Wishing to ensure that women hold senior posts in the IPU, the women MPs have since the late 1980s carried out action on two fronts aiming, on the one hand, to have the statutory provisions amended to guarantee a gender balance in all IPU bodies, whether permanent or ad hoc, and, on the other hand, to have women elected to leadership positions.
GOVERNING COUNCIL
In October 1999, Ms. Najma Heptulla (India) became the first woman to have been elected to the post of the President of the Inter-Parliamentary Council (currently Governing Counil), IPU's plenary governing body
Moreover, since 1991 the election of the President does not take place without the women MPs actively scrutinizing the candidates in particular as regards their views and intentions concerning the development of the IPU's prograMs on the status of women.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Set up in 1889, it was not until nearly one century later, in 1987, that the IPU first elected a women to its Executive Committee.
Then in 1988, the women MPs had the statutory provisions concerning the Executive Committee's composition amended to lay down that at least two women (three according to the Statutes adopted in 2003) should be among the 17 members of this restricted governing body, which is chaired ex officio by the IPU President. A second woman was forthwith elected to the Committee in 1988 which has since then always included women and, on two occasions, has elected a woman as its Vice-President.
| Ms M. Molina Rubio | Guatemala | 10.1987-04.1991 | |
| Ms L. Takla | Egypt | 09.1988-04.1991 | |
| Ms M. Arguëllo Morales | Nicaragua | 10.1990-09.1992 | |
| Ms H. Megahed | Egypt | 04.1991-09.1992 | |
| Ms L. Fischer | Germany | 10.1991-10.1995 | Vice-President in 1993 |
| Ms H. Castillo de López | Venezuela | 09.1992-09.1996 | |
| Ms N. Mazhoud | Tunisia | 09.1992-09.1994 | |
| Ms T.S. Darsoyo | Indonesia | 04.1993-10.1995 | Vice-President in 1994 |
| Ms F. Kéfi | Tunisia | 09.1994-09.1996 et 04.1999-04.2000 | |
| Ms V. Furubjelke | Sweden | 04.1995-09.1997 et 05.2000-01.2002 | |
| Ms N. Heptulla | India | 10.1995-10.2002 | President in 1999-2002 |
| Ms T. Faisal | Jordan | 09.1996-11.1997 | |
| Ms K. Kilvet | Estonia | 09.1997-03.1999 | |
| Ms T. Yariguina | Russian Federation | 09.1997-09.2001 | |
| Ms B. Imiolczyk | Poland | 04.1998-05.2000 | |
| Ms S. Finestone | Canada | 10.1999-01.2002 | |
| Ms Z. Ríos-Montt | Guatemala | 10.2000-10.2004 | |
| Ms J. Fraser | Canada | 03.2002-09.2003 et 04.2004-05.2006 | |
| Ms P. Larsen | Denmark | 03.2002-04.2004 | |
| Ms G. Mahlangu | South Africa | 03.2002-04.2004 | |
| Ms M.N. Mensah | Namibia | 09.2003-10.2007 | Vice-President in 2005-2007 |
| Ms K. Komi | Finland | 04.2004-04.2008 | |
| Ms K. Serrano Puig | Cuba | 10.2004-10.2008 | |
| Ms A. Vadai | Hungary | 10.2004-10.2006 | |
| Ms L. Lerksamran | Thailand | 10.2005-10.2006 | |
| Ms E. Papademetriou | Greece | 10.2005-10.2009 | |
| Ms M. Xavier | Uruguay | 05.2006-04.2008 | |
| Ms Z. Drif Bitat | Algeria | 10.2007-10.2011 | Vice-President in 2010-2011 |
| Ms J. Fotso | Cameroon | 10.2007-10.2010 | |
| Ms P. Cayetano | Philippines | 04.2008-04.2010 | |
| Ms A. Möller | Island | 04.2008-04.2010 | |
| Ms D. Stump | Switzreland | 10.2009-11.2011 | |
| Ms S. Greiss | Egypt | 04.2010-12.2010 | |
| Ms S. Moulengui-Mouélé | Gabon | 10.2010- | |
| Ms M.A. Saa | Chile | 10.2010-10.2011 | |
| Ms N. Assegaf | Indonesia | 12.2010- | |
| Ms A. Kabore Koala | Burkina Faso | 10.2011- | |
| Ms R. Kadaga | Uganda | 10.2011- | |
| Ms N. Motsamai | Lesotho | 10.2011- | |
| Ms I. Passada | Uruguay | 10.2011- |
