Law in Charts · Women, work and the law

Women in national parliaments, since 1997

How has the share of women in parliament moved in nine countries?

% of seats held by women

Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union, Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments (%), via the World Bank. Data for 1997 to 2025. What it counts, how to cite it and the data

At a glance

United States: 11.7% in 1997, 28.9% in 2025.
United Kingdom: 18.2% in 1997, 40.5% in 2025.
Germany: 26.2% in 1997, 32.4% in 2025.
France: 10.9% in 1997, 36.2% in 2025.
India: 7.2% in 1997, 13.8% in 2025.
Brazil: 6.6% in 1997, 18.1% in 2025.
Japan: 4.6% in 1997, 15.7% in 2025.
South Africa: 25.0% in 1997, 44.9% in 2025.
Bulgaria: 10.8% in 1997, 25.0% in 2025.

The countries shown are a selection from different regions and legal traditions, chosen for the length of their data and not for any result.

What it counts

The percentage of seats in a single or lower chamber of the national parliament held by women.

What it leaves out, and how far to trust a comparison

Changes usually come at elections, so lines move in steps. They do not show why, and quotas, party rules and electoral systems all play a part.

Source

Inter-Parliamentary Union: Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments (%), via the World Bank, compiled in World Bank, World Development Indicators. Source licence: CC BY 4.0. Data retrieved 2026-10-23 to 2026-10-25.

Cite this chart

Free to use in teaching, articles, reports and slides, with credit. Our compilation is licensed CC BY 4.0; the source publishes the underlying data under its own licence, shown below.

Reference (APA style)

TheLawToKnow. (2026). Women in national parliaments, since 1997 [Chart]. Law in Charts. https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/law-in-charts/women-in-parliament-trend. Data: Inter-Parliamentary Union, Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments (%), via the World Bank, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SG.GEN.PARL.ZS (data retrieved 2026-10-23 to 2026-10-25).

Short credit for slides and websites

Chart: TheLawToKnow, Law in Charts (https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/law-in-charts/women-in-parliament-trend). Data: Inter-Parliamentary Union, via World Bank, World Development Indicators.

BibTeX

@misc{womeninparliamenttrend2026,
  author = {{TheLawToKnow}},
  title = {Women in national parliaments, since 1997},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Law in Charts},
  url = {https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/law-in-charts/women-in-parliament-trend},
  note = {Data: Inter-Parliamentary Union, Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments (%), via the World Bank, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SG.GEN.PARL.ZS. Retrieved 2026-10-23 to 2026-10-25.}
}

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Course: The Legislature

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