Finance
According to a report jointly released by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women, more women than ever hold political decision-making positions worldwide, but gender parity remains a long way off.
According to the report, which presented the most recent rankings and regional distribution of women in executive positions and national legislatures as of January 1 of this year, the number of women in political leadership roles has increased overall, according to the Xinhua news agency.
According to the report, women continue to be under-represented in government leadership roles and remain a minority as heads of state and government.
At the start of this year, 11.3 percent of countries (excluding monarchies) had female heads of state, and 9.8 percent had female heads of government. These represent an increase from a decade ago, when figures stood at 5.3 per cent and 7.3 per cent respectively.
According to a report jointly released by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women, more women than ever hold political decision-making positions worldwide, but gender parity remains a long way off.
According to the report, which presented the most recent rankings and regional distribution of women in executive positions and national legislatures as of January 1 of this year, the number of women in political leadership roles has increased overall, according to the Xinhua news agency.
According to the report, women continue to be under-represented in government leadership roles and remain a minority as heads of state and government.
At the start of this year, 11.3 percent of countries (excluding monarchies) had female heads of state, and 9.8 percent had female heads of government. These represent an increase from a decade ago, when figures stood at 5.3 per cent and 7.3 per cent respectively.
Only 13 countries, mostly in Europe, have gender-equal cabinets, with 50% or more women cabinet members serving as ministers, according to the report. There are no female cabinet members in nine countries.
The report also revealed that men continue to dominate policy portfolios such as the economy, defense, justice, and home affairs. Women make up only 12% of cabinet ministers in charge of defense and local government, 11% in charge of energy, natural resource fuels, and mining, and 8% in charge of transportation.
“We’re witnessing ongoing progress in the number of women in politics this year, which is encouraging. However, we still have a long way to go to reach gender equality when we see the current rates of growth,” said IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong.
Source:OCN
