While women constitute half of humanity, they represent only one third of political decision-makers in Europe: this is the observation made by the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) in a detailed study published on Tuesday 5 November.
This study titled “Women in Politics: Local and European Trends” covers all 28 EU countries, as well as 13 other European countries. It is based on data disaggregated by country over a 10-year period and points to the significant difficulty of obtaining this type of information, especially at the sub-national level.
Its conclusions are clear: despite some progress, the world of politics remains very masculine. The study shows that the average ratio of women elected locally is 29%, compared to 23.4% in 2008. Sweden, France and Finland lead among the Twenty-Eight. The same is true at the national level, where the average percentage of women rose from 21.9% in 2009 to 28.5% in 2019. In the European Parliament, there are now 40% women (although the study notes that there are differences between political groups, some falling below 35%).
The study concludes with a plea for quotas, which are “essential” but not “a panacea”, according to CEMR’s chair of the standing committee for equality and councillor for Sweden’s Östergötland region, Emil Broberg. Between 2008 and 2019, the 14 countries that introduced binding quotas saw the share of women elected locally increase by 8.7 percentage points, compared to 4 for the others during the same period. The study can be consulted at: https://bit.ly/2Q0paQX (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)