Laos's 30% Women's Assembly Target — Declining Despite a Decade of Policy

Laos has pursued a 30% target for women's representation in the National Assembly (NA) and Provincial People's Assemblies (PPAs) since its National Strategy for the Advancement of Women (2016-2020, renewed 2021-2025). The target is carried through the Five-Year National Socio-Economic Development Plan and implemented via the Lao Women's Union (LWU) and the National Commission for the Advancement of Women, Mothers and Children (NCAWMC, established 2003, under LWU since 2016), alongside the NA's own Women's Caucus. Most recently, a Gender Situation Analysis (GSA) of the NA and PPAs was commissioned by the NA's Social and Cultural Affairs Committee with UNDP support (commissioned October 2023, launched September 2025).

Verified World Bank data (indicator SG.GEN.PARL.ZS) show women held 27.52% of NA seats in 2016 (41 of 149 members) but only 21.95% after the 2021 election (36 of 164 members) — a decline, not a gain, despite the standing 30% target. The 2025 UNDP-backed GSA report puts current representation at 22%, explicitly 'falling short of the government's 30% target,' and finds 9 of 18 Provincial People's Assemblies also below target.

In October 2024, the Lao government told the UN CEDAW Committee directly that the 9th National Assembly 'did not meet the set target of 30 per cent.' CEDAW experts also raised concerns that independent women's-rights activism in Laos is restricted to operating through the LWU, a state body under one-party control, and noted gaps in disaggregated data on gender-discrimination cases and continuing trafficking concerns. This case is included as a cautionary example: a standing numerical target, backed by dedicated institutions and donor-supported analysis, that has not translated into progress and by the government's own admission has gone backward.

Read the full analysis: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SG.GEN.PARL.ZS?locations=LA