Women In Politics, the Desire to Reality - Equalities and Inequalities

Article reflecting on the situation of women in politics, analysing the factors that promote or inhibit their political participation and assessing (in)equality in political and economic decision-making, framed against the Millennium Development Goal of promoting gender equality and women's empowerment.

Globally, in 2010 only 9 of 151 elected heads of state and 11 of 192 heads of government were women, and women held only 16% of ministerial posts. In Portugal, the Parity Law is described as a decisive milestone: for the first time in the history of Portuguese democracy, the Assembleia da República reached 33% female representation (76 of 230 deputies); in municipal executive bodies, women reached 26% representation (547 of 2,086 members); and only 24 of 308 municipalities (8%) had a female mayor.

Progress in women's representation in the executive branch is described as especially slow; the article argues that action on political representation is urgent, since parliaments are key settings for implementing gender equality, and that raising voter awareness of women's contribution to development and progress must be a priority.