Women in politics

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Women in politics have historically been underrepresented in Western socities compared to men. Many women, however, have been politically elected to be heads of state and government. Most prominent may be the female leaders of world powers such as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of Israel Golda Meir, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, Prime Minister of Canada Kim Campbell, Prime Minister of France Edith Cresson, President of the People's Republic of China Soong Ching-ling (AKA Rosamond Soong), and Director of the Cultural Revolution, dictator Jiang Qing.

1 Women's suffrage
2 Executive branch of government
3 Legislative branch of government
4 International organizations
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Women's suffrage

Main article: Women's suffrage

[edit] Executive branch of government

The Nordic countries have been forerunners in including women in the executive branch. The second cabinet Brundtland (1986-1989) were historical in that 8 out of 18 cabinet members were women, and in 2007 the second cabinet Stoltenberg (2005-present) got more than 50 % women. Some current female polictians that have reached top positions in the Nordic countries are the President of Finland, Tarja Halonen and Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden, Maud Olofsson.

The world's first elected female president was Vigdís Finnbogadóttir of Iceland, whose term lasted from 1980 to 1996.

In 2005, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia became Africa's first elected female head of state.

[edit] Legislative branch of government

It was not until after World War I that the first few women became members of governments. Nina Bang, Danish Minister of Education 1924-26 was the world's first full female cabinet minister. Nevertheless, development was slow and it was not until the end of the 20th century that female ministers stopped being unusual.

According to a 2006 report by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, 16 % of all parliament members in the world are female. In 1995, the United Nations set a goal of 30 %.^[1]

The top ten countries are African country Rwanda with 48.8 %, the European countries Sweden (45.3 %), Norway (37.9 %), Finland (37.5 %), Denmark (36.9 %), the Netherlands (36.7 %) and Spain (36 %), the Latin American countries Cuba (36%), Costa Rica 35.1%) and Argentina (35%) and another African country Mozambique (34.8 %).^[1]

According to the same report, nine countries have no parliament members.

The US House of Representatives contains 77 women, and the US Senate contains 16. Eight states have female governors. See also:Women in the United States House of Representatives , Women in the United States Senate and List of female state governors in the United States