Introduction

Women and girls make up half of the world's population; however, in most countries, women are underrepresented in the political process at the national level. Possible causes include discriminatory laws and practices, gender stereotypes, low levels of education, lack of access to health care, and the disproportionate effect of poverty on women. Many experts have found that women's political participation, including representation in elected governments, contributes to the overall well-being of women and their communities.¹

As this report shows, in 2024, women hold 27.0% of legislative seats around the world, an increase from 15.6% of such seats in 2004 (see Figure 1). As of October 1, 2024, women held 50% or more of the legislative seats in six countries: Rwanda, Cuba, Nicaragua, Mexico, Andorra, and the United Arab Emirates (see Table 3).

A 2023 report noted that 66 chambers in 52 countries held elections and that women's representation increased in 32 of these chambers.² The same report describes a trend of women leaving politics altogether due to "burnout and fatigue"³ and the "challenge of violence and personal attacks, which are becoming increasingly widespread and virulent with the advancement of digital tools."⁴

At the national executive level, 34 countries currently have a female chief of state and/or head of government who won an election or was selected by elected bodies (see Table 6).

This report provides a snapshot of women's political participation in national governments worldwide by compiling statistics and other information from a variety of sources, including the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, the CIA World Factbook, news reports, and other sources.⁵

Selected Congressional Action

Legislation has been enacted that, either directly or indirectly, addresses women's political participation around the world. For example, from FY2014 through FY2024, a provision in Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (SFOPS) Appropriations Acts appropriated funds for women's leadership. Most recently, the FY2024 SFOPS Appropriations Act states

Of the funds appropriated under title III of this Act, not less than $50,000,000 shall be made available for the Madeleine K. Albright Women's Leadership Program, as established by section 7059(b) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2023 (division K of P.L. 117-328).⁶

Members have also enacted laws that address aspects and issues related to women's political participation. For example, the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017 (P.L. 115-68), among other things, aims to increase the participation of women in conflict prevention and conflict resolution processes as a means to build more inclusive societies and to help stabilize countries and regions. The act expresses the sense of Congress that "the political participation, and leadership of women in fragile environments, particularly during democratic transitions, is critical to sustaining lasting democratic institutions."⁷

Statistics on Selected Issues

Voting Rights

The right to vote is a primary step toward involving a populace in the political decisions of a government. In many countries, voting rights were originally granted only to adult men who owned property, then were eventually expanded to include adult male citizens regardless of property ownership, then to women, and finally to other underrepresented groups. Definitions of what constituted a "citizen" may also have changed over time, as they did in the United States, and become more inclusive of minority groups and Indigenous peoples.

Table 1 and Table 2, respectively, list the first and latest countries to extend the right and duty of voting to women according to the IPU. Although subnational regions (e.g., states, provinces) may have granted the right to vote earlier, the years in the tables below indicate when sex as a barrier to suffrage was removed from national elections. This does not mean that all women could vote, but that sex as a barrier to voting was removed. In the United States, for example, many women of color could not vote until the Civil Rights Act of 1965, even though women were granted the right to vote in federal elections in 1920.⁸

Legislative Representation

The following tables highlight women's representation based in national legislatures, including data on quotas (described below). Several countries and political parties have instituted quotas to ensure that women are represented on the ballot or in the legislature, which may affect the statistics on women's representation in national governments. Some governments also may use quotas to ensure ethnic or religious diversity in their national legislatures (e.g., Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq⁹).

Gender Quotas

The Atlas of Electoral Gender Quotas explains that "[g]ender quotas are numerical targets that stipulate the number or percentage of women that must be included in a candidate list or the number of seats to be allocated to women in a legislature. They aim to reverse discrimination in law and practice and to level the playing field for women and men in politics."¹⁰

Three main types of gender quotas are generally recognized, and they may be used at the national or subnational level, or both:

• Legislated candidate quotas. These quotas are mandated through national constitutions or legislation to regulate the gender composition of the ballot.
• Legislated "reserved seats." These quotas reserve a specific number or percentage of seats in the legislature for women members. The quotas are mandated through national constitutions or legislation and are implemented through special electoral procedures.
• Party quotas (also known as voluntary party quotas). Individual political parties may adopt these quotas through the party's statutes and rules. Such adoption is the prerogative of each party, and some parties in a country may adopt quotas while other parties choose not to do so.¹¹

Table 3 lists the countries where women hold 40% or more of the total seats of the national legislative chamber body according to the IPU.

Table 4 shows the number of seats held by women in the national legislative chambers of the 19 members of the "Group of 20" (G-20), a forum for advancing international economic cooperation and coordination among certain countries.¹² According to the IPU, women hold 40% or more of the total seats in the national legislatures of four G-20 countries (Mexico, South Africa, Australia, and Argentina), and these countries appear in both Table 3 and Table 4.

Table 5 lists countries where women hold 10% or less of the total legislative seats according to the IPU.

According to the IPU, over a 20-year period, the percentage of seats held by women in national legislatures has risen worldwide from 15.6% in October 2004 to 27.0% in October 2024 (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Worldwide Percentage of Seats Held by Women in National Legislatures October 2004 - October 2024

Source: Created by CRS using data from the IPU.

According to the IPU, in October 2004, Europe and the Americas were the only regions where women held 18% or more of legislative seats at the national level as shown in Figure 2. In 2024, women legislators in five regions hold more than 20% of the legislative seats. The Middle East/Northern Africa is the only region with less than 20% of legislative seats held by women, although women have increased their representation since 2004 from 6.9% to 16.8%.

Figure 2. Regional Percentages of Seats Held by Women in National Legislatures October 2004 - October 2024

Source: Created by CRS using data from the IPU.

Gender-Sensitive Parliaments

The IPU defines a gender-sensitive parliament as "one that responds to the needs and interests of both men and women in its structures, operations, methods, and work."¹³ IPU research focuses on ways that parliaments can "create mechanisms required to mainstream gender equality concerns throughout their legislative, oversight and administrative work."¹⁴

In 2012 and then in 2017, the IPU published its Plan of Action for Gender-Sensitive Parliaments, which includes the following action areas:

• increasing the number of women in parliament and achieving equality in participation;
• strengthening gender equality legislation and policy;
• mainstreaming gender equality throughout all parliamentary work;
• instituting or improving gender-sensitive infrastructure and parliamentary culture;
• ensuring that responsibility for gender equality is shared by all parliamentarians – men and women;
• encouraging political parties to be champions of gender equality; and
• enhancing the gender sensitivity of, and gender equality among, parliamentary staff.¹⁵

In October 2022, at the end of the 145^th IPU Assembly in Kigali, Rwanda, the Kigali Declaration, Gender Equality and Gender-Sensitive Parliaments as Drivers of Change for a More Resilient and Peaceful World, was adopted. It made the following recommendations:

• achieving parity in political decisionmaking, including by using electoral gender quotas and ensuring that other electoral quotas always have a gender parity provision;
• ensuring law-making, law-enforcement, and budgeting are gender-responsive across all policy fields;
• placing vulnerable populations at the centre of parliamentary functions of legislation, oversight, resource allocation, and representation;
• ending gender-based discrimination, violence, and other harmful practices, and ensuring access to sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice for all women and girls; and
• advancing equality in caring responsibilities among men and women and setting an example by undertaking 50% of the daily care work for MP's families, regardless of being male or female MPs.¹⁶

Hybrid work is being examined as a gender-sensitive mechanism. "During the pandemic, 84% of parliaments introduced new systems that were previously unplanned."¹⁷ These changes are considered "gender-responsive," and "parliaments are considering to what extent hybrid working makes parliaments more modern, gender-sensitive and family-friendly workplaces."¹⁸ A 2024 IPU report notes that "as digital technology becomes increasingly strategic to parliaments, gender balance and gender-responsive digital initiatives are likely to become increasingly important aspects of inclusive governance."¹⁹

Another 2024 IPU report discussed the "Women in Politics: To Stay or Not to Stay" session at the 147^th IPU Assembly in October 2023. The panel discussion emphasized peer-to-peer support and building "more solidarity among women across party lines."²⁰

Various international organizations have published research and guidelines to assist parliaments in achieving gender-sensitivity.²¹

Executive Representation

Voters in at least 70 countries have chosen a woman as their executive since 1960, when Sri Lanka selected Sirima Bandaranaike as the world's first female prime minister. Executives may be selected through various methods: directly elected from a ballot dedicated to the executive office; indirectly elected by the legislature; appointed, following legislative elections, as the leader of the majority political party or majority coalition; or through other means.

The term "executive" refers to persons identified as either the chief of state or head of government of a country. The CIA World Factbook defines the chief of state as "the titular leader of the country who represents the state at official and ceremonial functions but may not be involved with the day-to-day activities of the government." The head of government is "the person designated to manage the executive branch of the government." In some countries, a monarch is identified as the "chief of state," whereas an elected official (such as the prime minister, premier, or administrator) is the "head of government." Other countries, such as the United States, have one person, the President, filling both positions. Many countries have a "chief of state," such as a president, and another person as "head of government," such as a prime minister, who won their offices through different processes.²²

According to 2024 analysis from the Pew Research Center, 60 United Nations member states (31%) have had a female head of government, just over one-third of the 193 member states.²³

Women Leaders in the 21^st Century

Table 6 lists women who are currently the chief of state and/or head of government of their country, excluding monarchs, and are listed alphabetically by country.

Table 7 lists selected women who formerly served as the executive of their country since 2000 and are listed alphabetically by country.

Women Leaders of the 20^th Century

Table 8 identifies several female executives who held office in the 20^th century with notes describing notable facts.

Violence Against Women in Politics

Some experts and observers have found that, while any candidate or elected politician may experience violence, women politicians can be targeted because of their gender and subjected to sexist threats, sexual harassment, and violence.²⁴ Violence may occur during the registration and voting processes, while campaigning and running for office, and/or while serving in a government.²⁵ Perpetrators may include both state and non-state actors, such as members of political parties, other parliamentarians, members of the public, media representatives, and religious or community leaders.²⁶

Underreporting incidents of violence against women in politics makes addressing the issue particularly challenging. Information about the problem tends to be anecdotal rather than statistical, making it difficult to determine the extent and prevalence of the problem. In addition, many women may be reluctant to report violence out of the belief that doing so may limit a woman's political aspirations, and out of fear of reprisals, threats, and possible increased harassment.²⁷ According to a 2018 United Nations report, "women of color appear to be disproportionately affected, and risks are likely higher for women of marginalized communities."²⁸

Figure 3 indicates the prevalence of attacks of "political violence targeting women in politics" (PVTWIP). PVTWIP affects those who participate in various functions in the political process according to the Political Violence Targeting Women Research Hub from Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED). Trends in Figure 3 reflect data gathered periodically from women in 190 countries from January 2, 2021, through November 14, 2024. Globally, women candidates for office, whether for local, regional, or national government, experienced up to 117 PVTWIP attacks (9.8%), while female politicians, those women currently serving in an elected governmental position, experienced 175 PVTWIP attacks (14.7%). Political party supporters, such as women who campaign and actively support a political party or candidate, faced 162 PVTWIP attacks (13.6%), while women voters underwent 5 PVTWIP attacks (0.5%). Government officials, women who work in nonelected government positions, including public and civil servants, experienced up to 326 PVTWIP attacks (27.4%). Protestors experienced 34 PVTWIP attacks (2.9%). The largest group of women in public life, who experienced 369 PVTW attacks (31.1%), includes activists, human rights defenders, and social leaders.²⁹

Figure 3. Trends in Political Violence Targeting Women in Politics, by Role in Political Process January 2, 2021, through November 14, 2024

Source: Created by CRS, based on aggregate data from "Political Violence Targeting Women," Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), accessed November 24, 2024. Notes: Data on violence targeting women in politics are restricted to acts of physical violence that take place in a public setting on women who engage in the political process. This does not include acts of bullying or intimidation, cases of domestic violence, or virtual aggressive actions.

In October 2016, the IPU published the results of a survey of 55 women legislators from 39 countries on their experiences of harassment, intimidation, or violence based on their gender.³⁰ Tables 9 to 12 illustrate the findings of this survey. Broadly, almost 82% of the women surveyed reported they had personally experienced psychological violence, almost 22% reported incidents of sexual violence, 25.5% reported experiencing physical violence, and almost 33% had been subjected to economic violence.

The 81.8% of respondents in Table 9 who reported they had experienced psychological violence identified the manifestations of this violence in Table 10.

Table 11 lists several factors identified in the IPU study that may make some women legislators a likely target for gender-based intolerance.

Additional risk factors that appear to lead to violence against women in legislatures include being a member of the political minority, being under the age of 40, and belonging to a minority ethnic, religious, or other marginalized social group.³¹ Table 12 identifies how women legislators have reacted to the acts of violence they experienced.

The IPU released regional updates on sexism, harassment and violence against women in parliaments for Europe (2018) and for Africa (2021).

IPU's 2018 Europe regional update is based on the results of one-on-one conversations with 123 women from 45 European countries. Eighty-one participants were members of parliament (MPs) and 42 were members of the parliamentary staff.³² Table 13 identifies the prevalence of various forms of violence against European women legislators.

More broadly, female MPs in Europe under 40 experienced higher rates of psychological and sexual harassment than male MPs. Female MPs who actively supported gender equality and condemned violence against women were often singled out for attack.³³

Table 14 identifies the prevalence of forms of violence against European female parliamentary staff.

Of the 40.5% of European women parliamentary staff who suffered acts of sexual harassment, in 69.2% of such cases the perpetrators were male MPs.³⁴

Of the 50.0% of cases in which European women parliamentary staff received comments of a sexual nature, in 61.5% of those cases such comments were made by male MPs.³⁵

IPU's 2021 Africa regional update is based on the results of confidential interviews conducted with 224 women from 50 countries. One-hundred and thirty-seven participants were women parliamentarians and 87 were members of the parliamentary staff.³⁶

Table 15 identifies the prevalence of forms of violence against African women parliamentarians.

The 80.0% of African women legislators in Table 15 who reported they had experienced psychological violence identified manifestations of this violence in Table 16.

The 39.0% of African women legislators in Table 15 who reported they had experienced sexual violence identified manifestations of this violence in Table 17.

Table 18 identifies the prevalence of forms of violence against African women parliamentary staff.

The 45.0% of African women parliamentary staff in Table 18 who reported they had experienced sexual harassment at work identified types of perpetrators of this behavior in Table 19.

African women parliamentary staff reported that "18% have received requests for sexual favors from parliamentary colleagues (56% of cases) or from parliamentarians (44% of cases) in exchange for a benefit that this colleague or parliamentarian was empowered to withhold or confer."³⁷

The 69.0% of African women parliamentary staff in Table 18 who reported they had experienced psychological violence identified manifestations of this violence in Table 20.

In the 56.0% of African women parliamentary staff who were the target of sexist remarks, 67% of these cases were by male colleagues working in parliament and 30% of these cases were by male parliamentarians.³⁸

In the 38.0% of African women parliamentary staff who experienced psychological harassment within the context of their work in parliament, in 72.0% of those cases the parliamentary colleagues were the perpetrators (mostly men but some women). In 22.0% of those cases, the perpetrators were male parliamentarians.³⁹

The 2021 Africa update also includes examples of economic violence reported includes

• 18% of female parliamentary staff have been threatened with losing their job or with having their career progression blocked, and
• 24% have been refused funds to which they were entitled, such as a salary or bonus.⁴⁰