15:21, 09 марта 2026, Bishkek - 24.kg news agency , Anastasia BENGARD
Despite gradual progress, women still hold only slightly more than a quarter of the seats in national parliaments worldwide, UN News Service reports.
According to it, the rate of growth in representation remains the slowest since 2017 for the second consecutive year. According to a new report from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), as of January 1, 2026, women held 27.5 percent of parliamentary seats worldwide—slightly up from 27.2 percent the previous year.
The report is based on data from 49 countries where parliamentary renewals took place in 62 chambers in 2025.
The largest increase in women’s representation in 2025 was recorded in Kyrgyzstan. The share of women in the country’s Parliament increased by 12.9 percent.
It is followed by Saint Vincent, the Grenadines (+12.3 percent) and Saint Lucia’s upper house (+9.1 percent).
Despite slow global progress, some countries have achieved record-breaking results. In Australia, women held 46 percent of parliamentary seats after the 2025 elections—the highest percentage in the country’s history. In the Czech Republic, the proportion of women in the lower house increased from 25 percent to one-third of members. In Ecuador, women held a record 45 percent of seats in the National Assembly.
The year was also historic for Japan: for the first time in the country’s history, a woman became Prime Minister. Following the July elections, the proportion of women in the upper house of Parliament reached a record 29.4 percent.
At the same time, the proportion of women holding parliamentary speakers’ positions has significantly decreased globally. It currently stands at 19.9 percent (54 speakers), compared to 23.7 percent a year earlier.
Of the 75 new Speakers elected or appointed in 2025, only 12 are women.
The highest levels of women’s parliamentary representation remain in the Americas, where women occupy 35.6 percent of seats at the start of 2026.
Four of the seven countries worldwide with gender parity—or where women outnumber men in parliament—are in this region: Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Mexico. Other regions achieving similar representation include Rwanda, Andorra, and the United Arab Emirates.
The lowest representation remains in the Middle East and North Africa, where women occupy just 16.2 percent of parliamentary seats on average.
In Oman, Tuvalu, and Yemen, women hold no seats in lower or unicameral Parliaments.
The report highlights that violence and pressure against women politicians remain significant obstacles. IPU research shows that 76 percent of women parliamentarians in the Asia-Pacific region have experienced psychological abuse. Female deputies are more often subject to threats and intimidation, both online and offline. Seventy-six percent of women and 68 percent of men surveyed reported such experiences. Experts warn that these threats may discourage women from participating in politics and slow progress toward gender equality in representative bodies.