More women in European Parliament than in US Congress

Author Moonshot.news

Published on: 31/01/2021

Women have a stronger presentation in the European Parliament than they have in the newly elected US Congress. Women make up a bit more than a quarter of all members of the US Congress but this is anyway the highest percentage in US history and a considerable increase from where things stood even a decade ago, according to the Pew Research Center. In the European Parliament 39.5 per cent are women, which is higher than the 28.6% average female representation in EU member states´ parliaments.

At regional level, the Nordic countries account for 44% of women parliamentarians and Europe, excluding the Nordic countries, 28.1%, according to research centre Foundation Robert Schuman.

Figures published by the Inter-Parliamentary Union show that in 2019, 24.6% of the world’s parliamentarians are women, as against 11.7% in 1995. Thus, at world level, the representation of women has more than doubled, but the goal of parity is still a long way off.

Counting both the US House of Representatives and the Senate, 144 of 539 seats – or 27% – are held by women. That represents a 50% increase from the 96 women who were serving in the Congress a decade ago, though it remains far below the female share of the overall US population.

A record 120 women are serving in the newly elected House, accounting for 27% of the total. In the Senate, women hold 24 of 100 seats, one fewer than the record number of seats they held in the last Congress.

Women make up a much bigger share of congressional Democrats (38%) than Republicans (14%). Across both chambers, there are 106 Democratic women and 38 Republican women in the new Congress. Women account for 40% of House Democrats and 32% of Senate Democrats, compared with 14% of House Republicans and 16% of Senate Republicans.

On both sides of the Atlantic, women have lately taken some very prominent positions.

Kamala Harris is the first female Vice President of the USA and California Rep.Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat and the first female speaker of the House, is re-elected and serving her fourth term as speaker. President Joe Biden has named former Federal Reserve chair, Janet Yellen, to be his administration´s secretary of the treasury.

In Europe, Ursula von der Leyen is the first woman to lead the European Commission and Christine Lagarde is the first female President of the European Central Bank (ECB). And Ursula von der Leyen has set the pace by declaring gender equality to be a priority on her political agenda.

The percentage of women in the European Parliament has steadily increased over the years. The newly elected European Parliament (2019-2024) comprises 39.5% female MEPs, a relatively high figure which is above the average for national parliaments (28.6%). The number of women in the European Parliament has increased significantly since 1979. Between 1952 and 1979 only 31 women sat in the European Parliament. However, since 1979, only two women have been Presidents of the European Parliament: the French women Simone Veil and Nicole Fontaine.

At the European Commission, headed by Ursula von der Leyen, twelve of the 27 Commissioners are women, compared to nine in the previous Juncker Commission. One in three women is Executive Vice-President (Margrethe Vestager) and two out of five are Vice-Presidents (Vera Jourova and Dubravka Suica).

According to the latest data, women account for almost 60% of the staff of the European Parliament but remain under-represented in management positions.

So, in short: There is some improvement but still a long way to go!