The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) released a report Friday revealing that global progress toward gender parity in national parliaments has slowed to its lowest rate in nearly a decade.
Released ahead of International Women’s Day, the “Women in Parliament in 2025” report indicates that women held 27.5 percent of parliamentary seats worldwide as of January 1, a marginal increase of 0.3 percent from the previous year.
The findings emphasize a concerning trend of stagnation in political representation. While 49 countries held parliamentary elections for 62 chambers in 2025, the resulting share of women elected or appointed across those chambers was 29.5 percent. This sluggish growth suggests that at the current pace, the world will not achieve gender parity for another 75 years.
The Americas maintained its position as the global leader in female representation, with women accounting for 35.6 percent of all parliamentarians in the region. Bolivia and Ecuador achieved significant milestones, with Bolivia returning to a parliament with gender parity following its 2025 elections. Ecuador’s National Assembly saw a record 45 percent of seats won by women, driven in part by a parity quota law.
The report identified legislative quotas as the most significant driver of gender parity. Chambers that utilized some form of quota elected or appointed 30.9 percent women on average, compared to 23.3 percent in chambers without such mandates. Kyrgyzstan recorded the highest individual increase globally, seeing a 12.9 percentage point increase in women representation after implementing a new majoritarian system with gender-based seat restrictions.
Conversely, the Middle East and North Africa region have remained the most underrepresented, with women holding only 16.2 percent of seats. Three countries, Oman, Tuvalu and Yemen, reported having no women in their lower or single chambers at the end of 2025.
While female representation saw minor gains in total, women’s occupancy of top leadership positions declined. The share of female parliamentary speakers dropped to 19.9 percent as of January, down nearly four percentage points from 23.7 percent a year prior. Only 12 of 75 speakers appointed or elected in 2025 were women.
The share of women chairing standing parliamentary committees rose to 32.5 percent. However, the IPU noted that gender equality and youth committees heavily influenced this figure. Outside such committees, women’s share of committee-chair positions falls to 25.7 percent.
The report also highlighted a “disquieting trend” of increasing violence and harassment against female legislators. An IPU study in the Asia-Pacific region found that 76 percent of surveyed women parliamentarians faced psychological violence, including sexist remarks and online attacks. Six in ten women reported being targeted by online gender-based attacks. The report authors noted:
Violence against women in parliaments must be addressed as a serious priority and parliaments must take the lead. Only a handful of countries have introduced laws that clearly identify different forms of violence and prescribe preventive and remedial measures. More parliaments will have to step up on this front if they are sincere in their commitment to equality and democracy.
Some nations have begun to take legislative action. In April 2025, the Colombian Parliament promulgated Law 2453, specifically designed to prevent and punish violence against women in politics.
Despite slow growth, 2025 saw record numbers of women from diverse backgrounds entering parliaments. In Australia, disability activist Ali France became the first woman with a disability to win a seat in the nation’s House of Representatives. Similarly, Heike Heubach became the first deaf person to sit in the German Bundestag.
IPU warned in February that a “disquieting trend” of violence disproportionately targets women in politics. While 71 percent of all lawmakers reported experiencing public hostility, the figure rises to 76 percent for women, who face significantly higher rates of gendered and sexualized attacks.
