Press release of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Washington, Geneva, New Delhi 13 February 1997
N° 62

In 1997, women hold just 11.7 percent of all seats in Parliaments around the world, and only 7.1 percent of Parliaments are headed by women, demonstrating the huge gap in political power between the sexes, says a new survey by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

Since the last IPU survey in July 1995, 73 of the 179 existing Parliaments have held general elections, in which the number of women parliamentarians grew by a tiny 0.4 percent.

According to the new study, Men and Women in Politics: Democracy Still in the Making, women must first achieve equitable power within political parties if they are to close the gap in Parliament. Right now, only 10.8 percent of party leaders and less than one-third of party board members are women, despite the large number of female party activists.

"The survey demonstrates that all countries, with the exception of Nordic countries, conduct politics in a way that excludes nearly half of their human resources and talents," states the survey. "It is democracy that suffers and development that is slowed." For Pierre Cornillon, Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, "it is quite clear that it is chiefly within political formations that the will must crystallize for the situation to change and for women to have a full say in the running of public affairs."

The 1997 IPU study surveyed all political parties in the world's Parliaments -- more than 1,000 parties -- on the status of women, both in Parliaments and in the parties themselves. The study also asked about any steps being taken to equalize political power between men and women.

To advance the cause of a more balanced sharing of political responsibilities between men and women, the IPU has organized a conference together with the Indian Parliament, entitled, "Towards Partnership Between Men and Women in Politics". The Conference, in New Delhi February 14-18, will bring together female and male leaders from Parliaments, Governments, international organizations, non-government organizations (NGOs), academia and the media.

It will be the first worldwide political conference to look into actions taken by governments and political parties to further women's political integration since the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, September 1995). The Conference will debate methods of making current political practices more gender sensitive. It will also include a round-table on the key issue of the image of women politicians in the media.

Other main findings of the 200-page IPU survey:

• By numbers, men hold 33,981 of all seats in the world's Parliaments in 1997, and women hold just 4,512. The gender breakdown is unavailable for 2,260 other seats.
• Just 7.7 percent of parliamentary group leaders are women, and only 9 percent of party spokespersons are females.
• Women were elected in greater numbers in 34 of the 73 countries that held elections since the last IPU survey in July, 1995. The numbers of women decreased in 15 Parliaments; no change occurred in 10 other Parliaments, and 14 countries did not provide information permitting such an assessment.
• Countries with the largest percentage increases in women's seats in Parliament since July 1995 are: St. Kitts & Nevis, 13.3 percent; Lithuania, 10.4; Azerbaijan, 10; Spain, 8.5; and New Zealand, 8.0.
• Countries with the largest percentage decreases in women's seats since 1995 include: Trinidad & Tobago, minus 7.8 percent; Slovenia, minus 6.7; Nicaragua, minus 5.6; Italy, minus 4.0; and Russian Federation, minus 3.1.
• The average proportion of female candidates in comparison to male candidates is particularly low in Arab countries (almost 2 percent); remains under 10 percent in Asia and the Pacific; is barely 10 percent in Africa; is under 20 percent in the Americas and also in member countries of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), with the exception of the five Nordic countries, where it reaches 40 percent.
• Once women become candidates, they have a better chance than men of being elected in Africa and in Arab States, while the reverse is still true in all other parts of the world. OSCE member-countries, including Nordic countries, are those where female candidates have the lowest potential to be returned to Parliament.
• The breakdown of women parliamentarians by region demonstrates that the political equality of women is well on its way in Nordic countries, which have an average of 36.4 percent women representation. With both houses combined, Asia is second, but far behind at 13.1 percent, followed by North and South America combined, 12.7 percent; Pacific nations, 11.6 percent; Europe, excluding the Nordic members, 10.9 percent; Sub-Saharan Africa, 10.4 percent; and Arab States, 3.3 percent.
• In the United States, the new House of Representatives has 51 female members out of its 435 total, and the Senate has 9 women members out of its total of 100.

Democracy Spreads, But Not Women's Political Power

In the past 50 years, the number of sovereign States with a Parliament has increased sevenfold as nations across Africa, the Middle East and Asia gained independence, but the percentage of women lawmakers worldwide has increased just fourfold.

In 1946, only 26 Parliaments existed worldwide, which had 3 percent women members of Parliament (MPs), and 2.2 percent Senators. By 1955, there were 61 Parliaments, with 7.5 percent women MPs and 7.7 percent women Senators. A 1985 survey showed 136 Parliaments, with 12 percent women MPs and 12.7 percent women senators. The 1995 IPU survey showed an increase in the number of Parliaments, to 176, but a drop to 11.6 percent women MPs and 9.4 percent women Senators.

The highest percentage women in Parliament ever reached in history came in 1988, with 14.8 percent women MPs. Many Communist governments and one-party States of the era ensured the selection of large percentages of unopposed women (and male) candidates.

In the past 50 years of parliamentary history, only 38 of the 186 States that have ever had a Parliament have ever selected a woman to preside over Parliament or a House of Parliament.

Are Quotas the Answer?

Only six countries in the survey -- Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, North Korea, Nepal and Philippines -- have laws stipulating that the national Parliament must include a minimum percentage of women. In none of these six countries does the quota come anywhere near the 50 percent or better of women in the general population.

Five other countries -- Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Nepal, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania -- reserve seats for women in their legislature. India, host of the IPU Conference, is currently engaged in a major debate on whether to reserve seats for women in its Parliament.

Forty-three countries have Parliaments in which a defined number of seats, or all seats, are filled by appointment, but none of these countries has over 20 percent women parliamentarians.

Many parties have adopted customs or rules that call for up to 50 percent of their candidates being women. The survey attempts to establish the effect of such a measure on the election of women, on the basis of comments from various parties. In order to provide a more complete picture, for 31 of these parties, it brings together their set quota, their actual proportion of women candidates, their number of women elected and their overall proportion of seats in Parliament.

Because of a lack of response by many parties, comments regarding quotas are uneven and incomplete. Many of the comments that were received pointed to the positive effects of quotas, stating that they brought in a higher proportion of women to Parliament, encouraged women to enter politics and helped to shed traditional apprehensions of women towards politics.

Various other parties, however, sent in negative comments. One example comes from the CSU of Germany, which said: "The majority of women in the CSU feels that the introduction of a quota system is not a promising way to facilitate access to political decision-making positions for women over the long term. It is only through individual achievement and competence that women will successfully be able to implement their claims to political offices and mandates."

The main criticisms of quotas came from countries formerly part of the eastern European bloc, in which quotas were used under the old Communist system to ensure what was no more than a formal reflection of society within Parliament. For women, such quotas failed to open up the way to an equal role in politics.

Some political parties, to make up for the scant representation of women in their decision-making bodies, have adopted a quota system for their governing bodies, often to meet demands by women. These systems involve either a specific percentage or a written or implicit rule concerning the proportion of men and women. A fewer number of the same parties have established a quota for legislative elections. Nevertheless, women still account for less than one-third of members of the parties' governing bodies.

Political Parties Must Lead the Way to Greater Equality

The IPU's Plan of Action, adopted in 1994, calls on political parties to adopt measures to help women's political integration, reminding them that women, to a greater extent than men, have to reach a balance "which often remains unsatisfactory and fragile" between party activities, family activities and professional activities.

The survey sought to discover whether political parties were implementing any of the IPU's recommendations to assist women in balancing their various responsibilities.

"The information gathered shows that the proportion of parties making a particular effort in the direction advocated in the Plan of Action is still fairly small," the report says. "Many replies remained evasive or ambiguous; it nevertheless seems that a growing number of parties are beginning to realize the need to offer their women activists the necessary facilities to enable them to concentrate on party activities."

The IPU survey notes that many parties have set up a women's branch. This phenomenon is particularly marked in Africa and, to a lesser extent, in the Americas and Europe. It finds that although such branches were set up to respond to women's needs, the risk exists that they could marginalize women rather than integrate them and that, instead of serving women they may in fact be just one more structure serving parties.

IPU Conclusions

The IPU report outlines several suggestions to break the "vicious circle" that keeps women underrepresented in political life.

• Pre-electoral phase -- The IPU says that this "first threshold of political participation" could serve as the breach to break the "self-reinforcing process" that denies women equality in politics. The IPU calls for "opportunity structures" that would permit a higher proportion of women in leadership positions, which would lead to more women in all phases of politics.
• Electoral phase -- An electoral system that encourages greater female involvement, rather than discouraging their participation, could offset the lack of resources by potential women politicians, the IPU says.
• Female citizen involvement -- The IPU says that much must still be done to involve female private citizens (non-political activists) in public life. Political parties that open their doors to women are the best method to achieve this goal.

"Above all, the IPU is advocating a new social contract for democracy based on parity and partnership", states the IPU Secretary General. "The aim is not to promote one sex over the other but to secure the common good -- in other words, to help society as a whole. We understand that politics should involve both sexes equally since this is the only way that it can truly interpret everybody's needs and aspirations."

The Geneva-based IPU is the world organization of Parliaments. It currently has 135 members.

Ten countries have no women in Parliament: Comoros, Djibouti, Kiribati, Kuwait, Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Saint Lucia, Tonga, and United Arab Emirates.