Who’s Leading the Race Towards Parliamentary Gender Parity?

India has taken the next step towards ushering in a new era of politics, with lawmakers approving plans for 33 percent of seats in the country’s lower house and assemblies to be reserved for women. At present, just 13.9 percent of women make up the members of the upper house and 15.2 percent of women make up those in the lower house.

If India does roll out the bill, then the country would have a similar share of women in its lower house of parliament as several other major economies at present, such as the United Kingdom and Germany, and would even surpass the United States, which currently has a lower house made up of just 28.8 percent of women. This could still be some way off, however, since the gender quota bill is reported to likely only be introduced from 2029. 

Data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) shows the extent to which differences in gender equality in parliament exist between countries, with only four nations currently representing a 50:50 split of men to women in their lower house of parliament. These are Andorra, Mexico, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates.

Meanwhile, there are only three countries worldwide with a higher ratio of women to men. These are Rwanda (61.3 percent share of women), Cuba (55.7 percent) and Nicaragua (51.7 percent).