Releasing a world ranking of the number of women parliamentarians that that placed India 148, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the head of UN Women, has called for reservations for women.
The rankings of all 193 UN member countries released here on Wednesday by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women showed that women made up 11.8 per cent of the Lok Sabha where 64 were elected to the 542-member house and 11 per cent of the Rajya Sabha with 27 of the 245 members
India ranked 88 in the number of women ministers with five or 18.5 per cent in the cabinet.
However, women hold important positions: Sumitra Mahajan is the Speaker and Sushma Swaraj is the External Affairs Minister.
Mlambo-Ngcuka, the Executive Director of UN Women, the international organisation's arm for empowering women, said that the most progress in increasing their ranks in parliament was achieved in countries with quotas.
The rankings of all 193 UN member countries released here on Wednesday by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women showed that women made up 11.8 per cent of the Lok Sabha where 64 were elected to the 542-member house and 11 per cent of the Rajya Sabha with 27 of the 245 members
India ranked 88 in the number of women ministers with five or 18.5 per cent in the cabinet.
However, women hold important positions: Sumitra Mahajan is the Speaker and Sushma Swaraj is the External Affairs Minister.
In South Asia, Nepal ranked 48 with 29.6 per cent of the lower house seats held by women; Pakistan ranked 89 with 20.6 per cent (but with no ministers); Bangladesh was 91st with 20.3 per cent, and Sri Lanka lagged at 179th place with 5.8 per cent.
Bulgaria, France and Nicaragua tied for the first rank for the number of women ministers with 52.9 per cent each.
Mlambo-Ngcuka, the Executive Director of UN Women, the international organisation's arm for empowering women, said that the most progress in increasing their ranks in parliament was achieved in countries with quotas.
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