Women in power in 2023: New data shows progress but wide regional gaps

UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous said: “This data tells us that women are still the minority of Heads of State and Government. They are still deeply under-represented in government leadership, at less than one in four Cabinet Ministers, with men continuing to dominate critical portfolios such as the economy, defence, and energy. Full democracy needs the equal participation of women in all its processes. Yet, continued violence and threats—online and offline—against women leaders, candidates, and voters blight the potential for their voices and knowledge to bring the change that is so urgently needed for economic and social recovery. The world cannot afford to continue this injustice. We need a paradigm shift that brings true equality.”

IPU Secretary General, Martin Chungong, said: “We’re seeing ongoing progress in the number of women in politics this year, which is encouraging. However, we still have a long way to go to reach gender equality when we see the current rates of growth. With the interlinked crises of climate change, geopolitical tensions, economic instability, and social inequality, the world needs to better harness the talents of women and encourage them to enter politics sooner rather than later.”

As of 1 January 2023, 11.3 per cent of countries have women Heads of State (17 out of 151 countries, monarchy-based systems excluded), and 9.8 per cent have women Heads of Government (19 out of 193). This is an increase compared to a decade ago when figures stood at 5.3 per cent and 7.3 per cent, respectively. Of all the regions, Europe continues to have the highest number of countries led by women (16).

Women represent 22.8 per cent of Cabinet Ministers as of 1 January 2023. Europe and North America (31.6 per cent), and Latin America and the Caribbean (30.1 per cent) are the regions with the highest share of women in cabinets.

However, in most other regions, women are severely under-represented dropping as low as 10.1 per cent in Central and Southern Asia and 8.1 per cent in the Pacific Islands (Oceania excluding Australia and New Zealand).

Only 13 countries, mostly in Europe, have gender-equal cabinets, with 50 per cent or more of women cabinet members as heads of ministries.

There are 17 additional countries with women’s representation among Cabinet Ministers between 40 and 49.9 per cent, nine of which are in Europe.

Nine countries—most in Oceania and Western Asia—have no women cabinet members heading ministries.

Women tend to lead policy areas related to gender equality, human rights, and social affairs.

Notably, the data also shows that, although underrepresented, women are at the helm of other important policy portfolios, including environment (32 per cent), public administration (30 per cent), and education (30 per cent).

However, men continue to dominate policy areas such as economic, defence, justice, and home affairs portfolios. Women only comprise 12 per cent of Cabinet Ministers leading defence and local government portfolios, 11 per cent of energy, natural resource fuels, and mining portfolios, and 8 per cent of transport portfolios.

The new data also shows that the number of women Speakers of Parliament has increased to 22.7 per cent compared with 20.9 per cent in 2021. The Map follows the release of the IPU’s annual Women in Parliament report, which shows that the global proportion of MPs who are women has inched up to 26.5 per cent compared with 25.5 per cent in 2021.

The IPU data on women in parliament also reveals wide global disparities: European Nordic countries are at the top of the regional ranking (45.7 per cent of MPs are women) while the Middle East and North Africa region remains at the bottom (17.7 per cent of MPs are women).

The new IPU-UN Women Map of Women in Politics was presented during the 67th session of the Commission of the Status of Women, the largest UN gathering on gender equality. This year’s priority theme is “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.”