| >>> VERSION FRANÇAISE |
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Women Speakers
of national parliaments |
History and the present
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| BEFORE 1945 |
- Austria was the only State to have elected a woman to the presidency of one of the Parliament's Chambers (the Bundesrat) before the Second World War.
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| FROM 1945 TO 1997 |
- Only 42 of the 186 States with a legislative institution have, at one time or another in recent history, selected a woman to preside over Parliament or a House of Parliament: this has occurred 78 times in all.
- Those concerned are 18 European countries, 19 countries of the Americas, 3 African countries, 1 Asian country and 1 country in the Pacific.
- 24 of the States concerned had a bicameral Parliament, and the presidency was entrusted to a woman a little more often in the Senate than in the lower House.
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| AT PRESENT: SITUATION AS OF 1st APRIL 2013 |
- Only 39 women preside over one of the Houses of the 189 Parliaments, 77 of which are bicameral. Women therefore occupy only 14.3% of the total number of 273 posts of Presiding Officers of Parliament or of one of its Houses. The posts are comprised as follows:
- 261 parliamentary chambers with one presiding officer each;
- Three chambers with two presiding officers each (San Marino's single chamber, the US Senate and the Liberian Senate);
- Two chambers with three presiding officers each (Bosnia-Herzegovina's lower and upper chambers).
- The countries concerned are:
Albania (People's Assembly);
Antigua and Barbuda (House of Representatives and Senate);
Australia (House of Representatives);
Austria (Nationalrat);
Bahamas (Senate);
Barbados (Senate);
Belgium (Senate);
Bolivia (Chamber of Deputies and Senate);
Botswana (National Assembly);
Bulgaria (Naradno Schranie);
Czech Republic (Poslanecka Snemovna);
Dominica (House of Assembly);
Estonia (Riigikogu);
Gabon (Senate);
Iceland (Althingi);
India (Lok Sabha);
Italy (Chamber of Deputies);
Lao People's Democratic Republic (Saphs Heng Xat);
Latvia (Saeima);
Mozambique (Assembleia da Republica);
Netherlands (Twede Kamer der Staten Generaal);
Pakistan (National Assembly);
Poland (Sejm);
Portugal (Assembleia da Republica);
Russian Federation (Soviet Federatsii);
Rwanda (Chamber of Deputies);
San Marino (Consiglio Grande e generale);
Singapore (Parliament);
Suriname (Nationale Assemblee);
Swaziland (Senate);
Switzerland (National Council);
Turkmenistan (Mejlis);
Uganda (Parliament);
United Kingdom (House of Lords);
United Republic of Tanzania (Bunge);
Uzbekistan (Legislative chamber);
Zimbabwe (Senate).
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| CHRONOLOGY |
Date at which, for the first time in the country's parliamentary history,
a woman became Presiding Officer of Parliament or of one of its Houses. |
- Austria: 1927
- Denmark: 1950
- Hungary: 1963
- Uruguay: 1963
- Germany: 1972
- Canada: 1972
- Argentina: 1973
- Iceland: 1974
- Switzerland: 1977
- Bolivia: 1979
- Italy: 1979
- Dominica: 1980
- Sao Tome and Principe: 1980
- San Marino: 1981
- Ireland: 1982
- Belize: 1984
- Jamaica: 1984
- Costa Rica: 1986
- Australia: 1987
- Luxembourg: 1989
- Grenada: 1990
- Nicaragua: 1990
- Finland: 1991
- Guatemala: 1991
- Sweden: 1991
- Trinidad and Tobago: 1991
- United Kingdom: 1992
- Croatia: 1993
- Japan: 1993
- Norway: 1993
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- South Africa: 1994
- Antigua and Barbuda: 1994
- El Salvador: 1994
- Mexico: 1994
- Panama: 1994
- Ethiopia: 1995
- Latvia: 1995
- Peru: 1995
- Malta: 1996
- Poland: 1997
- Bahamas: 1997
- Suriname: 1997
- Netherlands: 1998
- Czech Republic: 1998
- Venezuela: 1998
- Spain: 1999
- Dominican Republic: 1999
- Lesotho: 2000
- Republic of Moldova: 2001
- Georgia: 2001
- Chile: 2002
- Liberia: 2003
- Estonia: 2003
- Greece: 2004
- Belgium: 2004
- Saint Kitts and Nevis: 2004
- New Zealand: 2005
- Burundi: 2005
- Albania: 2005
- Zimbabwe: 2005
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- Gambia: 2006
- Israel: 2006
- Swaziland: 2006
- Turkmenistan: 2006
- Saint Lucia: 2007
- United States of America: 2007
- Nigeria: 2007
- Uzbekistan: 2008
- Pakistan: 2008
- Serbia: 2008
- Rwanda: 2008
- Romania: 2008
- Gabon: 2009
- Bosnia and Herzegovina: 2009
- Ghana: 2009
- India: 2009
- Bulgaria: 2009
- Lithuania: 2009
- Botswana: 2009
- Mozambique: 2010
- United Republic of Tanzania: 2010
- Lao People's Democratic Republic: 2011
- Uganda: 2011
- Portugal: 2011
- Russian Federation: 2011
- Barbados: 2012
- Singapore: 2013
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