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Women in National Governments Around the Globe: Fact Sheet

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Women in National Governments Around the Globe: Fact Sheet Women in National Governments Around the Globe: Fact Sheet Updated February 8, 2021 Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov R45483 Women in National Governments Around the Globe: Fact Sheet Introduction Women and girls make up half of the world’s population; however, in most countries, women are underrepresented in the political process at the national level. As this report shows, women currently hold 25.4% of legislative seats around the world, an increase from 12.7% of legislative seats in 1998 (see Figure 1). As of December 1, 2020, women held 50% or more of the legislative seats in three countries: Rwanda, Cuba, and the United Arab Emirates (see Table 3). At the executive level, at least 29 countries currently have an elected female head of state or government (see Table 5). Since 1960, about 110 women have been elected or appointed as head of the national government in approximately 70 countries.1 The participation and representation of women in elected government is generally considered healthy for their communities. As Ambassador Kelley E. Currie, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, stated in June 2020, “We know for a fact that when women are involved … whether it’s the local issues in their own communities, or getting a seat at the negotiating table for the most critical issues of their countries, that it helps their countries to become more stable, more peaceful, and more prosperous.”2 To support the United States Government’s efforts to empower women’s political rights, the 116th Congress appropriated funds for foreign assistance programs designed to promote the political and economic participation of women. Both P.L. 116-94, the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, and P.L. 116-260, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, included funding for Gender Equality programs in Section 7059 of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Appropriations divisions. Each act appropriated $50 million to fund programs designed to increase the political involvement of women “by strengthening protections for women’s political status, expanding women’s participation in political parties and elections, and increasing women’s opportunities for leadership positions” at the local, provincial, and national levels.3 Each act also appropriated $300 million for grants to the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).4 The NED, through its core institutes, the International Republic Institute and the National Democratic Institute, funds democracy programs, including programs aimed specifically at increasing the political participation of women. The 115th Congress enacted the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017 (P.L. 115-68) with the aim to increase the participation of women in conflict prevention and conflict resolution processes as a means to build more inclusive societies and to help stabilize countries and regions. This act expressed the sense of Congress that “the political participation, and leadership of women in fragile environments, particularly during democratic transitions, is critical to sustaining lasting democratic institutions.”5 Both P.L. 116-94 and P.L. 116-260 included statements that “the Secretary of State shall promote” the participation of Afghan women in peace and reconciliation 1 The Global Gender Gap Report 2018, prepared by The World Economic Forum, December 18, 2018, https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-gender-gap-report-2018. 2 Ambassador Kelley Currie, Briefing on the Women, Peace, and Security Implementation Plan, June 12, 2020, at https://www.state.gov/briefing-with-ambassador-at-large-for-global-womens-issues-kelley-currie-on-the-women- peace-and-security-implementation-plan/. 3 P.L. 116-94, Division G, Sec. 7059(b) at 133 Stat. 2920 and P.L. 116-260, Division K, Sec. 7059(b). 4 P.L. 116-94, Division G, Title I, at 113 Stat. 2824 and P.L. 116-260, Division K, Title I, at page 519. 5 P.L. 115-68 §3(2). Congressional Research Service 1 Women in National Governments Around the Globe: Fact Sheet processes in the country “in a manner consistent with the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017.”6 The Women, Peace, and Security Act required the President to submit to Congress a strategy (the WPS Strategy) describing how the United States intended to fulfill the objectives of the act.7 The Trump Administration filed its WPS Strategy in June 2019 and acknowledged that the “social and political marginalization of women strongly correlates with the likelihood that a country will experience conflict.”8 One particular goal is to “encourage partner governments to adopt policies, plans, and capacity to improve the meaningful participation of women in processes connected to peace and security and decision-making institutions.”9 The WPS Strategy approach to achieve the goal includes conferring “with host governments and non-governmental organizations to reduce barriers to and enhance the meaningful participation of women in economic, political, and security spheres.”10 This report provides a global snapshot of women’s political participation worldwide by compiling statistics and other information from a variety of sources, including the annual Global Gender Gap Report issued by the World Economic Forum, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, the CIA World Factbook, news reports, and other sources. Voting Rights The right to vote is a primary step toward involving a populace in the political decisions of a government. In many countries, voting rights were originally granted only to adult men who owned property, then were eventually expanded to include all adult male citizens regardless of property ownership, then women, and then other underrepresented groups. Definitions of what constituted a “citizen” may also have changed over time, as they did in the United States, and gradually have become more inclusive of minorities and indigenous peoples. Other countries enacted universal suffrage from their very founding, granting the right to vote to all adults, male and female, regardless of ethnicity, religion, economic standing, or other criterion. Table 1 and Table 2, respectively, list the first and latest countries to extend the right and duty of voting to women. Although subnational regions (e.g., states, provinces) may have granted the right to vote earlier, the years in the tables below indicate when suffrage was extended for national elections to female adult citizens. 6 P.L. 116-94, Division G, §7044(2) at 133 Stat. 2900 and P.L. 116-260, Division K, §7044(2). 7 Department of State page on the Women, Peace, and Security Strategy (WPS Strategy), at https://www.state.gov/ women-peace-and-security/. Included on this page is the Implementation Plan for the Strategy. 8 United States Strategy on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS Strategy), June 2019, p. 4, at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/WPS_Strategy_10_October2019.pdf#page=6. 9 WPS Strategy, p. 12, at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/ WPS_Strategy_10_October2019.pdf#page=14. 10 WPS Strategy, p. 14, at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/ WPS_Strategy_10_October2019.pdf#page=16. Congressional Research Service 2 Women in National Governments Around the Globe: Fact Sheet Table 1. First Countries to Allow Women to Vote Year Country(ies) Year Country(ies) 1893 New Zealand 1917 Canada* 1902 Australia* 1918 Austria, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland,* Kyrgyz Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, United Kingdom* 1906 Finland 1919 Belarus, Belgium,* Luxembourg, Netherlands, Sweden,* Ukraine 1913 Norway 1920 Albania, Czech Republic, Iceland,** Slovak Republic, United States 1915 Denmark, Iceland* 1921 Armenia, Azerbaijan, Sweden** Source: The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), http://archive.ipu.org/wmn-e/suffrage.htm. Notes: Some countries granted suffrage in stages, at first denying the right to women of certain racial, ethnic, or economic groups. One asterisk (*) indicates the first year female citizens were allowed to vote in national elections with limitations; two asterisks (**) indicate when those limitations were removed. No asterisk indicates there were no restrictions and all female adult citizens were granted the right to vote. Table 2. Most Recent Countries to Allow Women to Vote Year Country 2003 Qatar 2005 Kuwait 2006 United Arab Emirates 2011 Saudi Arabia Sources: Pamela Paxton and Melanie M. Hughes, Women, Politics, and Power: A Global Perspective, 2nd edition, SAGE Publications, 2014, p. 50-51; and the CIA World Factbook on Suffrage, at https://www.cia.gov/library/ publications/resources/the-world-factbook/fields/311.html#AF; “‘Surprise and Excitement’: Saudi Women React to Voting Rights Decision,” NPR, September 26, 2011, https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2011/09/26/ 140819859/surprise-and-excitement-saudi-women-react-to-voting-rights-decision. Note: Newly independent countries (Kosovo, South Sudan, etc.) would be included only if women had not been granted suffrage under the preceding country. For example, because Sudan granted women the right to vote in 1964, South Sudan is not included in this list, even though it did not gain independence until 2011. Legislative Representation Women’s suffrage has been closely linked to women’s participation in legislative bodies. In 1907, the voters of Finland elected 19 women to the country’s new unicameral parliament a year after Finnish women were granted suffrage; this was the first election in the world in which
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