Here are countries with the least and most skewed gender ratios in their governments.
Here are countries with the least and most skewed gender ratios in their governments.
Angela Merkel will soon be departing from the position of Chancellor of Germany as the results of Germany’s recent parliamentary election is finalised. While Merkel has often represented the strongest woman in the world and a symbol of female participation in government, most nations across the world have a very skewed gender ratio across their legislature. As of 1 September 2021, there are 26 women currently hold the position of the head of their state or government and only 21 percent of government ministers were women, according to the United Nations. Let us take a look at countries that has the highest proportion of female representatives in the government.
5 | Mexico: The North American nation counted 48 percent of women participation in its legislature as of 2020. In 2020, male to female ratio for Mexico was 95.76 males per 100 females. (Image: AP)
4 | New Zealand: New Zealand is one of the nations that counts a woman as the head of government, with Prime Minister Jacinda Arden leading the nation. The country has a female representation of 48 percent in its legislature and a male to female ratio of 96.66 males per 100 females in 2020.
3 | United Arab Emirates: The oil-rich emirate counted 50 percent female representation in 2020. Though some of the other nations with a high parity between males and females in their legislation have a relatively equal sex ratio, the sex ratio in UAE is 224 males per 100 females in 2020. (Image: Reuters)
2 | Cuba: 53 percent of the representatives in this island nation are women. (Image: AP)
1 | Rwanda: The African nation has the highest female representation in the world at 61 percent. The reason behind the high representation is because the Rwandan constitution is set up in such a way that at least 30 percent of the seats in the legislation is reserved for women. (Image: Reuters)
Here are 5 countries with the lowest rate of women representatives at the governmental level. (Image: Reuters)
5 | Oman: The arab nation has one of the worst representations of women in its legislation. The country only counts 2 percent female representation in its legislation. (Image: Reuters)
4 | Yemen: Despite a 30 percent quota, there is currently no woman in the 301-member parliament. Yemen continues to rank poorly on gender equality. (Image: Reuters)
3 | Vanuatu: The island nation also has no woman representation in its parliament. The nation has only had five female MPs since its independence and has not elected a single woman in its last three elections. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
2 | Micronesia: The country has never elected a woman to its 14-member parliament in its entire history. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
1 | Papua New Guinea: The 2017 national election where 165 women ran for the parliament but were not elected. Papua New Guinea stands with no female representation in its government at present. The country has seen only 7 women legislators since its independence in 1975. (Image: AP)