Women make up half of the world’s population and yet they are still largely excluded from politics and decision-making power. The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), a global organization of national parliaments, released its latest annual Women in Parliament report just a few days before International Women’s Day on March 8, and it indicated that the world is not yet on track to achieve gender equality in politics by 2030.
The good news is that women are steadily taking up more space in governmental leadership around the world, with more and more of them securing seats in national parliaments, and a good number of countries implementing parliamentary quotas to ensure fair representation of women.
1. Rwanda
The East African country is leading the world with 61% of its parliamentary seats occupied by women. Chugong even referred to Rwanda as a role model for the country’s rate of women’s participation in the government.
2. Cuba
With 53% of women taking up parliamentary seats, Cuba remains in the second spot for another year. It is one of two countries from the Caribbean to make it into the IPU’s top 10 — with Grenada not far behind at number eight — and was commended by the union for achieving and maintaining gender parity.
3. United Arab Emirates
The third and final country on the list to have achieved gender equality in parliament — with 50% of parliamentarians being women, compared to just 20% in previous years — is the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The country made an impressive improvement, jumping from 85th in the world in 2019, to third in the world this year. This came as a result of President Sheikh Khalifa calling for women to occupy half the parliamentary seats in 2018.
4. Nicaragua
The report revealed that the Americas are the most commendable global region when it comes to representation of women in politics. Not only does Nicaragua have a high number of women in parliament, women leaders have been instrumental in leading the resistance against the country’s dictatorship.
5. New Zealand
With Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern re-elected as its leader, New Zealand’s parliament became one of the most diverse in the world, representing not only more women, but people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Ardern herself made history when she became the youngest female leader of a country in 2017; in the presidential election last year she faced off against another woman leader and member of parliament, Judith Collins.
