For Immediate Release
From: Dennis Brown, [email protected]
Women are making substantial political progress worldwide as members of parliaments and Cabinet ministers, but after a century of participation in politics they still constitute just 12 percent of elected legislators and 9 percent of Cabinet appointees, according to a new study by a University of Notre Dame political scientist.
The portrait of women in the parliaments, Cabinets and chief executive offices of the world is the product of research conducted this year by Andrew Reynolds, assistant professor of government and international studies at Notre Dame, who gathered data from a wide variety of international sources. The survey, which includes 180 nations and related territories, also categorizes the types of portfolios held by women Cabinet ministers.
Reynolds' research found that among a total of 33,715 legislators worldwide, there are 4,209 (12.5 percent) women sitting in lower houses of national parliaments. Regionally, the legislatures of Western Europe (18.4 percent) and of North American and the Caribbean (18.2 percent) included the most women members of parliament, while the Middle East had the fewest (4.4 percent). The parliaments of the Asian states (13.8 percent) also had more women than the average in legislative office.
The study suggests that the number of women in parliament is not related to the level of democracy in a given country. Instead, the combination of many years of multiparty elections, a proportional electoral system, a high level of socioeconomic development, a minimally fragmented party system, and the electoral presence of a healthy left-wing political movement are good predictors that a significant number of women will be elected.
The religious orientation of a nation also seems to play a role in the number of women elected, according to the study. Christian countries display the highest number of women in both legislatures and Cabinets (12.8 percent and 11.1 percent, respectively), while only 6 percent of the leaders are women in Islamic countries, with the percentages falling as adherence to Islam increases. The research indicates the latter trend also is true in Hindu countries.
"While all these figures do show a steady increase in the number of women making it into elected offices throughout the world, women remain systematically underrepresented and that hinders the successful workings of government," said Reynolds, who noted that not a single nation has a percentage of women in its legislature equal to the percentage of women in the population overall.
Nevertheless, he said the "trajectory remains positive. In 1945, less than 3 percent of the world's legislators were women, but 50 years of slow pressure has opened up the political sphere to increasing numbers of newly politicized females who act as role models for the next generation. Perhaps even more dramatically, women are taking up executive Cabinet positions in higher numbers than ever before."
Reynolds' research on Cabinets found that 302 (8.7 percent) of the 3,486 Cabinet ministers worldwide are women. The most women Cabinet members are from Africa (84), closely followed by Western Europe with 80. The research indicates significant regional variations in the numbers of women making it into ministerial executive offices. While 20 percent of the Cabinet ministers of Western Europe are women, in Oceania and the Middle East the totals are less than 4 percent ó figures best explained by varied socio-cultural factors that manifest male political dominance, Reynolds said.
The study indicates that the primary statistical predictors of women in Cabinets are a high number of women in the legislature, a long history of multiparty elections, and left-wing party control or influence over a government. Again, the level of democracy is not significantly correlated with the number of women holding Cabinet office, Reynolds reported.
The study also finds there is a worldwide tendency to place women in sociocultural ministerial positions rather than the politically more prestigious positions of economic planning, national security and foreign affairs, which are often stepping-stones to national leadership.
A final finding of the survey shows the number of women who politically lead their nations has remained consistently low in each decade since the end of World War II. As of July 1998, there were only five women leaders (or 2 percent) worldwide ó" Janet Jagan in Guyana (since 1997), Chandrika Kumaratunga in Sri Lanka (since 1994), Jenny Shipley in New Zealand (since 1997), Pamela Gordon in Bermuda (since 1997) and Shaikh Hasina Wajed in Bangladesh (since 1996). Mary McAleese, the president of Ireland, although not without influence, holds a largely ceremonial position, while Aung San Suu Kyi never was allowed to take up her democratically won position as prime minister of Burma.
Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s women reached the pinnacle of political life in many more countries. Corazon Aquino in the Philippines (1986-92), Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan (1988-90, 1993-96), Begum Khaleda Zia in Bangladesh (1991-96), Eugenia Charles in Dominica (1980-85), Kim Campbell in Canada (1992-93), Margaret Thatcher in Great Britain (1979-90), Vigdis Finnbogadottir in Iceland (1980-96), Kazimiera Prunskiene in Lithuania (1990-91), Gro Harlem Brundtland in Norway (1990-96), Tansu Ciller in Turkey (1993-95), and Violeta Barrios de Chamorro in Nicaragua (1990-96) followed in the footsteps of Golda Meir in Israel (1969-74), Indira Gandhi in India (1966-77, 1980-84) and Sirimavo Bandaranaike in Sri Lanka (1959-65, 1970-77). However, nine of the 21 women mentioned above were either the wives or daughters of former national leaders, and seven of them succeeded husbands or fathers who had been assassinated.
(For more information, contact Reynolds at 219-631-3853 or at [email protected])
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