Political leadership roles in 2025: Men continue to dominate

IPU President Tulia Ackson said: “The glacial pace of progress in women’s parliamentary representation, even after a year of significant elections, is alarming. The global disparity highlights a systemic failure to advance gender equality in politics in some parts of the world. It’s high time for decisive action to shatter these barriers and ensure women’s voices are equally represented in politics worldwide. The health of our democracies depends on it.”

Martin Chungong, IPU Secretary General, said: “The lack of progress in achieving gender equality in political leadership serves as a sobering call to action. Accelerating progress requires the active participation and support of men. It is our collective responsibility to break down barriers and ensure that women’s voices are equally represented in leadership roles, fostering a more inclusive and robust democracy for all.”

Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women, stated: “Thirty years after the Beijing Declaration, the promise of gender equality in political leadership remains unfulfilled. Progress is not just slow—it is backsliding. We cannot accept a world where half the population is systematically excluded from decision-making. We know the solutions: quotas, electoral reforms, and the political will to dismantle systemic barriers. The time for half-measures is over—it is time for governments to act now to ensure women have an equal seat at every table where power is exercised.”

Women leading countries remain the exception

Women hold top State positions in just 25 countries. Europe remains the region with the highest number of women-led countries (12).

Although 2024 saw historic firsts—including the first directly elected women Presidents in Mexico, Namibia, and North Macedonia—106 countries have still never had a woman leader.

Women’s representation among cabinet ministers declines

As of 1 January 2025, the proportion of women heading ministries decreased to 22.9 per cent, down from 23.3 per cent a year ago. This decline is due to 64 countries seeing a decrease in women’s representation at this level and another 63 stagnating, with just 62 increasing compared to a year ago.

Only nine countries, predominantly in Europe, have achieved gender-equal cabinets, with 50 per cent or more women holding cabinet positions as heads of ministries. These are Nicaragua (64.3 per cent), Finland (61.1 per cent), Iceland and Liechtenstein (60 per cent), Estonia (58.3 per cent), and Andorra, Chile, Spain, and the United Kingdom (all at 50 per cent). This represents a decline compared to 2024, when 15 countries had gender-equal cabinets.

There are an additional 20 countries where women’s representation among cabinet ministers ranges between 40 per cent and 49.9 per cent, with half of these countries in Europe. Nine countries, mostly in Asia and the Pacific, do not have any women serving as cabinet ministers, an increase from seven countries in 2024.

Europe and North America (31.4 per cent), and Latin America and the Caribbean (30.4 per cent), have the highest shares of women cabinet ministers.

In contrast, women are significantly underrepresented in most other regions, with regional figures as low as 10.2 per cent in the Pacific Islands (excluding Australia and New Zealand) and 9 per cent in Central Asia and Southern Asia.

Ministerial portfolios continue to endure gender-based bias

The allocation of ministerial portfolios highlights a continuing gender bias. Women are still primarily assigned to head policy areas concerning gender equality, human rights, and social affairs. Most influential policy areas, such as foreign affairs, financial and fiscal affairs, home affairs, and defence remain largely controlled by men.

While still underrepresented, new data show more women at the helm of other important policy portfolios, such as culture (35.4 per cent), education (30.6 per cent), and tourism (30.5 per cent).

Growth of women in parliament stalls

The map follows the release of the IPU’s annual “Women in parliament” report, which revealed that, despite 2024 being a super election year, progress towards greater women’s representation was the slowest since 2017.

The data also reveal significant regional disparities:

• The Americas has the highest proportion of women MPs (34.5 per cent) and women Speakers of Parliament (33.3 per cent).
• Europe comes second with 31.8 per cent women MPs and 30.4 per cent women Speakers.
• The Middle East and North Africa region is placed last, with women occupying only 16.7 per cent of parliamentary seats and currently no women Speakers of Parliament.

In a rare bright spot, the total number of women Speakers increased to 64 out of 270 positions, reaching 23.7 per cent, up from 22.7 per cent in 2023 (62 out of 273).

And women Deputy Speakers of Parliament now constitute 32.6 per cent of the total, up from 28.9 per cent in 2023.

The new IPU–UN Women “Women in politics” map was presented during the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, the largest UN gathering on gender equality.