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| Rwandan women at a meeting of the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) political party. |
The IPU rankings show that women are a minority in the majority of parliaments around the world. However, the proportion of women is increasing, now accounting for more than a quarter of all parliamentarians globally.
Growth in 2023 will be similar to that in 2022, but slower than the previous two years, the IPU said.
Rwanda once again tops the world rankings with women holding 61.3% of seats in the House of Representatives, followed by Cuba and Nicaragua with 55.7% and 53.9% respectively.
While Mexico also has more women than men in parliament, Andorra and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have achieved gender parity in their parliaments. Notably, the parliaments of Oman, Yemen and the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu have no female representation.
By region, the Americas maintained its position as having the highest female participation rate, at 35.1%.
The IPU report noted that several senior female leaders left politics in 2023, many of whom cited burnout and increased online harassment as key reasons for their decision to “divorce.”
Early last year, Jacinda Ardern resigned as Prime Minister of New Zealand and decided not to run for re-election in Parliament. A few months later, after losing the April election, Sanna Marin, the former Prime Minister of Finland, also resigned as a member of parliament and decided to leave politics. Several prominent female lawmakers in the Netherlands also resigned.
According to the IPU report, some parliaments have taken steps to strengthen safety measures, such as Iceland's Althingi (National Parliament) which adopted a strategy and action plan against bullying, sexual and gender harassment.
| According to the latest IPU report, Vietnam ranks 63rd with women holding 30.6% of seats in the National Assembly. |
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