Representation of women in politics has been an issue of concern to a significant number of countries for an extended period. Women and human rights groups have created campaigns and advocacy plans to increase the number of women in political positions. Some states have even formulated affirmative policies with some legislative seats exclusively reserved for women. By implementing similar strategies, the following countries are among the top countries with the highest representation of women in politics.
- Rwanda
The small East African country currently tops the chart with the largest number of women in political positions around the world. After the country emerged from one of the worst genocides in modern history, the government was in need of leadership. Only 20 out of 785 judges remained, and government officials who had served in the previous regime’s government were removed.
Hoping to create a better government, the county aimed to make inclusiveness and equality a main goal of the reconstruction process. Since many of the casualties were men, women were encouraged to serve their country and run for office. Among the eighty parliamentary seats up for grab, women successfully won forty-nine of them, which accounts for more than 61%.
- Cuba
The Caribbean Island nation has more than 53% of the members of the parliament as women. This makes Cuba the second country with the most significant number of women in the legislative house. In the 605 parliamentary positions, women occupy 322 seats, which is the first time this has happened in the country.
- Bolivia
Despite the gender disparities remaining prevalent in this country, Bolivia has the third largest number of women in parliament after the conclusion of the 2017 parliamentary elections. There are 130 legislative positions in the South American country where women hold sixty-nine of them. This is the first time in twenty-seven years that Bolivia has recorded more women than men in the lower house.
- Mexico
Mexico is one of a few countries around the world that has attained gender parity in parliament by electing more than 48% of women in various parliamentary positions around the country. Moreover, women also occupy around 49% of the seats in the upper house. These results are fruits of the constitutional reforms in 2014 that mandated political parties to have a particular number of women for various political positions.
- Namibia
The South African nation completes the list of the top five countries with the largest representation of women in the parliament. More than 46% of the lower house representatives in Namibia are women while 24% of the Senators are women.
