One in five ministers is a woman, according to new IPU/UN Women Map

Women’s representation in political decision-making continues to rise slowly, with slight improvements since 2017, according to the data presented in the 2019 edition of the biennial IPU-UN Women map of Women in Politics.

The map was launched at a press conference during the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 63) at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

The map, which presents global rankings for women in the executive and parliamentary government branches as of 1 January 2019, shows the proportion of women ministers is at an all-time high at 20.7 percent (812 out of 3922), 2.4 percentage points higher compared to 2017. It also shows that the types of portfolios women ministers hold are diversifying.

The map follows the publication of the IPU analysis of women in parliament last week which showed that the global share of women Members of Parliament (MPs)—24.3 percent—has increased by nearly one point compared with 2017. The share of women parliamentary speakers also increased by 0.6 percentage points to 19.7 percent, and the share of women deputy speakers increased by 1.6 percentage points to 28.2 percent.

However, women’s representation in top-level leadership has decreased from 7.2 percent of elected Heads of State to 6.6 percent (10 out of 153), and from 5.7 percent of Heads of Government to 5.2 percent (10 out of 193).

“More women in politics leads to more inclusive decisions and can change people’s image of what a leader looks like,” said UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. “We still have a steep road ahead, but the growing proportion of women ministers is encouraging, especially where we see a rise in the number of countries with gender-balanced ministerial cabinets. These are the types of bold moves that we need if we are to dramatically increase women’s representation in decision-making.”

View or download the Women in politics 2019 map.

Original source: UN Women
Published on 12 March 2019