Women’s political representation improves, but road to parity remains long

A parlamentary session — Women’s representation in national parliaments in the EU grew between 2010 and 2024, reaching a share of 33.4%.
© EU, 2024

Europe is often recognised as one of the best-performing regions globally when it comes to equal representation in political decision-making. Nevertheless, there are considerable disparities among countries.

The Gender Equality Strategy Monitoring Portal tracks progress on the European Commission's Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, which calls on EU Member States to “develop and implement strategies to increase the number of women in decision-making positions in politics and policy-making.”

According to the latest update of the portal – bringing together data from different sources – women’s representation in national parliaments grew by an average of 9.4 percentage points between 2010 and 2024 across the region, reaching a share of 33.4%. Seven EU Member States – Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Belgium, Austria, and the Netherlands – have achieved gender balance above 40% in their national parliaments. This result was partially driven by the introduction of legislative quotas.

Map of women's participation in national parliaments in the EU — Share of women's participation in national parliaments across the EU in 2024.
Source: Eurostat, European Commission

Progress at the local level has been slower and more uneven than at the national level. Over the period 2011-2024, the share of women in local and municipal councils only increased by an average of 4.3 percentage points throughout the EU. In 2024, women represented a 42.9% share in Sweden, 42.8% in Spain, 42% in France, and 40.1% in Finland. Yet, there are large differences among countries. For instance, the share of women in local/municipal councils in Germany stood only at 24.6% in 2024.

The recently updated Gender Equality Index by the European Institute for Gender Equality also illustrates that despite important progress made over the past decade, the area of women’s political power is the one with the greatest room for improvement.

However, change can also occur relatively quickly when strong commitment and clear targets are in place. A positive example of effective measures stems from Spain where candidate quotas are used in elections. Bridging the gap is crucial as benefits of gender-balanced political representation extend beyond fairness and equity. They contribute to more inclusive governance, diverse perspectives in policymaking, and a stronger democracy that better reflects the society.

The global picture of women’s representation

Worldwide, despite the advancements made in recent years toward achieving equal representation in politics, this goal remains unfulfilled, according to a data exploration conducted by the JRC and Equal Measures 2030, a coalition of feminist networks, civil society and international development organisations advocating for gender equality. Over the past three decades, the global average of women in parliaments has more than doubled; however, it still falls below 30%.

2024 – a year in which 72 countries, accounting for nearly half of the world's population, held national elections – was a missed opportunity for parity. Many countries have seen either a decrease in the share of female members of parliaments or only minor gains and uneven progress.

In this context, multidimensional measures that capture different dimensions of gender equality, hosted on the JRC’s Composite Indicators and Scoreboards Explorer tool, are critical for monitoring change and progress in detail. This data exploration builds on several gender equality measures included in the tool.

Gender equality across the globe

The SDG Gender Index from Equal Measures 2030 offers an overview of the global status of gender equality based on 56 gender-related issues. It indicates that, on average, the world is improving slowly, and no country is likely to achieve gender equality by 2030, the target year for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Understanding the overall gender equality gaps within a country is essential, as these gaps influence women's representation in political life. Increased representation of women, in turn, can contribute to broader progress in achieving equality.

Regrettably, the Global Gender Gap Index from the World Economic Forum also reveals that the dimension concerning women's political participation is where gender equality is least achieved.

Background

Multidimensional measures, such as indices and scoreboards, are essential tools for monitoring progress in gender equality and identifying areas for improvement.

This data story is part of a series of publications developed by the Competence Centre on Composite Indicators and Scoreboards at the JRC and in collaboration with external stakeholders. Each data story builds on analysis done using the Composite Indicators and Scoreboards Explorer, which is a one-stop-shop for all well-known indices globally.

Ahead of International Women’s Day, the Commission set out its Roadmap for Women’s Rights. The Roadmap drives the gender equality agenda forward and brings a political long-term vision to advance on women’s rights.

The Roadmap builds on the significant progress achieved under the Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025. In the past five years, the EU has made historic progress with rules on pay transparency, work-life balance for equal care responsibilities, gender balance on company boards, and on combating violence against women.

The EU also acceded to the Istanbul Convention and took important steps towards strengthening the care economy by adopting the Council Recommendation on early childhood education and care, and the Council Recommendation on access to affordable high-quality long-term care.

With the Roadmap, the Commission is reaffirming and reinforcing its commitment to empower women and girls and fully realise a gender-equal society across Europe and the world. In establishing common enabling principles and objectives, the Roadmap provides a guiding policy framework for the concrete measures of the next Gender Equality Strategy.