From voting rights to candidate lists to leaders, women have historically lagged behind men in terms of parliamentary representation. But which European countries have the most female MPs – and which have the fewest? And how has this changed over the years?

To find out, CGTN Europe analyzed data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). This 130-year-old global organization of national parliaments records the proportion of elected female representatives, be they called MPs, assembly members or anything else.

Two quick notes. Firstly, the following figures are for the lower assemblies of bicameral (two-house) parliaments – such as those in France, Germany, Italy and the UK, among others – alongside the unicameral, single-house parliament preferred by a similar number of countries including Greece, Portugal and the Nordic countries. And as elections go on throughout the calendar year, the figures presented are as of 31 December in years up to 2019, and 1 August 2020. 

A slow start toward equality

The data set starts in 1945, when female representation was not high. Of the 11 countries returning IPU data in the year World War II finished, Finland's 9 percent was the highest, with women winning 18 of the 200 seats in the March election.  

But in 1949, a new front-runner emerged, and for much of the next 30 years the way towards more equal representation was led by Hungary. After the May 1949 election, 17.7 percent of elected deputies were women. 

A slight dip in Hungary's female representation in the 1953 election allowed Poland to lead the way for four years, with a similar 17.7 percent figure, and Bulgaria's 20.3 percent led from 1962 to 1965. Hungary otherwise led the way right through to 1979. 

That was a key year for gender representation in European politics, with the UK making Margaret Thatcher the continent's first elected female head of government. The "Iron Lady" blazed a trail for other women to lead, but the presence of a woman in charge did not mean parliaments were all that equal – especially in Western Europe. 

In the 1979 election that swept Thatcher to power, only 3 percent of elected UK MPs were female. And the UK wasn't an outlier, judging by the female percentages in France (4.3), Portugal (6.8), Spain (6.9), Belgium (7.6) and Italy (8.4). 

All these proportions were insultingly small compared with the leader for much of the following decade. Romania blazed a trail through the 1980s, with between 33.1 percent and 34.4 of its representatives female between 1980 and 1989. 

But one region in particular was becoming more equal than others.

Nordics lead the charge

In 1988, as Europe unknowingly drew towards the end of the Cold War, a new trailblazer for female representation emerged from the north. Sweden's September election didn't change much politically – the Social Democrats stayed in power, as they had been for much of the previous seven decades – but it boosted the Riksdag's female representation from 31.5 percent to a continent-leading 38.4 percent.

Nor was Sweden the only Nordic country in the upper realms of equality-chasing representation. Finland led the way in 1991 and 1992 with 39 percent, replaced in 1993 by Norway (39.4 percent as Gro Harlem Brundtland extended her third prime ministerial stint) – only for Sweden to edge back in from 1994 with 40.4 percent, the first European parliament to have four out of every 10 seats occupied by women. 

Never since dipping below that mark, Sweden has led Europe in gender-equal representation for much of the time since. Iceland nipped in front when the 2016 election returned 30 female MPs out of 63 (47.6 percent), but this fell a year later in the snap election, which ended with Katrin Jakobsdottir becoming the island's second female leader. 

The other exception to Sweden's three-decade leadership towards equal representation was truly a trailblazer. In April 2011, the Pyrenean principality of Andorra elected to its 28-seat General Council 14 men and 14 women, making it the first European country to achieve representational parity. 

Furthermore, the following month one of the men was replaced by a woman, making Andorra only the second country around the world – after Rwanda, where the Chamber of Deputies is now 61.3 percent female – to elect a parliament in which female legislators were in the majority (54 percent). 

By the end of the year, the gender balance had returned to 50-50, before the 2015 election restored a male majority – and therefore Sweden to the top of the equality rankings, where it still sits now on 47 percent. 

The current gender gap

Europe is a very different place now from 1945. While Sweden heads the list, eight other countries – in descending order, Andorra, Finland, Spain, Switzerland, Norway, Belgium, Portugal and Belarus – have 40 percent or higher female representation. 

Another 13 are somewhere in the thirtysomethings, including big hitters France (39.5 percent), Italy (35.7 percent) and the UK (33.9 percent), with a further 16 in the 20-30 percent zone that would have led the continent before 1970. (For global reference, China's National People's Congress is 24.9 percent female, the U.S. House of Representatives 23.4 percent, Brazil's Chamber of Deputies 14.6 percent, India's House of the People 14.3 percent and Nigeria's House of Representatives just 3.6 percent.)

However, there is still a way to go. Eight European countries have less than 20 percent female representation, from Cyprus with 19.6 percent down through Azerbaijan, Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Malta and Hungary – for so long the standard-bearers – where the 2018 election returned just 24 female representatives out of 199, with women outnumbered seven to one at just 12.1 percent.

Even so, Hungary is only the second most male-dominated parliament. Liechtenstein's 25-seat Landtag has just three female members, giving 12 percent representation. It might be noted that the Alpine microstate at the heart of Europe was the last country in the continent to grant women the right to vote – in 1984, when a male-only referendum granted female suffrage by a narrow majority, with 51.3 percent in favor. From the tiniest state to the mightiest nation, European politics still has a way to go before it can declare itself equally representative.

Animation and design by James Sandifer – jimsandifer.co.uk

Originally published by CGTN Europe on 12 August 2020