Equality in Parliaments? Parliamentary seats occupied by women in Europe

Spain, Sweden and France led in 2018 the number of seats occupied by women in their national parliaments. Spain, with 52.4%, is the EU-28 state where more women have been elected to hold a seat in Parliament or a high executive responsibility in the Government

Taking into account the electoral cycle that has been opened in Spain and in the European Parliament, we analyze how many seats are occupied by women in the 28 Parliaments of the United Europe. Spain is the state with the highest percentage of women as elected officials in the Cortes Generales and in the Government with 52.4%, followed closely by Sweden (52.2%) and France (48.6%). The average presence of women in the Parliaments of the 28 Member States is 30.2%, while the member of the European Union with the most problems of equality between elected officials is Hungary, where only 7.1% of the seats are occupied by women.

The progression of equality in the Spanish Parliament has been very noticeable in the last four years, doubling the elected women and going from 26.3% in 2015 to 52.4% in 2018. It is the most important progression in all Europe, where Sweden and France have held a scenario of parity in their legislative legislations from previous legislatures.