all parliamentary seats were held by women. The Inter-Parliamentary Union today presents its latest statistics on women in parliament following elections in 51 countries (61 chambers of parliament) in 2006.
Increases in the number of women were registered in more than 60 per cent of the chambers that were renewed, with women winning 16.7 per cent of all parliamentary seats up for grabs in 2006. Of the women who won seats, 1,459 were directly elected, 63 were indirectly elected, and 35 were appointed.
The IPU’s statistics also reveal that electoral gender quotas were used in 23 countries to bolster women's participation. In those countries with gender quotas, women took 21.7 per cent of seats as opposed to 11.8 per cent in countries without (see analysis and statistics).
A record number of women speakers of parliament
In January 2007, again according to the IPU’s statistics, there were more women presiding officers of parliament than ever before: 35 out of a total 262 worldwide. Women speakers were elected for the first time in Gambia, Israel, Swaziland, Turkmenistan and the United States of America.
Where they were once concentrated in the Caribbean, women presiding officers are making inroads in all regions. Women head parliaments in the following countries: Albania, Antigua and Barbuda (both chambers), Austria, the Bahamas, Belgium, Belize, Burundi, Colombia, Dominica, Gambia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Lesotho, Peru, the Netherlands (both chambers), New Zealand, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia (both chambers), South Africa, Swaziland, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkmenistan, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
Progress at regional level
Three Gulf Cooperation Council States recorded significant political changes. In the United Arab Emirates, both women and men stood for election and voted for the first time in that country's history. Nine women entered parliament, taking 22.5 per cent of the seats. Women stood for election for the first time in Kuwait, as well, but none won. In Bahrain, one woman was elected to the Lower House for the first time in that country.
The Nordic countries continued to elect the highest numbers of women to their parliaments. Their regional average increased to 40.8 per cent after Sweden elected a greater number of women to parliament than in previous years.
The consistent rate of progress in the Americas over the past decade was largely sustained in all 20 parliamentary elections held in 2006. As a region, the Americas report 20 per cent average female representation, trailing only the Nordic countries, and ahead of Europe.
Less than three per cent of legislators in the Pacific Island states are women - the lowest regional average in the world. No women won seats in the elections held in the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu in 2006.
Maintaining a critical mass
Four countries maintained or surpassed a critical mass of 30 per cent parliamentary representation by women after elections in 2006. Sweden elected the highest number of women ever to its parliament. Women now hold 47.3 per cent of parliamentary seats there — the second highest percentage in the world after Rwanda, where women occupy 48.8 per cent of seats in the Lower House. Sweden has been a world leader in women's parliamentary representation for several decades, recording progress at each election. The gains women registered in the 2006 election boosted the average regional representation for women in the Nordic countries to an all-time high of 40.8 per cent.
Challenging Nordic dominance is Costa Rica, which elected a parliament of 38.6 per cent women. Costa Rica is now the only Latin American country ranked among the top five nations in electing women to parliament. Close behind is the Netherlands, which has maintained a rate of female representation of over 33 per cent for the past ten years, and Austria, which, although registering a slight decrease, elected more than 32 per cent women. In December 2006, 19 parliaments reached the critical-mass target established in the Beijing Platform for Action of 30 per cent women in decision-making positions.
Guyana, Peru and Uganda are all within reach of the critical mass. All three have reformed the electoral process to promote the participation of women, and in all three, greater numbers of women won seats in 2006. In Guyana and Peru, proportional representation electoral systems with legislated political party quotas require that at least one third of all electoral candidates be women. Uganda reformed its system of reserving seats for women in parliament by raising the number of women district representatives from 69 to 80.
Missed opportunities in post-conflict States
Reversing earlier trends, some of the biggest losers were post-conflict States undergoing electoral and parliamentary reform. In recent years, elections in Afghanistan, Burundi, Rwanda, Mozambique, South Africa and Timor-Leste had resulted in significant increases in the number of women in parliament. In 2006, however, women gained only 8.4 per cent of seats in the newly established Lower House of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and four per cent of seats in Haiti’s Lower House. Indeed, fewer women now hold political office in the Democratic Republic of the Congo than did so in the previous transitional assembly. Although the debate on electoral reform there and in Haiti included women's political participation, no measures were adopted to guarantee women's presence in parliament.
The Lower House of Bosnia and Herzegovina remained unchanged in this regard, with women accounting for 14.3 per cent of parliamentary seats, the same proportion as the outgoing assembly.
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