GGGR 2023

Gender gaps in political leadership 2.6 Much like in the case of representation of women in business leadership, gender gaps in political leadership continue to persist. Although there has been an increase in the number of women holding political decision-making posts worldwide, achieving gender parity remains a distant goal and regional disparities are significant. The sections below examine the progress made so far, regional disparities and the challenges ahead.Head of state level As of 31 December 2022, approximately 27.9% of the global population, equivalent to 2.12 billion people, live in countries with a female head of state. While this indicator experienced stagnation between 2013 and 2021, 2022 witnessed a significant increase. This surge can primarily be attributed to India, the world’s most populous country, where a female president assumed power following the 2022 presidential election. In total, since January 2022, nine women have come into power, with eight of them still holding their positions as of March 2023. Depending on the political system of the country, these heads of state positions have varying powers in terms of national agenda setting and representation of the state. Parliaments Another recent positive trend is observed when examining the share of women in parliaments, weighted by population. In 2013, only 18.7% of parliament members globally were women among the 76 countries with consistent data. By 2022, this number had risen steadily to 22.9%, reflecting progress over the years. However, global trends do mask the regional disparities. At the regional level, as illustrated in Figure 2.20, the trends show diverse trajectories. Europe leads the way with the highest share of women in parliament, followed by Latin America and the Caribbean, North America, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Southern Asia, Eurasia and Central Asia, and East Asia and the Pacific have maintained stability in women’s representation during recent years. Conversely, the Middle East and North Africa was the only region to experience a significant decline in women’s representation in parliament from 2020 to 2021, partly driven by the drastic drop in Algeria, from 26% to 8%. Further, in 2022, Malta witnessed the most substantial jump in the share of women in parliament across all countries, followed by Colombia and Slovenia. Notably, these countries have implemented legislated candidate quotas in their electoral laws. Nicaragua has the strongest representation of women in its National Assembly in 2022, with 51.65% of members being women. Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies and New Zealand’s House of Representatives have achieved gender parity. More than one-third but less than one-half of the representatives were women in 28 economies in 2022. These countries include Iceland (47%), Costa Rica (47%), United Kingdom (35%) and Nepal (33%). Women make up less than one-third of parliamentarians in the remaining 45 countries, including Canada (31%), United States (29%), and Japan (10%), as well as in populous emerging markets such as China (25%), Brazil (18%), India (15%) and Türkiye (17%). 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023Share of population (%) Year 100 0 20 40 60 80 Source Calculation based on World Economic Forum data and United Nations' World Population Prospects data.Global population under female head of state, 2013-2022 FIGURE 2.19 Female head of state Male head of state Global Gender Gap Report 2023 53