Gender parity among heads of government to take another 130 years

Women are increasingly entering decision-making positions but full gender parity is far from being reached as they rarely hold leadership positions in executive and legislative offices, a UN report said.

According to the United Nations, women are heads of the state and government in 22 countries, and 24.9 percent of parliamentarians are women. Meanwhile, 119 countries have never had a female leader.

Gender equality among heads of government would take another 130 years at the current rate of progress, UN Women said today citing a report from the UN Economic and Social Council revealed on December 21 last year.

According to the UN report, women hold 21 percent of cabinet posts worldwide, five points more than in 2010, and only 14 countries have 50 percent or more seats for women.

In 16 countries, 40 to 49.9 percent of the ministers are women while less than 10 percent of the ministers in 40 cabinets are women and 10 to 19.9 percent are women in 54 cabinets.

The UN report said at an annual increase of just 0.52 percentage points, gender parity in ministerial positions will not be achieved before 2077.

Meanwhile, the proportion of women in parliament has doubled worldwide since 1995, but men still hold 75 percent of the seats.

"Although the primary role of national parliaments is to represent the voices of all people in decision-making, women's representation has grown on average from only 12 percent in 1995 to 25 percent in 2020," it said.

At this rate, gender equality in the national legislature bodies will not be achieved until 2063, the UN report said.

In the public sector, women accounted for 45 percent of the public administration workforce but only 34 percent of decision-making positions, according UN data from 2018.

In the judiciary, which is key to ensuring that courts represent their citizens and address women's concern, 40 percent of judges were women in 2017, which is 35 percent more than in 2008.

In health sector, women constitute 70 percent of health sector workers who are on the front lines. An analysis of Covid-19 task forces from 87 countries found that only 3.5 percent had gender parity, it said.

"The lack of women in public sector decision-making positions leaves governments ill-equipped to respond to crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic," the UN report said.