Women in Parliament Statistics from around the Globe

Did you know that China has a greater percentage of women in politics than the USA does?

23.4% of politicians in China are female.

Many other countries have surprisingly high rates of women in politics.

Rwanda leads the world, with 63.8% of politicians are female.

Andorra is #2, with exactly 50% of politicians are female.

Cuba is #3, with 48.9% of politicians are female.

Canada is #55 with 25.1%.

The UK is #64 with 22.6%.

The United States is tied with San Marino for #85, with 18.3%.

You can browse the detailed stats by visiting http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm

Keeping in mind there is only about 190 countries in the world, so the the USA is really in the middle - halfway, which means it is getting beaten by countries like the Czech Republic, Bosnia, Peru, Croatia, Vietnam...

So what countries is the USA beating in terms of women in politics?

The United Arab Emirates. Oh and the DPRK (aka, North Korea). So the USA is only slightly better than UAE (a country that uses bits and pieces of Sharia law, where women are still flogged or stoned in public) and only beating North Korea by 2%, a country so backwards and scary they could declare nuclear war at the drop of a pin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_United_Arab_Emirates

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_North_Korea

And to be fair, the UK and Canada isn't much better.

For example lets compare heads of state...

The United States has NEVER had a female president. Not once since 1776.

The UK had Margaret Thatcher (who was so conservative it defies belief), who was the first and only female PM in British history.

And then there is Canada's Kim Campbell - who didn't even win an election. She was placed in the PM's chair by Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who was leaving politics. She was only in power from June 25th to November 4th 1993. Less than 5 months.

What this tells us is that the USA, the UK and Canada really has barely only scratched the surface when it comes to women's equality and women in politics.

It tells me that more women in these countries need to be entering politics. It tells me that women in these countries are being discouraged from entering politics, and that means their voices are not being heard because they are being shouted down by men who still think women belong in the kitchen.

Sorry guys.

Women belong in the House. And the Senate. And the Oval Office.

Get used to it.