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A Guinea-Bissau woman shows her inked finger after voting. © Reuters / Joe Penney

Gender equality

We work to increase women’s representation in parliament and empower women MPs.
woman inked finger / © Joseph Penney / Reuters

Many women around the world still lack basic human rights and face discrimination and gender-based violence. The world’s parliaments are no exception. Most parliaments remain male-dominated, and women MPs are often under-represented on decision-making bodies.

The IPU has been tracking and empowering women parliamentarians for decades, convinced of the link between strong democracies and gender equality.

Our work focuses on three main objectives: increasing the number of women in parliament through well-designed quotas and parliamentary caucuses; supporting women in parliament; and transforming parliaments into gender-sensitive institutions that deliver on women’s rights.

To achieve these objectives, the IPU has a wealth of data and tools:

We are the authority on the percentage of women in national parliaments through our monthly ranking of women in parliament, including comparative analyses between countries and annual studies that look at historical trends over decades. 

Every year in March we publish an analysis of women in parliament looking at progress and setbacks following the previous year's parliamentary elections.  

We have published landmark reports on sexism and gender-based violence in parliament, looking at both female MPs and female parliamentary staff. (See the 2016 report on global data, the 2018 report on European parliaments and the 2021 report on African parliaments). We have also published Guidelines for the elimination of sexism, harassment and violence against women in parliament.

Our self-assessment toolkit for gender-sensitive parliaments is an essential reference that has been used by dozens of parliaments around the world. 

We also have databases on women’s parliamentary caucuses  and specialized parliamentary committees on gender equality.

The IPU partners with International IDEA and Stockholm University in running a global database on gender electoral quotas, which provides country-specific data on existing mechanisms to ensure women’s participation in parliaments.

Practising what we preach, we have adopted groundbreaking practices ourselves to ensure gender equality in our assemblies, committees and staff.

Gender-equal parliaments
26.7
Global percentage of women MPs
Explore gender equality
While more women than ever are being elected to parliaments around the world, equality is still a long way off, and current progress is far too slow.
Gender-sensitive parliaments are institutions that are founded on gender equality, where women and men have an equal right to participate without discrimination or recrimination.
Women account for half the world’s population, yet many face discrimination in work, health care and education, or suffer physical and sexual violence.
Latest news and stories on gender equality
News in brief
Bundestag

Babies on the back benches

We need more women in parliament, but without childcare support we stand little chance of reaching gender parity. Parliaments can change this, one crèche at a time.
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News in brief
Sierra Leone

Record number of women MPs elected in Sierra Leone

Following recent elections, women lawmakers now account for 30.4% of the elected seats in the Sierra Leone Parliament, up from 14.5% in the previous election. The surge in women MPs is largely thanks to the Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment
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News in brief
OHCHR

The CEDAW Handbook: Still a vital tool, 20 years later

In 1979, the United Nations adopted a global treaty to make gender inequality a thing of the past. 189 countries have since ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). A Handbook first
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News in brief
CEDAW

IPU and OHCHR emphasize role of parliaments in eliminating discrimination against women

On 22 June, the IPU and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), organized a parliamentary roundtable Parliaments and women’s rights: Implementing CEDAW, realizing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for all. The hybrid event
Read more
Press releases
cedaw

New handbook: Mobilizing parliaments to eliminate discrimination against women

Twenty years after the first edition, the IPU and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) have published a new version of a handbook for parliamentarians on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
Read more
Gender equality
Latest publications on gender equality
In 2003, the IPU and the United Nations published The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol: Handbook for Parliamentarians. That first handbook aimed to foster a better understanding among parliamentarians of
Infographics
The IPU-UN Women map, presents global rankings for women in executive and government positions as of 1 January 2023.
In 2022, women’s leadership in the world’s parliaments continued with a slow pace of incremental growth as the world re-emerged after two years of COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and losses. Women reached new milestones in parliamentary representation around the globe and
Gender equality
Related events
Hybrid

IPU Headquarters
Geneva
Switzerland

A parliamentary roundtable organized jointly by IPU and the OHCHR on the occasion of the year-long Human Rights 75 Initiative leading up to the 75th anniversary of the UDHR.
Jun 22 2023
Meeting
Briefing for MPs on UN processes N. 7 Wednesday, 3 May 2023, 09:00 – 10:00 (New York) - In English and French
May 03 2023
Side event

New York,
United States

A side event organized by IPU, OHCHR and UN Women, in collaboration with Generation Equality’s Action Coalition on Feminist Movements and Leadership at the 67th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women
Mar 08 2023
Gender equality