Women in government

Women in government in the modern era are under-represented in most countries worldwide. Even though some progress has been made during the last two centuries, and women are increasingly being politically elected to be heads of state and government, this tendency is still persistent. As of January 2017, the global participation rate of women in national-level parliaments is 23.3%. A number of countries are exploring measures that may increase women's participation in government at all levels, from the local to the national.

Increasing women's representation in the government can empower women and is necessary to achieve gender parity. This notion of women's empowerment is rooted in the human capabilities approach, in which individuals are empowered to choose the functioning that they deem valuable.

Women, as the conventional primary caretakers of children, often have a more prominent role than men in advocating for children, resulting in a "double dividend" in terms of the benefits of women's representation. Female representatives not only advance women's rights, but also advance the rights of children. In national legislatures, there is a notable trend of women advancing gender and family-friendly legislation. This advocacy has been seen in countries ranging from France, Sweden and the Netherlands, to South Africa, Rwanda, and Egypt. Furthermore, a number of studies from both industrialized and developed countries indicate that women in local government tend to advance social issues. In India, for instance, greater women's representation has corresponded with a more equitable distribution of community resources, including more gender-sensitive spending on programs related to health, nutrition, and education.

In 1954, the United Nations Convention on the Political Rights of Women went into force, enshrining women's equal rights to vote, hold office, and access public services as provided for male citizens within national laws.

As of October 25, 2013, the global average of women in national assemblies is 21.5%. At the same time, large differences exist between countries, e.g. Sri Lanka has quite low female participation rates in parliament compared with Denmark, Sweden and Norway, where female representation rates are among the highest.

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