Context:
UN Women’s latest publication, Women Political Leaders 2025, reveals that women’s political leadership in executive positions is not merely stagnating but also getting worse.
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- Women are disappearing from global political leadership, with India among the countries with the lowest share of female cabinet ministers.
- India ranks 174 out of 181, falling in the second-lowest category with just 2–9.9% women in political leadership.
- Today, only 27 countries are led by a woman Head of State or Government, up from 21 countries five years ago, while 103 countries have never had a woman in the highest executive office.
- As of January 1, 2025, only 22.9 percent of heads of Cabinet ministries were women, down from 23.3 percent in 2024.
- The number of parity cabinets – those with at least 50 per cent women – has dropped from 15 last year to just 9.
- At the same time, the number of countries with no women in ministerial roles has increased from 7 to 9 in the past year alone.
Reasons for Decline:
- Existing gender norms and practices significantly influence the allocation of cabinet portfolios.
- Men overwhelmingly hold Cabinet positions that determine national and global priorities, such as defence (87%), financial and fiscal affairs (84%) and foreign affairs (82%).
- Women are most frequently appointed to positions related to gender equality (87%) and family and children affairs (71%).
- The decline in the number of gender equality ministries, in 2020, there were approximately 80 ministries, decreasing to 76 in 2024 and 74 in 2025.
Additional Assessment:
- The decline in representation is happening against a backdrop of global backlash against women’s rights.
- It is compounded by widespread violence targeting women in politics both online and offline.
- This violence, spanning physical spaces and digital platforms alike, deters many women from entering or continuing careers in political leadership, undermining gender equality in representation.