Gender equality in national parliaments across the EU and the European Parliament : 2019 results from EIGE’s Gender-sensitive Parliaments tool.
Date: 2019-12-05
Institutions: European Institute for Gender Equality
Subjects: European Parliament, equal treatment, female worker, gender equality, gender mainstreaming, information technology applications, national parliament, policymaking, position of women

Gender mainstreaming

Gender equality in national parliaments 
across the EU and the European Parliament

2019 results from EIGE’s Gender-sensitive Parliaments tool 

Acknowledgements

This  report  is  part  of  the  efforts  of  the  European 
Institute  for  Gender  Equality  (EIGE)  to  foster 
greater  gender  sensitivity  in  parliaments  across 
the  European  Union.  The  report  is  based  on 
EIGE’s  Gender-sensitive  Parliaments  (GSP)  tool 
launched  in  June  2018,  as  part  of  EIGE’s  Gender 
Mainstreaming Platform.

The  authors  of  this  report  are  Tània  Verge 
(Universitat  Pompeu  Fabra),  Nazia  Chowdhury 
(ICF  S.A.)  and  Irina  Ulcica  (ICF  S.A.).  The  following 
national  researchers  contributed  to  the  report: 
Liesbeth Haagdorens (AT, DE, NL), Nicole Fondeville 
(BE, FR, LU), Milena Kadieva (BG), Maria Angeli (CY), 
PhDr Alena Křížková (CZ), Karina Kosiara-Pedersen 
(DK), Helen Biin (EE), Nafsika Moschovakou (EL), Dr 
Irene Riobóo Lestón (ES), Maria Svanström (FI), Dr 
Zorica  Siročić  (HR),  Borbála  Juhász  (HU),  Gurbet 

Ogur  (IE,  UK),  Ruggero  Fornoni  (IT),  Dr  Vilana 
Pilinkaite Sotirovic (LT), Dr.iur. Kristīne Dupate (LV), 
Dr Romina Bartolo (MT), Dr Magdalena Żadkowska 
(PL),  Ana  Lúcia  Teixeira  (PT),  Dr  Ioana  Borza  (RO), 
Maria  Forslund  (SE),  Milica  Antić  Gaber  (SI),  Klara 
Kovarova (SK), Tània Verge (EP), Rebecca Aylott (EP). 
The project was coordinated by Lucy Arora (ICF S.A. 
Project Manager) and Irina Ulcica (ICF S.A. Project 
Coordinator).  Andy  Fuller  (Alphametrics),  Dr  Irene 
Riobóo  Lestón  (Rey  Juan  Carlos  University)  and 
Nathalie  Meurens  (ICF  S.A.)  were  responsible  for 
quality  assurance.  Gráinne  Murphy  (Independent 
Expert) provided editorial services. 

EIGE’s  gender  mainstreaming  team  coordinated 
the  work  on  this  publication  (Barbara  Limanowska, 
Elena  Anchevska,  Sarah  Robinson,  Cecilia  Francisco 
Carcelén, Helena Morais Maceira and Kim Van Aken).

European Institute for Gender Equality

The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) 
is  an  autonomous  body  of  the  European  Union 
established  to  strengthen  gender  equality  across 
the  EU.  Equality  between  women  and  men  is  a 
fundamental  value  of  the  EU  and  EIGE’s  task  is 
to  make  this  a  reality  in  Europe  and  beyond.  This 
includes  becoming  a  European  knowledge  centre 
on  gender  equality  issues,  supporting  gender 
mainstreaming in all EU and member state policies, 
and fighting discrimination based on sex.

European Institute for Gender Equality, EIGE 
Gedimino pr. 16 
LT-01103 Vilnius
LITHUANIA

Tel. +370 52157444 

Email: eige.sec@eige.europa.eu 

 http://www.eige.europa.eu 

 http://twitter.com/eurogender 

 http://www.facebook.com/eige.europa.eu 

 http://www.youtube.com/eurogender 

 http://eurogender.eige.europa.eu

 https://www.linkedin.com/company/eige/

Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2019

Print

ISBN 978-92-9482-364-9

doi:10.2839/11177

MH-04-19-527-EN-C

PDF

ISBN 978-92-9482-363-2

doi:10.2839/192815

MH-04-19-527-EN-N

© European Institute for Gender Equality, 2019 
Cover image: © Chiara Luxardo 
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.

Reuse is authorised provided the source is acknowledged, the original meaning is not distorted and EIGE is not 
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European Institute
for Gender Equality

Gender equality in national 
parliaments across the EU  
and the European Parliament

2019 results from EIGE’s Gender-sensitive Parliaments tool 

Frequently used abbreviations
infrastructure  and 
basic,  economy, 
BEIS 
sociocultural  classification  of  govern-
ment functions

BPfA 

Beijing Platform for Action

CEDAW 

Convention  on  the  Elimination  of  all 
Forms of Discrimination against Wom-
en

EIGE 

European Institute for Gender Equality

EP 

EU 

FEMM 

European Parliament

European Union

European  Parliament  Committee  on 
Women’s Rights and Gender Equality

GMAs 

gender mainstreaming amendments

IPU 

MEPs 

MFF 

MPs 

Inter-Parliamentary Union

Members of the European Parliament

multiannual financial framework

Members of Parliament

 Abbreviations

Abbreviations

Member State abbreviations
BE 

Belgium

BG 

CZ 

DK 

DE 

EE 

IE 

EL 

ES 

FR 

HR 

IT 

CY 

LV 

LT 

LU 

HU 

Bulgaria

Czechia

Denmark

Germany

Estonia

Ireland

Greece

Spain

France

Croatia

Italy

Cyprus

Latvia

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Hungary

MT  Malta

NL 

AT 

PL 

PT 

RO 

SI 

SK 

FI 

SE 

Netherlands

Austria

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovenia

Slovakia

Finland

Sweden

UK 

United Kingdom

2

European Institute for Gender EqualityContents

Executive summary 

Introduction 

1. 

 Area 1: Women and men have equal opportunities to ENTER the parliament 

1.1.  European Parliament 

1.2.  Member State trends 

2. 

 Area 2: Women and men have equal opportunities to INFLUENCE the 
parliament’s working procedures 

2.1.  European Parliament 

2.2.  Member State trends 

3. 

 Area 3: Women’s interests and concerns have adequate SPACE on 
parliamentary agendas 

3.1.  European Parliament 

3.2.  Member State trends 

4. 

 Area 4: The parliament produces gender-sensitive LEGISLATION 

4.1.  European Parliament 

4.2.  Member State trends 

5. 

 Area 5: The parliament complies with its SYMBOLIC function 

5.1.  European Parliament 

5.2.  Member State trends 

Conclusions 

Annexes 

Annex 1. Graphs 

Annex 2. Key terms and concepts 

Annex 3. Methodological note 

Bibliography 

Contents

4

5

6

7

8

11

12

13

15

16

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3

Gender equality in national parliaments across the EU and the European ParliamentExecutive summary

Executive summary

This  report  assesses  gender  sensitivity  of  na-
tional  parliaments  in  the  European  Union  and 
the European Parliament. The report draws on 
EIGE’s Gender-sensitive Parliaments tool, which 
is  part  of  EIGE’s  Gender  Mainstreaming  Plat-
form.  Specifically,  the  assessment  is  based  on 
the  general  version  of  the  tool  (shorter  ques-
tionnaire focused on political functions relying 
mostly  on  publicly  available  data).  Between 
April and June 2019, the assessment was com-
pleted for the national parliaments of all 28 EU 
Member  States,  and  for  the  European  Parlia-
ment.

The  distribution  of  committee  chairs  is  more 
gender  balanced  in  the  European  Parliament 
than  in  national  parliaments.  Yet  the  composi-
tion of committees is affected by strong horizon-
tal segregation of policy areas, with sociocultural 
functions  committees  having  a  greater  number 
of  women  members  of  parliament  (MPs),  while 
economy-related  and  basic  functions  commit-
tees  have  predominantly  men  MPs.  Only  one 
third of national parliaments, as well as the Euro-
pean  Parliament,  have  adopted  mechanisms  to 
prevent and sanction gender discrimination and 
sexual harassment.

This is the first EU-wide assessment which anal-
yses  gender  sensitivity  and  describes  the  state 
of  play  in  all  national  parliaments  in  a  uniform 
way.  The  results  from  the  2019  assessment  can 
serve as a benchmark to help track and analyse 
progress in enhancing gender equality in parlia-
mentary work over time. Parliaments can use the 
Gender-sensitive Parliaments tool to assess how 
gender equal they are, identify the areas where 
further  efforts  should  be  made  and  monitor 
their  progress  towards  achieving  gender  equal-
ity.  This  is  in  line  with  EIGE’s  broader  efforts  to 
provide  parliaments  with  practical  tools  to  fos-
ter  and  strengthen  gender-aware  institutional 
transformation and contribute to more inclusive 
and better-functioning democratic institutions.

Key findings

Area 1: Women and men have equal 
opportunities to ENTER the parliament

Results  show  that  while  women  are  still  numer-
ically  under-represented  in  parliaments  across 
the EU and in the European Parliament, the rise 
of  electoral  gender  quotas  has  contributed  to 
creating an upward trend.

Area 2: Women and men have equal 
opportunities to INFLUENCE the 
parliament’s working procedures

4

Area 3: Women’s interests and concerns 
have adequate SPACE on parliamentary 
agendas

Equality  structures  (parliamentary  committees, 
women’s  caucuses  or  cross-party  networks)  ex-
ist in most national parliaments and in the Euro-
pean  Parliament,  although  gender  is  still  poorly 
mainstreamed into parliamentary work.

Area 4: The parliament produces gender-
sensitive LEGISLATION

A majority of the Member States have a dedicat-
ed  body  to  oversee  gender  equality  in  govern-
ment  action,  and/or  have  adopted  a  gender  ac-
tion  plan  or  national  programme  for  enhancing 
gender equality and/or implementing the Beijing 
Platform for Action (BPfA).

Area 5: The parliament complies with its 
SYMBOLIC function

Policies  to  enhance  the  gender  sensitivity  of 
physical  space  and  childcare  facilities  are  rarely 
seen  in  the  parliaments  of  the  EU.  While  most 
parliaments regularly schedule initiatives dedicat-
ed  to  gender  equality,  there  is  room  to  improve 
the  dissemination  of  information,  for  example 
through a dedicated section of their websites.

European Institute for Gender EqualityIntroduction

This  report  is  part  of  the  wider  efforts  of  the 
European  Institute  for  Gender  Equality  (EIGE) 
to  assess  and  monitor  gender  equality  and 
gender  sensitivity  in  national  parliaments  and 
the European Parliament.

To  foster  greater  gender  sensitivity  in  parlia-
ments  across  the  EU,  EIGE  launched  the  Gen-
der-sensitive  Parliaments  tool  in  June  2018 
(EIGE, n.d.a), as part of its Gender Mainstream-
ing  Platform.  The  tool  monitors  and  assesses 
gender  sensitivity  in  the  organisation  and  the 
working  procedures  of  parliaments  at  various 
levels  (regional,  national,  EU)  by  analysing  the 
presence,  role  and  positions  of  women  and 
men  across  the  organisation.  In  addition,  the 
tool allows an assessment of how parliamenta-
ry  operations,  legislative  decisions  and  actions 
respect  and  promote  gender  equality  as  the 
fundamental  principle  of  the  EU,  enshrined  in 
its treaties.

The  tool  covers  five  areas,  each  dedicated  to 
measuring a specific aspect of gender sensitiv-
ity in parliaments. The tool is available in three 
different  versions:  national  and  regional  for  in-
ternal parliamentary use, and a general (short-
er) version available for all interested users.

Between  April  and  June  2019,  the  general  ver-
sion of the questionnaire (on political functions 
and  largely  based  on  publicly  available  data) 
was  completed  for  the  national  parliaments 
of  all  28  EU  Member  States,  as  well  as  for  the 
European Parliament  (1). For the European Par-
liament, the short version of the questionnaire 
was  completed  based  on  information  for  the 
2014-2019  term.  However,  during  the  data  col-
lection exercise, the 2019 European Parliament 
elections took place, which led to some notable 
changes that are also presented in this report.

Introduction

What is a gender-sensitive parliament?

is 

Gender  sensitivity  is  a  complex,  multifac-
eted  concept  that  goes  beyond  merely 
encouraging  equal  representation  of  the 
genders  in  numerical  terms.  According 
to  the  Inter-Parliamentary  Union  (IPU), 
a  gender-sensitive  parliament 
‘one 
which  responds  to  the  needs  and  inter-
ests of both women and men in its com-
position,  structure,  operations,  methods 
and  work’.  In  essence,  gender-sensitive 
parliaments  promote  full  participation 
of  women,  ‘without  substantive,  struc-
tural  or  cultural  barriers’,  and  serve  as  a 
positive  example  of  women’s  empower-
ment for wider society. Ultimately, a gen-
der-sensitive  parliament  is  a  progressive 
parliament,  reflecting  the  current  needs 
of  society  through  greater  efficiency,  ef-
fectiveness and legitimacy. 

Source:  EIGE  (n.d.a)  ‘Gender-Sensitive  Parliaments 
tool’. 
https://eige.europa.eu/gen-
der-mainstreaming/toolkits/gender-sensitive-parlia-
ments/faq/who-tool

Available 

at: 

This report synthesises and analyses the results 
of  the  assessment  and  provides  insights  into 
the overall levels of gender sensitivity of parlia-
ments across the EU.

This  assessment  is  particularly  timely  in  the  con-
text  of  the  recent  European  Parliament  elections 
(May  2019).  Although  these  elections  were  pos-
itive  in  many  ways  —  for  example,  in  improving 
women’s numerical representation in the Europe-
an  Parliament  (descriptive  representation)  —  they 
attested  to  the  continued  challenges  in  enabling 
women to enter public life, ensuring gender parity 
in  decision-making,  and  adopting  a  gender  per-
spective  in  policymaking  (substantive  representa-
tion).

(1)  See Annex 3 for an overview of the methodological approach. 

5

Gender equality in national parliaments across the EU and the European ParliamentArea 1: Women and men have equal opportunities to ENTER the parliament

1.   Area 1: Women and men have equal 

opportunities to ENTER the parliament

Key messages

European Parliament

  For  the  first  time  the  European  Parliament 
has  achieved  gender  balance  in  its  compo-
sition.  The  share  of  women  MEPs  in  the  Eu-
ropean  Parliament  increased  from  36  %  in 
2014  to  41  %  following  the  2019  elections, 
surpassing  both  the  world  and  EU  average 
for national parliaments.

  The  European  Parliament  does  not  apply  an 
EU-wide  gender  quota  to  the  electoral  sys-
tem, thus it relies on Member State measures 
to achieve gender balance in the Parliament.

  15  of  the  28  Member  States  currently  have 
a  gender-balanced  group  of  MEPs  (follow-
ing  the  2019  election),  while  in  five  Member 
States  women  constitute  less  than  one  third 
of  their  European  Parliament  delegates.  Cy-
prus  is  the  only  Member  State  with  an  all-
men country delegation.

Member State parliaments

  Most  Member  States  do  not  apply  a  sys-
tem-wide  quota  to  their  national  electoral  sys-
tem.  Ten  Member  States  apply  system-wide 
quotas (Belgium, Spain, Ireland, Greece, France, 
Croatia,  Italy,  Poland,  Portugal,  Slovenia),  rang-
ing  from  zipping  (2),  ensuring  50  %  women 
candidates, or having a 40:60 ratio of men and 
women candidates.

  There  were  more  women  candidates  (34  %) 
than elected women MPs (29 %) in the last na-
tional  parliamentary  elections  across  Member 
States. This suggests that women are disadvan-
taged  as  candidates,  with  men  occupying  the 
top  positions  on  party  lists,  as  well  as  ‘safe’  or 
‘winnable’ seats.

Overall scoring of parliaments for this area

Highest 

performers

Belgium  (lower  and  upper  house);  Portugal; 

Spain  (lower  and  upper  house);  Sweden; 

France  (lower  house);  European  Parliament; 

Slovenia (lower house); Poland (lower house), 

Luxembourg.

Lowest 

performers

Romania  (upper  house);  Netherlands  (upper 

house);  Estonia;  Poland 

(upper  house); 

Slovenia  (upper  house);  Czechia  (lower  and 

upper  house);  Lithuania;  Cyprus,  Hungary; 

Malta.

Area 1: Women and men have 
equal opportunities to ENTER 
the parliament
The  composition  of  the  European  Parliament 
and  Member  State  parliaments  has  been  his-
torically dominated by men. This partly reflects 
the  fact  that  political  parties  —  the  ‘gatekeep-
ers’  of  political  representation  —  have  tradi-
tionally  used  gendered  candidate  selection 
processes  (European  Parliament,  2019a).  Such 
processes  often  require  financial  resources, 
flexibility in working hours and party networks, 
all  of  which  are  more  complicated  for  women, 
given  the  unequal  distribution  of  domestic  re-
sponsibilities and the gender pay gap (Fawcett 
Society,  2018).  Recent  decades  have  seen  the 
introduction  of  changes  in  the  formal  proce-
dures  and  rules  in  candidate  recruitment  pro-
cesses (e.g. gender quotas), bringing significant 
increases in women’s numerical representation 
(Inter-Parliamentary  Union,  2019a;  Inter-Parlia-
mentary  Union,  2019b;  Krook  and  Zetterberg, 
2014).

Area  1  assesses  the  ability  of  the  parliament 
to  ensure  equal  opportunities  for  women  and 
men  to  enter  the  institution.  More  specifically, 
it examines whether constitutional laws directly 
refer  to  gender  equality  in  political  representa-

(2)  Zipping applies a strict alternation of women and men candidates throughout the party list (W-M-W-M and so forth, or M-W-M-W).

6

European Institute for Gender EqualityArea 1: Women and men have equal opportunities to ENTER the parliament

tion,  whether  and  how  gender  quotas  are  ap-
plied  and  enforced  across  Member  States’  par-
liaments and the European Parliament, and the 
proportion  of  women  and  men  among  candi-
dates and elected representatives. As shown in 
the  next  two  sections,  the  assessment  results 
show  that  the  European  Parliament  has  seen 
a  positive  improvement  in  its  share  of  women 
members,  placing  it  above  the  world  average. 
At national level, however, the existence and ap-
plication  of  gender  quotas,  as  well  as  women’s 
descriptive  representation  in  parliament,  varies 
substantially between Member States.

1.1.  European Parliament

No EU-wide gender quota has been established 
for European Parliament elections, thus achiev-
ing  gender  balance  in  the  composition  of  the 
assembly  depends  on  measures  introduced  at 
Member  State  level.  Eleven  Member  States  ap-
plied  statutory  gender  quotas  in  the  composi-
tion  of  their  candidate  lists  for  the  2019  Euro-
pean  elections,  compared  to  eight  in  the  2014 
elections.  More  specifically,  for  the  2019  Euro-
pean elections:

  Belgium,  France,  Italy  and  Luxembourg  re-

quired full parity in lists (50/50);

  Spain,  Croatia  and  Slovenia  applied  a  gen-
der-balanced  proportion  (40:60  for  either 
sex);

  Greece  and  Portugal  required  33  %  candi-
dates  of  each  gender,  while  Poland  required 
35 %;

  Romania banned all-men lists (European Par-

liament, 2019a).

All  but  two  (Luxembourg  and  Romania)  of 
these  11  Member  States  also  apply  legislat-
ed  gender  quotas  to  their  national  electoral 
system.  In  Romania,  while  the  electoral  law 
mentions that candidate lists for parliamenta-

ry elections (including the European elections) 
must  include  both  women  and  men,  there  is 
no specified quota. Political parties must reg-
ulate the composition of lists through their in-
ternal rules and voluntary quotas. As for Lux-
embourg,  a  new  law  was  adopted  in  2016  to 
ensure political parties meet a minimum 40 % 
quota  for  women  in  their  candidate  lists  for 
national  elections,  and  a  50  %  quota  for  Eu-
ropean elections. The law was not implement-
ed  in  time  for  the  last  national  parliamentary 
elections (2018) but was implemented and im-
posed for the first time in the 2019 European 
elections. Furthermore, whilst Ireland has leg-
islated  quotas  for  national  elections,  it  does 
not apply this for the European elections (Eu-
ropean Parliament, 2019b).

The share of women MEPs has increased from 
36  %  in  2014  to  41  %  in  2019,  with  women 
holding  308  of  751  seats  for  the  2019-2024 
period:  an  increase  of  38  seats  from  the 
2014-2019  term.  During  the  previous  Euro-
pean  election  in  2014,  41  %  of  the  electoral 
candidates  were  women,  a  higher  share  than 
that  ultimately  elected  (3).  Following  the  2019 
elections, the representation of women in the 
European Parliament is higher than the world 
average  for  national  parliaments  (24.5  %  in 
2019)  (Inter-Parliamentary  Union,  2019c)  and 
the EU average for national parliaments (29 % 
in  2019)  (EIGE,  2019a;  European  Parliament, 
2019a). If placed in the IPU’s world ranking of 
the  percentage  of  women  parliamentarians, 
the  European  Parliament,  as  of  June  2019, 
would  occupy  position  17.  Yet  men  still  com-
prise a larger proportion of MEPs than women 
(59 % in 2019).

For the 2019-2024 parliamentary term, 15 of the 
28 Member States have obtained a gender-bal-
anced group of MEPs (Sweden, Finland, France, 
Luxembourg,  Netherlands,  Austria,  Latvia,  Mal-
ta,  Slovenia,  United  Kingdom,  Spain,  Denmark, 
Ireland, Portugal, Italy). Figure 1.1 below shows 
the  share  of  women  MEPs  for  each  of  the  28 
Member States.

(3)  Information was not yet available on the share of women among MEP candidates in the 2019 elections at the time of writing.

7

Gender equality in national parliaments across the EU and the European ParliamentArea 1: Women and men have equal opportunities to ENTER the parliament

Figure 1.  Share of women and men MEPs following the 2019 European Parliament elections (EU-28, %)

45 46

50 50 50 50 50 50 50 53 53 54 55 57 59 59 62 62 64 64 65 67 67 71 73 76 78

85

100

55 54 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 47 47 46 45 43 41 41 38 38 36 36 35 33 33

29 27 24 22

15

SE

FI

FR LU NL AT

LV MT

SI UK ES DK

IE

PT EU-28 IT BE HU DE HR PL CZ EE BG LT

EL RO SK CY

Source: European Parliament (2019). ‘2019 European elections results: MEPs’ gender balance by country’.  
Available at: https://election-results.eu/mep-gender-balance/2019-2024/

Women

Men

In  five  Member  States,  women  constitute  less 
than  one  third  of  the  group  of  MEPs  (Bulgaria, 
Lithuania,  Romania,  Slovakia,  Cyprus).  Cyprus  is 
the  only  country  with  an  all-men  country  dele-
gation.

1.2. Member State trends

Men  are  over-represented  in  candidate  lists,  as 
political  parties  tend  to  recruit  and  encourage 
more  men  than  women  to  stand  in  elections 
(European  Parliament,  2019c),  thereby  limiting 
the  chances  of  achieving  gender-balanced  rep-
resentation in institutions. The average propor-
tion  of  women  candidates  in  the  last  national 
parliamentary  elections  across  Member  States 
was  only  34  %.  The  average  proportion  across 
the EU was even lower for elected women MPs 
in  national  parliaments  (29  %).  The  proportion 
of women MPs in lower houses varied consider-
ably  between  national  parliaments,  from  close 
to  gender  parity  in  Finland  and  Sweden  (47  % 
and  46  %,  respectively),  to  only  15  %  in  Malta 
and 13 % in Hungary.

Most Member States do not apply a system-wide 
quota  to  their  national  electoral  system.  Parlia-
ments are therefore under no obligation to en-
sure  balanced  representation  of  women  and 
men in elections. Only 10 Member States apply 
such  quotas  to  their  national  electoral  system 
(Belgium,  Ireland,  Greece,  Spain,  France,  Cro-
atia,  Italy,  Poland,  Portugal,  Slovenia).  These 
are  applied  in  various  ways,  including  zipping, 
ensuring  50  %  women  candidates,  or  having 
a  40:60  ratio  of  men  and  women  candidates. 
Failure to comply with the quota provisions en-
tails  sanctions,  such  as  invalidation  of  electoral 
lists  (Belgium,  Greece,  Spain,  Poland,  Slovenia), 
fines (Croatia) or cuts in electoral campaign sub-
sidies (Ireland, France, Portugal).

Only  four  Member  States  have  at  least  40  % 
women  among  their  MPs  in  the  national  par-
liament  (Finland,  Sweden,  France,  Spain),  while 
in  19  Member  States,  women  do  not  even  ac-
count  for  one  in  three  (33  %)  of  those  holding 
parliamentary  seats  (see  Figure  1.3).  The  fact 
that, on average, there tend to be more women 
candidates  (4)  (34  %)  than  elected  women  MPs 

(4)  Data are not available on the numbers of women candidates in the last parliamentary election in Italy and Austria.

8

European Institute for Gender EqualityArea 1: Women and men have equal opportunities to ENTER the parliament

Figure 2.  Proportion of women candidates in the last national parliamentary election () and 
proportion of women members of parliament (), (EU-28, %)

Hungary

Malta

Cyprus

Greece

Croatia

Slovakia

Lithuania

Romania

Ireland

Czech Republic

Luxembourg

Bulgaria

Estonia

Slovenia

Poland

Latvia

Germany

United Kingdom

Netherlands

Italy

European
Parliament

Portugal

Austria

Belgium

Denmark

France

Spain

Sweden

Finland

8

13

11

15

22

18

18

21

21

21

22

22

24

25

26

35

33

40

27

29

30

29

30

27

28

28

29

30

29

29

32

31

32

32

31

46

47

42

35

36

36

37

37

41

42

42

41

43

37

37

40

39

49

47

46

47

NB: Data not available on the number of women candidates in the last parliamentary election in Italy and Austria. Data relate to the 
single/lower houses of parliament only.

Source:  2019  data  collection  for  this  study  for  the  proportion  of  women  candidates  and  EIGE’s  Gender  Statistics  Database  (Women 
and men in decision-making) — National parliaments: presidents and members for the proportion of women members of parliament.

9

Gender equality in national parliaments across the EU and the European ParliamentArea 1: Women and men have equal opportunities to ENTER the parliament

(29 %) (see Figure 1.2) may indicate that men are 
over-represented  in  the  top  positions  of  party 
lists,  as  well  as  in  ‘safe’  or  ‘winnable’  seats.  Fin-
land,  Sweden,  Spain  and  France  have  the  larg-
est proportions of women MPs in their national 
parliaments  (5).  The  reasons  for  their  success 
are not straightforward. In Finland, 47 % of MPs 
are  women,  despite  there  being  no  legislated 
gender  quotas  applied  to  the  electoral  system. 
There  is  also  no  mention  of  gender  equality  in 
political  representation  within  Finland’s  consti-
tutional law (Spain, France and Sweden do make 
such  direct  references  in  their  constitutional 
laws).  Legislated  gender  quotas  are  applied  in 
the electoral systems of Spain and France, while 

some  major  political  parties  in  Finland  (Nation-
al  Institute  for  Health  and  Welfare,  2018)  and 
Sweden  (International  Institute  for  Democracy 
and  Electoral  Assistance,  2019)  apply  voluntary 
quotas.

A slight contrast is evident in the upper houses 
of  bicameral  (two-chamber)  parliaments  in  the 
EU,  where,  on  average,  women  represent  27  % 
of  the  candidates  (6)  but  make  up  29  %  of  MPs 
(see Figure 8 and Figure 9 in Annex 1 for coun-
try  breakdowns)  (7).  Notably,  only  four  Mem-
ber  States’  upper  houses  have  a  system  where 
members  are  directly  elected  (Czechia,  Spain, 
Poland, Romania).

Figure 3.  Women members of national parliaments in 2019 (EU-28, %)

47 46

41 40 37 37 37 37 36

32 32 31 30 29 28 28 26 25 24 22 22 21 21 21 18 18

15 13

FI

SE ES FR DK BE AT PT

IT NL UK DE LV PL

SI

EE BG LU CZ

IE RO LT SK HR EL CY MT HU

Constitutional law / equivalent legal framework directly refers to gender equality in political representation 

Gender quotas applied to electoral system

NB: Data relate to the single/lower houses of parliament only.

Source: 2019 data collection for this study.

(5)  As of February 2019, only these four Member States are among the top 20 parliaments of the world with the highest proportion of 

women MPs (out of 193 countries) (IPU, 2019c).

(6)  Data  are  not  available  on  the  numbers  of  women  candidates  in  the  last  parliamentary  election  in  Belgium,  Germany,  Ireland, 

France, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovenia and the United Kingdom. 

(7)  13 EU Member States have bicameral parliaments: Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Spain, Ireland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Aus-

tria, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and the United Kingdom. 

10

European Institute for Gender EqualityArea 2: Women and men have equal opportunities to INFLUENCE the parliament’s working procedures

2.   Area 2: Women and men have equal 
opportunities to INFLUENCE the 
parliament’s working procedures

Key messages

Member State parliaments

European Parliament

  Vertical  segregation  in  the  European  Par-
liament  has  diminished  over  time.  Eight  of 
the  current  14  vice-presidents  (57  %)  have 
been women since the 2019 European elec-
tion.  The  share  of  women  chairing  the  22 
committees  and  sub-committees  of  the 
European Parliament has remained gender 
balanced across the two terms.

  Horizontal  segregation  persists  in  the  par-
ticipation  of  women  and  men  in  parlia-
mentary  committees.  Following  the  2019 
European  elections,  the  chairs  of  all  four 
sociocultural functions committees (100 %) 
are  women,  and  women  chair  three  of  the 
six  basic  functions  committees.  However, 
women head only two of the six infrastruc-
ture  functions  committees  and  two  of  the 
six economy-related committees.

  Since  February  2019,  the  European  Parlia-
ment’s Rules of Procedure have referred to 
a  standard  of  conduct  requiring  members 
to refrain from any type of psychological or 
sexual  harassment.  Similarly,  the  MeTooEP 
group  (created  by  European  Parliament 
staff)  called  on  all  candidates  for  the  Eu-
ropean  elections  to  actively  protect  work-
ers  and  fight  for  the  creation  of  reporting 
structures  for  sexual  harassment  and  sex-
ism.

  Vertical and horizontal segregation in nation-
al  parliamentary  committees  in  the  EU  con-
tinues  to  hinder  gender  equality.  In  March 
2019, 82 % of national parliaments in the EU 
had a man president and only 28 % of com-
mittees were led by women parliamentarians. 
Similarly, women parliamentarians are signif-
icantly under-represented in economy (22 %) 
and basic functions (21 %) committees, while 
sociocultural  functions  and 
infrastructure 
functions  committees  are  closer  to  gender 
balance (39 % and 38 %, respectively).

  Members  of  Parliament  can  face  discrimina-
tion  in  the  workplace  based  on  their  gender. 
Only  nine  Member  States  (Denmark,  Ireland, 
Greece,  Croatia,  Latvia,  Malta,  Finland,  Swe-
den,  United  Kingdom)  have  publicly  available 
information on the existence of mechanisms to 
prevent  gender-based  discrimination  for  MPs. 
Even  where  these  mechanisms  exist,  the  lack 
of public information about the policies makes 
it  less  likely  that  individuals  will  be  aware  of 
them and benefit from their protection.

  Sexual  harassment  can  be  a  problem  in  all 
workplaces  and  —  in  a  parliamentary  con-
text  —  may  affect  both  MPs  and  a  range  of 
employees,  such  as  parliamentary  advisers, 
clerks, facilities staff and others. Despite this, 
only a handful of Member States have public-
ly  available  information  to  suggest  that  they 
have  policies  against  sexual  harassment  in 
the national parliament.

11

Gender equality in national parliaments across the EU and the European ParliamentArea 2: Women and men have equal opportunities to INFLUENCE the parliament’s working procedures

Overall scoring of parliaments for this area

2.1.  European Parliament

Highest 

performers

European 

Parliament; 

Sweden;  United 

Kingdom  (lower  and  upper  house);  Croatia; 

Finland;  Greece;  Ireland  (lower  and  upper 

house); France (lower house).

Lowest 

performers

Czechia  (lower  and  upper  house);  Lithuania; 

Poland  (upper  house);  Slovenia  (lower  and 

upper  house);  Slovakia;  Estonia;  Italy  (lower 

and upper house); Cyprus.

Area 2: Women and men have 
equal opportunities to INFLUENCE 
the parliament’s working 
procedures

The  procedures  and  organisational  aspects  of 
gender-sensitive  parliaments  should  guarantee 
that, once elected, women and men parliamen-
tarians  have  an  equal  opportunity  to  influence 
parliamentary work. However, the distribution of 
political responsibilities is still gendered: leading 
roles are predominantly occupied by men (verti-
cal segregation) and some policy areas present 
skewed distributions of women and men parlia-
mentarians  (horizontal  segregation).  Having  an 
equal  opportunity  to  influence  parliamentary 
work  also  implies  that  women  and  men  have 
equal  access  to  a  safe  working  environment. 
However,  gender-based  discrimination,  sexism 
and sexual harassment can be a  problem in all 
workplaces and may affect both MPs and parlia-
mentary employees.

Area 2 focuses on women and men’s equal par-
ticipation  in  parliamentary  decision-making,  as 
well as mechanisms to protect employees from 
discrimination  and  harassment  in  parliament. 
Results show that only three of 10 European po-
litical parties are led by women, while, at nation-
al  level,  83  %  (on  average)  of  the  parties  have 
a  male  leader  (see  Figure  10  in  Annex  1).  Few 
measures  have  been  taken  to  address  sexual 
harassment in parliaments, despite widespread 
acknowledgement of the issue.

With  the  exception  of  the  position  of  the  pres-
ident,  which  has  not  been  held  by  a  woman 
since  January  2002,  the  number  of  women  in 
high-level posts in the European Parliament has 
trended upwards (European Parliament, 2019d). 
In  the  current  parliamentary  term  (2019-2024), 
eight  of  the  14  vice-presidents  (57  %)  are 
women,  which  represents  an  increase  from 
the five vice-presidents (35.7 %) in the previous 
term  (2014-2019).  The  proportion  of  women 
chairing the 22 committee and sub-committees 
of  the  European  Parliament  has  remained  gen-
der balanced across the two terms — 11 of the 
22  committee  and  sub-committee  chairs  were 
women  (50  %)  in  the  previous  term,  while  12 
committees  are  chaired  by  women  in  the  cur-
rent term (8).

Quaestors  (who  oversee  administrative  and  fi-
nancial  matters  directly  affecting  MEPs)  also 
show  similar  proportion  in  the  2014  and  2019 
terms:  two  women  and  three  men.  It  is  worth 
remembering  that,  in  the  resolution  of  15  Jan-
uary  2019  on  gender  mainstreaming  in  the 
European  Parliament  (2018/2162(INI)),  political 
parties were called upon to ensure that women 
and men were each put forward for the bodies 
governing the institution in the new parliamen-
tary term.

largely 
Although  vertical  segregation  has 
been overcome for parliamentary committees, 
horizontal  segregation  persists.  In  the  previ-
ous  parliamentary  term  (2014-2019),  women 
chaired  three  out  of  the  four  sociocultural 
functions  committees  (75  %)  —  this  increased 
to four out of four in the current term (100 %). 
The  share  of  women  chairing  basic  functions 
committees  also  increased,  from  two  out  of 
six committees in the previous term (33 %), to 
three out of six committees in the current term 
(50 %). However, the share of the six infrastruc-
ture  functions  committees  chaired  by  women 
fell from half in the previous term, to two com-
mittees  in  the  current  term  (33  %).  There  has 

(8)  https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/society/20190226STO28804/women-in-the-european-parliament-infograph-

ics

12

European Institute for Gender EqualityArea 2: Women and men have equal opportunities to INFLUENCE the parliament’s working procedures

also been a fall in the share of women chairing 
economy-related  committees,  from  three  out 
of  six  committees  (50  %)  in  the  previous  term, 
to two out of six (33 %) in the current term (9).

In  the  last  couple  of  years,  and  in  the  context 
of  the  rise  of  the  Me  Too  movement,  the  Eu-
ropean Parliament has introduced some meas-
ures  to  create  a  safer  working  environment 
for  women  and  men,  and  to  prompt  Member 
States  to  follow  suit.  Whilst  this  is  encourag-
ing, initial results show that further efforts are 
needed.  The  European  Parliament  resolution 
(2017/2897(RSP))  of  26  October  2017  on  com-
bating sexual harassment and abuse in the EU 
called  on  Member  States  to  examine  sexual 
harassment and abuse in their national parlia-
ments,  take  active  measures  to  combat  it  and 
implement  and  adequately  enforce  a  policy  of 
respect  and  dignity  at  work  for  elected  mem-
bers  and  staff.  Following  this,  in  September 
2018, the European Parliament published a res-
olution  (2018/2055(INI))  focusing  on  measures 
to  prevent  and  combat  mobbing  and  sexual 
harassment  in  the  workplaces,  public  spaces 
and political life of the EU. It called on all politi-
cal parties to introduce a zero-tolerance policy, 
together with sanctions for perpetrators.

Since  February  2019,  the  European  Parlia-
ment’s  Rules  of  Procedure  have  included  as 
a  standard  of  conduct  that  members  should 
refrain  from  any  type  of  psychological  or  sex-
ual harassment. The revised code of appropri-
ate behaviour for MEPs establishes that, where 
necessary, Members must cooperate promptly 
and  fully  with  the  procedures  to  manage  situ-
ations of conflict or harassment (psychological 
or  sexual).  Members  should  take  part  in  spe-
cialised training on preventing conflict and har-
assment  in  the  workplace  and  on  good  office 
management  (European  Parliament,  2019e). 
However, a pilot voluntary training programme 
in November 2018 attracted only 19 MEPs, re-
flecting  the  need  to  promote  uptake  of  such 
training.

Similarly,  the  MeTooEP  group,  created  by  staff  of 
the  European  Parliament,  called  on  all  European 
election  candidates  to  actively  protect  workers 
and fight for the creation of reporting structures 
for sexual harassment and sexism. The group has 
published  30  anonymous  testimonies  of  sexual 
harassment  in  the  European  Parliament  (Euro-
pean  Commission,  2019).  However,  a  2018  study 
found  no  sanctions  imposed  against  MEPs  for 
sexual  harassment  in  the  European  Parliament 
(Council of Europe, 2018).

2.2. Member State trends

In March 2019, 23 of the 28 national parliaments 
in  the  EU  had  a  man  president.  The  five  parlia-
ments  with  a  woman  president  were  Bulgaria, 
Denmark, Spain, Latvia and the Netherlands (EIGE, 
2019). Men also dominate committee chairs, with 
women  parliamentarians  leading  only  31  %  of 
committees. Horizontal segregation is also found 
in  Member  State  parliaments:  the  proportion 
of  women  MPs  chairing  committees  with  socio-
cultural  and  infrastructure  functions  is  closer  to 
gender  balanced  (42  %  and  36  %,  respectively) 
but  women  parliamentarians  are  significantly 
under-represented  in  chairing  economy-related 
(24 %) and basic functions (28 %) committees.

The  proportion  of  women  MPs  chairing  commit-
tees of similar functions in the upper house of bi-
cameral  parliaments  is  much  lower,  at  21  %  (see 
Figure  11  in  Annex  1).  The  proportion  of  women 
MPs  chairing  committees  with  sociocultural  or 
infrastructure  functions  (29  %  for  both)  is  only 
slightly  higher  than  the  proportion  of  women 
chairing economy-related committees (22 %). Sig-
nificantly,  only  11  %  of  basic  functions  commit-
tees are chaired by women.

A  2018  study  indicated  the  presence  of  psycho-
logical  and  sexual  harassment  in  European  na-
tional  parliaments.  Women  across  Europe  who 
are  members  of  parliament  and  parliamentary 
staff  were  consulted;  results  showed  that  such 

(9)  Following  the  BEIS  (basic,  economy,  infrastructure  and  sociocultural)  classification  of  government  functions  used  by  EIGE  in  its 
Women and Men in Decision-Making Database, committees can be clustered into four categories: sociocultural functions (health, 
education, social affairs, employment, family, culture, sports); basic functions (foreign and internal affairs, defence, justice); infra-
structure (transport, communications, environment); and economy (finance, trade, industry, agriculture). 

13

Gender equality in national parliaments across the EU and the European ParliamentArea 2: Women and men have equal opportunities to INFLUENCE the parliament’s working procedures

harassment  is  widely  experienced  by  women 
MPs  and  staff  and  that  the  level  of  reporting  is 
rather  low  (Council  of  Europe,  2018).  Only  nine 
national  parliaments  (Denmark,  Ireland,  Greece, 
Croatia,  Latvia,  Malta,  Finland,  Sweden,  United 
Kingdom)  have  publicly  available  information  on 
mechanisms  to  prevent  discrimination  based  on 
gender, such as codes of conduct or anti-harass-
ment  policies,  but  these  do  not  always  include 
sanctions  for  non-compliance.  In  most  national 
parliaments  of  the  EU,  therefore,  MPs  and  em-
ployees  may  be  inadequately  protected  against 
such conduct.

Even  where  these  mechanisms  exist,  the  lack  of 
public information makes it less likely that individ-
uals will be aware of them and benefit from their 
protection.  There  is  little  information  on  the  lev-
el  of  implementation  of  such  protection,  or  staff 
perceptions of their usefulness.

Figure  4.  Parliamentary  committees  chaired 
by  women,  EU  average  and  European 
Parliament (%)

75

50

44

33

33

42

36

31

28

24

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Sociocultural

Infrastructure All committees Basic functions

Economy

EU-28

European Parliament

Ireland  does  not  have  data 

NB: 
for  sociocultural  and 
infrastructure  functions  committees.  Data  relate  to  the  single/
lower houses of parliament only.

Source: 2019 data collection for this study.

14

European Institute for Gender EqualityArea 3: Women’s interests and concerns have adequate SPACE on parliamentary agendas

3.   Area 3: Women’s interests and concerns 
have adequate SPACE on parliamentary 
agendas

Key messages

Overall scoring of parliaments for this area

European Parliament

  A  number  of  dedicated  bodies  within  the 
European  Parliament,  namely  the  Commit-
tee  on  Women’s  Rights  and  Gender  Equality 
(FEMM) and the High-Level Group on Gender 
Equality  and  Diversity,  aim  to  promote  and 
protect  women’s  rights,  as  well  as  to  imple-
ment gender mainstreaming in the European 
Parliament’s activities, structures and bodies.

  Although  the  multiannual  financial  frame-
work  for  2014-2020  explicitly  mentions  the 
EU’s commitment to achieving gender equal-
ity and ensuring gender mainstreaming in all 
budgetary  procedures,  gender  budgeting  is 
not  yet  systematically  applied  or  implement-
ed by any of the EU institutions.

Member State parliaments

  Most Member States (71 %) have a dedicated 
gender  equality  body  in  their  parliamentary 
structure.  Only  in  12,  however,  is  it  a  parlia-
mentary  committee  with  full  legislative  ca-
pacity  (Greece,  France,  Croatia,  Cyprus,  Lux-
embourg,  Austria,  Romania,  Spain,  Sweden, 
United  Kingdom)  or  a  subcommittee  (Ire-
land, Portugal). In the remainder, the gender 
equality  body  adopts  the  form  of  an  adviso-
ry  committee  (Belgium),  women’s  caucus  or 
cross-party  network  (Bulgaria,  Germany,  Es-
tonia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Finland).

  Gender  is  not  consistently  mainstreamed 
into  parliamentary  work.  Where  parliaments 
have  a  strategic  plan,  gender  equality  is  not 
frequently mentioned.

Highest 

performers

Finland;  Sweden;  European  Parliament; 

Austria  (lower  and  upper  house);  Poland 

(lower and upper house); Portugal; Romania 

(lower  house);  United  Kingdom 

(lower 

house).

Lowest 

performers

Bulgaria;  Czechia  (lower  and  upper  house); 

Denmark;  Spain  (lower  and  upper  house); 

Italy  (lower  house);  Latvia;  Malta;  Slovenia 

(upper house); Slovakia.

Area 3: Women’s interests and 
concerns have adequate SPACE 
on parliamentary agendas
Gender mainstreaming structures, such as gen-
der  equality  bodies  or  cross-party  networks, 
are  crucial  for  gender-sensitive  parliaments,  as 
they  facilitate  and  increase  the  level  of  atten-
tion  paid  to  the  promotion  of  gender  equality 
in the regular work of parliament. The existence 
of such structures also sends a strong message 
that  gender  equality  is  politically  and  socially 
relevant.

Area 3 of the questionnaire identifies the gen-
der  mainstreaming  structures  in  place  to  en-
sure that women’s interests and concerns are 
adequately  reflected  in  parliamentary  agen-
das,  such  as  dedicated  gender  equality  bod-
ies  and  gender  budgeting.  The  results  show 
that  despite  the  existence  of  some  gender 
mainstreaming  structures  within  the  Europe-
an  Parliament,  their  competences  are  limit-
ed.  Similarly,  while  most  national  parliaments 
have  a  dedicated  gender  equality  body,  only 
some  of  these  have  full  legislative  capacity. 
Even fewer Member States have implemented 
some  form  of  gender  budgeting  in  their  na-
tional budgets.

15

Gender equality in national parliaments across the EU and the European ParliamentArea 3: Women’s interests and concerns have adequate SPACE on parliamentary agendas

3.1.  European Parliament

Within the European Parliament (as established 
by  its  Rules  of  Procedure),  the  FEMM  Commit-
tee  is  responsible  for  promoting,  monitoring 
and  protecting  women’s  rights  in  the  EU  and 
in non-member countries. FEMM ensures equal 
opportunities,  tackling  of  gender-based  vio-
lence  and  discrimination,  and  implementation 
of  gender  mainstreaming,  including  interna-
tional agreements and conventions. In addition, 
the  High-Level  Group  on  Gender  Equality  and 
Diversity  (a  horizontal  body  that  cooperates 
closely  with  FEMM  and  other  bodies  within  the 
institution) is responsible for promotion and im-
plementation  of  gender  mainstreaming  in  the 
European Parliament’s activities, structures and 
bodies.  The  European  Parliament  also  contains 
a  gender  mainstreaming  network,  chaired  and 
coordinated by FEMM, which seeks to bring to-
gether  MEPs  and  staff  to  incorporate  a  gender 
perspective  into  the  daily  work  of  committees 
and  delegations  (European  Parliament,  2019f). 
However, compared to similar bodies at national 
level,  FEMM  lacks  legislative  power,  as  Member 
States  hold  significant  authority  over  gender 
equality  concerns  (Ahrens,  2016).  Additionally, 
the  voluntary  nature  of  membership  of  FEMM 
(unlike  most  committees  of  the  European  Par-
liament  which  are  compulsory  (10))  arguably  in-
dicates  its  limited  power  and  status  within  the 
Parliament (Ahrens, 2016).

The  MFF  for  2014-2020  —  which  essentially 
serves  as  the  European  Parliament’s  strategic 
plan  —  explicitly  mentions  gender  equality. 
More  specifically,  the  MFF  mentions  EU  institu-
tions’ commitment to achieving gender equality 
and ensuring gender mainstreaming in all budg-

etary procedures (European Parliament, 2019g). 
Despite this strong commitment and the resolu-
tion of 15 January 2019 on gender mainstream-
ing in the European Parliament (2018/2162(INI)), 
gender  budgeting  is  not  systematically  applied 
by any of the institutions, nor are there any spe-
cific  mechanisms  for  its  effective  implementa-
tion (European Parliament, 2019g).

3.2. Member State trends

Most  Member  States  (71  %)  have  a  dedicated 
gender  equality  body  in  their  parliamentary 
structures  but  in  only  12  cases  is  this  a  parlia-
mentary committee with full legislative capacity 
(Greece,  France,  Croatia,  Cyprus,  Luxembourg, 
Austria,  Romania,  Spain,  Sweden,  United  King-
dom) or a sub-committee (Ireland, Portugal). In 
the  remainder,  the  gender  equality  body  takes 
the  form  of  an  advisory  committee  (Belgium), 
women’s  caucus  or  cross-party  network  (Bul-
garia,  Germany,  Estonia,  Lithuania,  Poland,  Slo-
venia,  Finland).  Regardless  of  the  type  of  gen-
der  equality  structure  in  place,  gender  does 
not  appear  to  be  effectively  mainstreamed  in 
parliamentary  work.  Where  parliaments  have 
a  strategic  plan,  gender  equality  is  mentioned 
only  infrequently,  with  few  internal  bodies  with 
responsibility for gender budgeting.

Of those Member States with a bicameral par-
liament, 62 % of upper houses have a dedicat-
ed  gender  equality  body  —  a  slightly  smaller 
proportion than single/lower houses of parlia-
ment. The prevalence of other gender equality 
structures  in  upper  houses  is  broadly  similar 
to  single/lower  houses  (see  Figure  12  in  An-
nex 1).

(10)  The Budgetary Control and FEMM committees are the only committees of the European Parliament where voluntary membership 

is allowed.

16

European Institute for Gender EqualityArea 3: Women’s interests and concerns have adequate SPACE on parliamentary agendas

Figure 5.  Gender equality structures in Member States’ national parliaments

Internal body in charge of gender budgeting

18%

Parliament implementation of gender budgeting
in relation to national budget

18%

82%

82%

Mention of gender equality in parliament’s
strategic plan

Dedicated gender equality body
in parliamentary structures

21%

46%

32%

71%

29%

NB: Data relate to the single/lower houses of parliament only. N/A indicates parliaments without a strategic plan.

Source: 2019 data collection for this study.

Yes

No

N/A

17

Gender equality in national parliaments across the EU and the European ParliamentArea 4: The parliament produces gender-sensitive LEGISLATION

4.   Area 4: The parliament produces 
gender-sensitive LEGISLATION

Key messages

Overall scoring of countries for this area

European Parliament

  The  gender  mainstreaming  amendments 
(GMAs)  introduced  by  the  European  Parlia-
ment  empower  FEMM  to  include  a  gender 
perspective  in  the  reports  of  other  parlia-
mentary committees.

  The  European  Parliament  is  taking  steps  to 
ratify  the  Istanbul  Convention  in  order  to 
strengthen the legal framework for address-
ing gender-based violence in all its forms.

Member State parliaments

  Most  Member  States  (with  the  exception  of 
Latvia,  Hungary  and  Slovakia)  have  adopted 
specific laws or legislative quotas to enhance 
gender  equality.  22  Member  States  have 
a dedicated gender equality body to oversee 
implementation  of  gender  action  plans  and 
national  programmes  for  enhancing  gender 
equality  and  implementing  the  Beijing  Plat-
form for Action (BPfA).

  Most  national  action  plans  on  gender  focus 
on work–life balance (100 %), women in deci-
sion-making positions (100 %), gender-based 
(90  %),  gender  mainstreaming 
violence 
(90 %), women and the economy (80 %), gen-
der and education, research, technology and 
education (80 %) and, to a lesser extent, gen-
der and media (50 %).

Highest 

performers

Finland;  Sweden;  Ireland  (lower  and  upper 

house);  Slovenia  (lower  and  upper  house); 

France (lower and upper house); Spain (lower 

and upper house); Romania (lower and upper 

house).

Lowest 

performers

Slovakia;  Italy 

(lower  and  upper  house); 

Estonia;  Malta;  Denmark;  United  Kingdom 

(lower and upper house); Hungary; Lithuania; 

Latvia.

Area 4: The parliament produces 
gender-sensitive LEGISLATION

Gender-sensitive  parliaments 
should  pro-
duce  legislation  that  considers  and  integrates 
women’s  and  men’s  concerns  into  the  politi-
cal  process  and  across  all  policy  sectors.  Leg-
islation,  policies  and  action  plans  that  seek  to 
further gender equality in all domains of public 
intervention remain a necessity.

Area  4  of  the  questionnaire  identifies  the  ex-
istence  of  such  legislation,  policies  and  action 
plans, and the policy areas they most common-
ly  address,  as  well  as  the  relevant  international 
documents  in  the  field  of  gender  equality  that 
have been most commonly ratified by both the 
EU  and  Member  States.  It  also  looks  at  the  ex-
istence of a dedicated body and budget to over-
see gender equality in government actions. The 
results show that the majority of Member States 
have a dedicated body to oversee gender equal-
ity  in  government  action,  and/or  have  adopted 
a gender action plan or national programme for 

18

European Institute for Gender Equalityenhancing  gender  equality  and/or  implement-
ing the BPfA. This is promising for ensuring that 
gender  equality  receives  sufficient  government 
focus. Nevertheless, further efforts are needed 
from some Member States to ensure ratification 
of international conventions.

4.1.  European Parliament

For legislative work, in addition to the adoption 
of  gender  mainstreaming  action  plans  by  most 
committees,  the  introduction  of  the  so-called 
gender  mainstreaming  amendments  (GMAs) 
enables  FEMM  to  include  a  gender  perspec-
tive  in  the  reports  of  other  committees.  The 
FEMM  report  on  EU  funds  for  gender  equality 
highlights  the  need  for  gender  mainstreaming 
within budget allocations (FEMM, 2017). Howev-
er, despite the intended gender mainstreaming, 
no  budget  is  dedicated  to  oversight  of  gender 
equality at EU level.

The  EU  has  adopted  several  legislative  actions 
to  advance  gender  equality  objectives  in  gen-
der  mainstreaming,  gender-based  violence, 
work–life  balance,  women  and  the  economy, 
as  well  as  gender  and  media.  The  European 
Justice 
Commission’s  Directorate-General  for 
and  Consumers  houses  the  Gender  Equality 
Unit,  dedicated  to  gender  equality  and  gender 
mainstreaming  activities  in  the  European  Com-
mission.  The  unit  works  on  the  areas  of  equal 
economic independence, gender pay gap, deci-
sion-making and gender-based violence, among 
others  (European  Commission,  n.d.).  This  body 
was  the  driving  force  behind  the  European 
Commission’s ‘Strategic engagement for gender 
equality’ (2016-2019), which outlines key priority 
areas  to  promote  gender  equality,  and  empha-
sises  the  need  to  integrate  a  gender  equality 
perspective  across  all  EU  policies  and  funding 
(European  Commission,  2015).  However,  this  is 

Area 4: The parliament produces gender-sensitive LEGISLATION

an  internal  working  document  and  does  not 
have  the  formal  status  of  an  official  strategy. 
The  European  Parliament  has  similarly  adopted 
a range of legislation and policies to achieve the 
objectives of the wider international framework 
for  gender  equality,  the  BPfA  (EIGE,  2015).  The 
EU  is  also  currently  taking  steps  to  ratify  the 
Council  of  Europe  Convention  on  preventing 
and combating violence against women and do-
mestic violence (the Istanbul Convention), which 
(if  achieved)  would  significantly  strengthen  the 
legal  framework  for  tackling  gender-based  vio-
lence.

4.2. Member State trends

All  Member  States  except  Latvia,  Hungary  and 
Slovakia  have  adopted  specific  laws  or  have 
legislative  quotas  in  force  to  enhance  gender 
equality  (11).  Twenty-two  Member  States  (78  %) 
have a dedicated body to oversee gender equal-
ity  in  government  action,  while  all  but  seven 
(75  %)  have  also  adopted  a  gender  action  plan 
or  a  national  programme  for  enhancing  gen-
der equality and/or for implementing the BPfA. 
These  action  plans  tend  to  take  a  comprehen-
sive  approach  to  women’s  rights  and  explicitly 
include work–life balance (100 % of the national 
gender  action  plans),  women  in  decision-mak-
ing  positions  (100  %),  gender-based  violence 
(90  %),  gender  mainstreaming  (90  %),  women 
and the economy (80 %), gender and education, 
research, technology and education (80 %) and, 
to a lesser extent, gender and media (50 %).

All Member States have ratified the Convention 
on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination 
against  Women  (CEDAW)  and  signed  the  BPfA. 
In  contrast,  the  Istanbul  Convention  has  also 
been  signed  by  all  Member  States  but  seven 
have  yet  to  ratify  it  (Bulgaria,  Czechia,  Latvia, 
Lithuania, Hungary, Slovakia, United Kingdom).

(11)  This assessment examined whether there are laws/quotas at national level that make explicit reference to these topics. However, 
it is worth remembering that all Member States are bound by EU treaties and directives on gender equality and non-discrimina-
tion. Some general legislation at national level (e.g. criminalising rape) may be directly relevant to these topics, even if it does not 
specifically mention gendered dimensions. 

19

Gender equality in national parliaments across the EU and the European ParliamentArea 4: The parliament produces gender-sensitive LEGISLATION

Figure  6.  Policy  areas  addressed  by  national  gender  actions  plans/national  programmes 
promoted by national parliaments

Gender and media

50%

45%

Gender and education, research, technology and innovation

80%

18%

Women in decision-making

100%

Women and the economy

80%

18%

Work-life balance

100%

Gender-based violence

Gender mainstreaming

90%

90%

9%

9%

Yes

No

NB:  Data  reported  for  Bulgaria,  Czechia,  Germany,  Ireland,  Greece,  France,  Slovenia,  Slovakia,  Finland  and  Sweden  —  only  these 
Member States’ parliaments have officially promoted a gender action plan/national programme for enhancing gender equality in the 
current legislature.

Source: 2019 data collection for this study.

20

European Institute for Gender EqualityArea 5: The parliament complies with its SYMBOLIC function

5.   Area 5: The parliament complies with 

its SYMBOLIC function

Key messages

European Parliament

  The  European  Parliament  offers  adequate 
childcare  facilities  on  its  premises  for  staff 
and  visitors,  and  enhances  the  gender  sen-
sitivity  of  the  physical  spaces  of  the  Parlia-
ment.  However,  further  efforts  are  required 
to  emphasise  women’s  contribution  to  poli-
tics  and  democracy  in  the  Parliament  build-
ings,  given  that,  for  example,  most  spaces 
are still named after men.

  The  European  Parliament  shares  important 
information  on  gender  equality  policies  and 
initiatives via its official website. It also publi-
cises  events  organised  by  FEMM  through  its 
official social media channels.

Member State parliaments

  Less  than  half  of  the  Member  States  (Den-
mark,  Germany,  Estonia,  Ireland,  Greece, 
Spain,  Italy,  Lithuania,  Netherlands,  Austria, 
Portugal,  Sweden,  United  Kingdom)  have 
dedicated  childcare  facilities  in  their  low-
er-house premises of the parliament, includ-
ing  those  countries  that  have  gender  parity 
among their MPs (France).

  Of  the  Member  States  with  a  bicameral  par-
liament,  most  organised  planned  initiatives 
dedicated  to  gender  equality  in  the  last  cal-
endar  year,  on  the  premises  of  their  lower 
(Bulgaria,  Czechia,  Estonia,  Ireland,  Greece, 
Spain,  France,  Italy,  Lithuania,  Luxembourg, 
Hungary,  Malta,  Austria,  Netherlands,  Portu-
gal,  Romania,  Finland,  Sweden,  United  King-
dom)  and  upper  (Belgium,  Ireland,  Spain,  It-
aly,  Netherlands,  Austria,  Romania,  Romania, 
United Kingdom) houses.

  Information  continues  to  be  absent  on  gen-
der  equality  policies  and  initiatives  on  the 
majority  of  national  parliament  websites  (of 
both  lower  and  upper  houses).  More  posi-
tively, over half of the lower houses of nation-
al parliaments disseminate parliamentary ini-
tiatives related to gender equality (Denmark, 
Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Lith-
uania,  Malta,  Austria,  Netherlands,  Portugal, 
Romania, Finland, Sweden, United Kingdom), 
with  less  effort  in  this  area  from  the  official 
communication channels of upper houses.

Overall scoring of parliaments for this area

Highest 

performers

Lowest 

performers

Ireland  (lower  and  upper  house);  Sweden; 

European  Parliament;  Italy  (lower  house); 

Lithuania;  Austria  (lower  and  upper  house); 

Finland;  United  Kingdom  (lower  and  upper 

house).

Belgium 

(lower  house);  Cyprus;  Czechia 

(upper  house);  Croatia;  Latvia;  France  (upper 

house);  Croatia;  Latvia;  Poland  (lower  and 

upper  house);  Slovenia  (lower  and  upper 

house); Slovakia.

Area 5: The parliament complies 
with its SYMBOLIC function

As places of employment and sources of gender 
equality  legislation  and  policy,  parliaments  play 
a  key  role  in  enhancing  gender  sensitivity,  not 
only  within  their  walls  but  among  citizens  and 
civil  society.  The  presence  of  childcare  facilities 
on  parliament  premises,  together  with  other 
gender  equality  initiatives,  is  key  to  removing 
underlying  barriers  for  the  equal  participation 
of  women  and  men  in  democratic  and  political 
processes.  More  broadly,  disseminating  impor-
tant information to the public on gender equali-
ty legislation, events and initiatives informs their 
knowledge and encourages active participation 

21

Gender equality in national parliaments across the EU and the European ParliamentArea 5: The parliament complies with its SYMBOLIC function

in  eradicating  gender  inequality  in  the  work-
place and in society generally.

Area  5  of  the  questionnaire  measures  the  ex-
tent  to  which  the  EU  and  national  parliaments 
comply with this symbolic function. It emphasis-
es  that  a  gender-sensitive  parliament  is  aware 
of,  and  pays  attention  to,  the  symbolic  mean-
ings  conveyed  within  and  by  the  institution. 
More  specifically,  this  area  focuses  on  the  ex-
tent  to  which  parliaments  provide  gender-sen-
sitive physical spaces in the Parliament building 
and publicly disseminate information on gender 
equality.  Results  show  that  the  European  Par-
liament  has  taken  some  steps  to  improve  the 
gender sensitivity of its premises, initiatives and 
communication.  Similar  national-level  efforts 
vary  between  Member  States’  national  parlia-
ments.

5.1.  European Parliament

The  European  Parliament  has  taken  positive 
steps  to  foster  gender  sensitivity  within  its 
physical  space  and  through  its  official  commu-
nication  channels.  Firstly,  Parliament  buildings 
house childcare for all staff and visitors. Further 
efforts  to  enhance  gender  sensitivity  within  its 
premises  include  recognising  the  contributions 
made by Simone Veil (the first woman President 
of  the  European  Parliament  (European  Parlia-
ment,  2011))  by  naming  the  visitor  centre  after 
her. The main parliament building in Strasbourg 
is  named  after  the  renowned  feminist,  author 
and  politician,  Louise  Weiss  (European  Parlia-
ment,  n.d.).  However,  the  majority  of  the  physi-
cal spaces are still named after male figures.

The  European  Parliament  holds  events  (organ-
ised  by  a  dedicated  committee)  and  dissemi-
nates important information on gender equality 
via  its  official  channels.  FEMM  regularly  holds 
events  dedicated  to  gender  equality  issues, 
such as gender-equal work practices, equal pay 
and  gender  budgeting.  These  events,  togeth-
er  with  documents  addressing  gender  equality 
published  by  FEMM,  are  included  in  a  dedicat-
ed section of the European Parliament website. 
Important  updates  on  FEMM  activities,  gender 

22

equality  legislation  addressed  by  the  European 
Parliament  and  key  gender  equality  events  are 
also  publicised  on  the  Parliament’s  various  so-
cial  media  channels.  Many  of  these  events  are 
broadcast live to reach a wider audience and of-
ten involve individual experts or civil society or-
ganisations active in the field of gender equality.

5.2. Member State trends

Data  suggest  inconsistency  in  the  Member 
States’  commitment  to  enhancing  gender  sen-
sitivity  in  the  symbolic  function  of  both  their 
lower  and  upper  houses  of  parliaments.  With 
regard  to  the  premises  themselves,  over  half 
of  the  lower  houses  of  national  parliaments  do 
not have gender-sensitive physical spaces (such 
as crèches), nor do they adequately display the 
historical  and  current  contributions  of  women 
in politics.

Gaps  in  care  services  are  a  major  obstacle 
to  women’s  engagement  in  paid  work  (EIGE, 
2019b).  Less  than  half  of  the  Member  States 
have  dedicated  childcare  facilities  in  their  low-
er-house premises. Lithuania, for example, pro-
vides  government-approved  childcare  rooms  in 
the  lower-house  chamber.  On  the  other  hand, 
despite  reaching  gender  parity  among  parlia-
ment  members,  some  Member  States,  such  as 
France,  lack  appropriate  on-site  childcare  facili-
ties. The lack of on-site childcare facilities in the 
lower houses may make parliaments less attrac-
tive workspaces for women (as the predominant 
carers) and tacitly reinforce the ‘male-dominated 
political  culture’  (European  Parliament,  2019a). 
Inadequate  childcare  facilities  coupled  with  un-
equal  family  responsibilities  may  increase  the 
barriers to women’s entry and full participation 
in politics.

Only  five  Member  States  (Ireland,  Italy,  Lithua-
nia,  Finland,  Sweden)  have  dedicated  policies 
or  practices  to  enhance  the  gender  sensitivity 
of  physical  spaces.  Sweden’s  Kvinnorummet,  for 
example,  is  a  room  dedicated  to  women  in  the 
Swedish  parliament  building.  It  displays  por-
traits  of  female  historical  figures,  including  the 
first women elected to parliament.

European Institute for Gender EqualityOn a positive note, the past year has seen Mem-
ber  States  plan  gender  equality  initiatives  in 
their  lower-house  chambers.  For  example,  the 
National Assembly in Bulgaria held a public dis-
cussion in 2018 on the bill ratifying the Council 
of  Europe  Convention  on  the  Prevention  and 
Combating of Violence against Women and Do-
mestic Violence. In addition, national events on 
the topic of gender equality are regularly organ-
ised  in  Romania  by  the  Parliamentary  Commit-
tee,  alongside  annual  events  for  International 
Women’s  Day  (Romania  Chamber  of  Deputies, 
2016).

Member  States  are  also  notably  inconsistent 
in  their  systematic  communication  of  gender 
equality issues to the general public, with many 
failing  to  adequately  publicise  information  on 
gender  equality  policies,  initiatives  and  events 
through  official  parliament  communication 
channels,  such  as  their  website  or  social  media 
platforms.

While only 10 Member States (Denmark, Ireland, 
Greece,  Italy,  Luxembourg,  Austria,  Romania, 
Finland,  Sweden,  United  Kingdom)  have  a  pub-
licly  available  gender  equality  section  on  the 
websites  of  their  lower  houses,  over  half  sys-
tematically  disseminate  gender  equality  infor-
mation  to  the  general  public.  For  example,  the 
Danish  parliament  website  contains  a  ‘Women 
in politics’ section, providing information on the 
current and historical involvement of women in 
government and in politics (The Folketing, n.d.). 
Similarly,  the  UK  Parliament  website  (2019)  has 
a  dedicated  section  on  women’s  political  rights 

Area 5: The parliament complies with its SYMBOLIC function

and  representation,  including  the  history  of 
women’s suffrage and tips for girls and women 
on  getting  involved  in  politics.  The  House  of 
Representatives in Greece (2019) issues regular 
press releases informing citizens and civil socie-
ty of developments in gender equality.

The  data  indicate  a  lack  of  commitment  to  im-
proving  symbolic  gestures  and  initiatives  ded-
icated  to  gender  equality  in  the  upper  houses 
of  bicameral  parliaments.  Of  the  13  Member 
States with bicameral parliaments (12), only 35 % 
of  the  upper  houses  have  gender-sensitive 
spaces,  initiatives  dedicated  to  gender  equality 
issues  and/or  systematic  provision  of  informa-
tion  on  gender  equality  (13).  Fewer  than  40  % 
of the upper houses have childcare facilities on 
their premises (14).

Official  policies  or  practices  to  enhance  the 
gender sensitivity of upper-house premises are 
absent in most of the Member States with a bi-
cameral  parliament.  Only  Ireland  has  dedicat-
ed  policies  in  place  to  foster  gender  sensitivity 
within  its  upper  chamber  premises  (Houses  of 
the  Oireachtas  Commission,  2019).  On  a  posi-
tive note, the last year saw over 60 % of upper 
chambers  in  national  parliaments  hold  events 
or organise initiatives on their premises to high-
light gender equality issues. However, only 31 % 
of the 13 bicameral parliaments in the EU have 
a section dedicated to gender equality on their 
upper-house website. Similarly, fewer than 40 % 
of the upper houses formally communicate par-
liamentary  initiatives  on  gender  equality  to  the 
public and civil society.

(12)  Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and the United King-

dom) (see Figure 13 in Annex 1).

(13)  This includes upper houses with one or more of the following: childcare facilities on their premises (information not available for 
Belgium  and  Italy);  official  policies  or  efforts  to  enhance  the  gender  sensitivity  of  physical  spaces  (information  not  available  for 
Belgium, France and Italy); initiatives dedicated to gender equality issues/women’s rights in the last calendar year on parliament 
premises (information not available for France); section on parliament website for citizens that addresses gender equality; system-
atic dissemination of information on parliament gender equality initiatives to the public and civil society (information not available 
for Belgium, France and Italy).

(14)  This information is not available for Belgium and Italy. 

23

Gender equality in national parliaments across the EU and the European ParliamentArea 5: The parliament complies with its SYMBOLIC function

Figure 7.  Percentage of national parliaments with gender-sensitive spaces and initiatives

Systematic dissemination of information about the
parliament’s gender equality initiatives to the public and civil society

54%

46%

Section on parliament's website for citizens that addresses
gender equality

36%

64%

Initiatives dedicated to gender equality issues/women’s rights
in the last calendar year on parliament premises

68%

32%

Official policies or efforts to enhance gender sensitivity
of physical spaces

18%

82%

Existence of childcare facilities

46%

54%

NB: Data refer to the single/lower houses of parliament.

Source: 2019 data collection for this study. 

Yes

No

24

European Institute for Gender EqualityConclusions

Women  continue  to  be  numerically  under-rep-
resented  in  parliaments  across  the  EU.  Howev-
er, an upward trend is evident, chiefly due to the 
rise of electoral gender quotas in an increasing 
number  of  countries  —  11  Member  States  ap-
plied gender quotas for the 2019 European Par-
liament elections and 10 did so for their recent 
national  elections.  For  the  first  time,  the  Euro-
pean Parliament has a gender-balanced compo-
sition  (defined  as  at  least  40  %  of  seats  for  ei-
ther sex) for the 2019-2024 parliamentary term. 
More  specifically,  women  obtained  36  %  of  the 
seats in the 2014 elections and 41 % of the seats 
in the 2019 elections. However, the gender dis-
tribution  of  Member  States’  groups  of  MEPs 
remains  uneven.  For  the  2019-2024  European 
Parliament term, seven countries have returned 
a full parity delegation (50 % women and 50 % 
men) or even a slightly more feminised delega-
tion  (Finland,  Sweden)  but  four  Member  States 
still have less than one third women MEPs (Bul-
garia,  Lithuania,  Romania,  Slovakia),  while  Cy-
prus  did  not  elect  any  women  to  the  European 
Parliament.  At  national  level,  men  continue  to 
be  substantially  over-represented,  with  women 
constituting 29 % of elected MPs. In the last na-
tional  parliamentary  elections,  only  four  Mem-
ber States reached at least 40 % women mem-
bers (Spain, France, Finland, Sweden,).

The  European  Parliament  has  made  greater 
strides  than  national  parliaments  in  ensuring 
that women and men have equal opportunities 
to  influence  the  parliaments’  working  proce-
dures. In the current parliamentary term (2019-
2024), gender balance prevails in the distribution 
of vice-presidencies (57 % women) and commit-
tee chairs (50 %) at European level, compared to 
72 % of committees chaired by men at national 
level.  However,  in  both  parliamentary  settings, 
strong horizontal segregation of policy areas is 
noted in the composition of committees. Econo-
my-related  and  basic  functions  committees  are 
predominantly  composed  of  male  members, 
while infrastructures committees are more gen-
der  balanced  and  sociocultural  functions  com-
mittees  have  the  greatest  numbers  of  women. 

Conclusions

Balancing influence in parliaments also requires 
the  establishment  of  adequate  mechanisms  to 
prevent and punish gender discrimination, sex-
ism  and  sexual  harassment,  yet  only  nine  na-
tional parliaments and the European Parliament 
have  public  information  that  suggests  they 
have  adopted  such  measures.  Among  these, 
there  is  little  evidence  of  their  implementation 
or  of  MPs’  and  staff  perceptions  of  their  effi-
cacy.  Moreover,  even  if  these  mechanisms  do 
exist  in  the  remaining  19  national  parliaments, 
the lack of public information about the policies 
makes it less likely that individuals will be aware 
of  them  and  benefit  from  their  protection.  Na-
tional  parliaments  therefore  have  some  way  to 
go in ensuring both the provision and effective 
implementation  of  anti-harassment  measures 
to protect their MPs and staff.

In examining the space given to women’s inter-
ests  on  parliamentary  agendas,  equality  struc-
tures  appear  well-established  in  most  Member 
States’ lower houses (71 %), as well as in the Eu-
ropean  Parliament,  in  the  form  of  a  parliamen-
tary committee, women’s caucus or cross-party 
network. More specifically, gender mainstream-
ing  seems  poorly  implemented  in  Member 
States’  parliamentary  work,  despite  the  pres-
ence of official equality structures. For instance, 
very  few  Member  States’  parliaments  mention 
gender  equality  in  their  strategic  plan  (21  %) 
or  implement  gender  budgeting  (18  %).  As  for 
the  production  of  gender-sensitive  legislation, 
78.6  %  of  Member  States  have  a  dedicated 
body responsible for overseeing gender equali-
ty in government action and 75 % have adopted 
a gender action plan or national programme for 
implementing the BPfA (which has been signed 
by  all  EU  countries).  By  contrast,  ratification  of 
the Istanbul Convention is still pending in seven 
Member States.

Finally, in respect of symbolic function, very few 
parliaments  —  including  the  European  Parlia-
ment  —  have  official  policies  to  enhance  the 
gender  sensitivity  of  physical  spaces  and  fewer 
than half provide on-site childcare facilities. This 

25

Gender equality in national parliaments across the EU and the European ParliamentConclusions

may  point  to  an  important  gap  in  the  support 
available  for  parliamentarians  and  staff  with 
young  children  to  help  them  balance  work  and 
caring  responsibilities.  Moreover,  whilst  initia-
tives  dedicated  to  gender  equality  issues  and 
women’s rights are regularly scheduled by most 
national  parliaments  (68  %),  only  about  half  of 
the  lower  houses  (54  %)  systematically  dissem-
inate  information  on  gender  equality  and  just 
over  one-third  (36  %)  have  website  sections 
dedicated to gender equality. It is important for 
parliaments  to  recognise  the  symbolic  mean-
ings  which  their  actions  convey  and  therefore 
make  greater  systematic  efforts  to  communi-
cate about gender equality issues and initiatives 
to the wider public.

Overall, measurement of Member States’ and the 
European  Parliament’s  performance  using  the 
Gender-Sensitive  Parliaments  tool  found  Sweden 
to have the most gender-sensitive parliament. The 
European  Parliament  (2014-2019  term)  is  among 

the  highest-ranking  parliaments,  demonstrating 
some of the positive steps it has taken to become 
more  gender  sensitive  and  thus  lead  the  way  for 
Member States.

The  trends  described  here  suggest  that  parlia-
ments  have  significant  room  for  improvement  in 
achieving descriptive and substantive representa-
tion of both women and men, as well as ensuring 
gender sensitivity in their symbolic function. Whilst 
some  parliaments  have  already  demonstrated 
gender sensitivity across certain areas, it is impor-
tant for them to show progress across all five are-
as of this tool in order to be considered as gender 
sensitive. This assessment should provide an initial 
indication  of  where  further  progress  needs  to  be 
made,  and  can  serve  as  a  benchmark  for  parlia-
ments to monitor progress. It is important for col-
lection of data on these areas to continue in order 
to track parliaments’ progress and to enable their 
effective transformation to become gender-sensi-
tive institutions.

26

European Institute for Gender EqualityAnnexes

Annex 1. Graphs

Area 1
Figure 8. Women and men candidates in the last parliamentary election (EU-28, %)

BE

ES

SI

LU

SE

FR

PT

PL

EP
EP

HR

FI
NL

EL

SK

LV

DK

BG

IE

UK

LT

DE

CZ

RO

EE

CY

MT

HU

51

53

53

54

57

58

58

58

59
60

61

65

65
67

68

69

70
70

71

71

71

71

73

73

78

89

92

Women Men

49

47

47

46

43

42

42

42

41
40

39

35

35
33

32

31

30
30

29

29

29

29

27

27

22

11

8

NB: Data are not available for Italy and Austria. Data apply to the single/lower houses of parliament only. For the European 
Parliament, data apply to the 2014 elections.

Source: 2019 data collection for this study.

Annexes

27

Gender equality in national parliaments across the EU and the European ParliamentAnnexes

Figure 9.  Women members of EU bicameral parliaments (upper house, %)

45

39

38

36

36

36

34

32

30

26

15

14

14

10

BE

AT

DE

ES

NL

EP

IT

FR

IE

UK

CZ

PL

RO

SI

NB: Data refer to upper houses of bicameral parliaments in the EU (Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, 
Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, United Kingdom).

Source: 2019 data collection for this study.

Area 2
Figure 10.  Political parties led by women (2019, EU-28, %)

0 %

25 %

50 %

Source: 2019 data collection for this study.

28

European Institute for Gender EqualityFigure 11.  Upper house parliamentary committees chaired by women (%)

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

75

50

29

29

33

22

44

21

Infrastructure

Sociocultural

EU-28

Economy
European Parliament

All committees

Annexes

33

11

Basic functions

NB:  Belgium  and  Ireland  do  not  have  data  for  infrastructure  and  economy  functions  committees.  Czechia  and  Slovenia  do  not  have 
data for infrastructure functions committees. Data relate to the upper house of bicameral parliaments only.

Source: 2019 data collection for this study.

Area 3
Figure 12.  Gender equality structures in upper houses of bicameral parliaments in the EU

Internal body in charge of gender budgeting

15%

Parliament implementation of gender budgeting
in relation to national budget

15%

69%

69%

15%

15%

Mention of gender equality
in parliament's strategic plan

Dedicated gender equality body 
in parliamentary structures

23%

31%

31%

15%

62%

38%

NB: Data refer to upper houses of bicameral parliaments in the EU (Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands, 
Austria, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, United Kingdom).

Yes

No

N/A

No response

N/A denotes those parliaments that do not have a strategic plan.

29

Gender equality in national parliaments across the EU and the European ParliamentAnnexes

Source: 2019 data collection for this study.

Area 5
Figure  13.  Percentage  of  bicameral  parliaments’  upper  houses  that  have  gender-sensitive 
spaces and initiatives

Systematic dissemination of information about the parliament's 
gender equality initiatives to the public and civil society

38%

46%

15%

Section on parliament's website for citizens that addresses 
gender equality

31%

69%

Initiatives dedicated to gender equality issues/women's rights 
in the last calendar year on parliament premises

62%

31%

8%

Official policies or efforts to enhance gender sensitivity 
of physical spaces

8%

69%

23%

Existence of childcare facilities

38%

46%

15%

NB: Data refer to upper houses of bicameral parliaments in the EU (Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, 
Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, United Kingdom).

Yes

No

No response

Source: 2019 data collection for this study.

30

European Institute for Gender EqualityAnnex 2.  Key terms and concepts

Code  of  conduct.  This  refers  to  the  principles, 
values,  standards  or  rules  of  behaviour  that 
guide the decisions, procedures and systems of 
an organisation in a way that contributes to the 
welfare of its members and respects the rights 
of all constituents affected by its operations.

Descriptive  representation.  Since  women  and 
men each make up roughly half of society, equal 
representation  in  descriptive  terms  is  achieved 
when women and men each hold generally the 
same number of positions in a decision-making 
body.

Gender-balanced  participation.  Representa-
tion  of  either  women  or  men  in  any  deci-
sion-making body in public and political life not 
falling below 40 % as a parity threshold.

Gender  budgeting.  A  gender-based  assess-
ment  of  budgets,  incorporating  a  gender  per-
spective  at  all  levels  of  the  budgetary  process 
and  restructuring  revenues  and  expenditures 
so as to promote gender equality.

Gender parity. Equal representation of women 
and men in numbers (i.e. 50/50).

Gender  quotas.  Generally,  a  gender  quo-
ta  is  an  instrument  aimed  at  accelerating  the 
achievement  of  gender-balanced  participation 
and  representation  by  establishing  a  defined 
proportion  (percentage)  or  number  of  places 
or  seats  to  be  filled  by  or  allocated  to  women 
and/or  men,  generally  according  to  certain 
rules  or  criteria.  Such  quotas  can  be  legisla-
tive  or  voluntary.  Legislative  candidate  quotas 
regulate  the  gender  composition  of  electoral 
candidate  lists  and  are  binding  by  law  for  all 
political  parties  in  the  election;  they  are  man-
dated  either  through  national  constitutions  or 
by electoral legislation. Sanctions for non-con-
formity, such as financial penalty or rejection of 
candidate lists, can be put in place to deter po-
litical parties from violating a legislated gender 
quota.  Voluntary  party  quotas  are  adopted  by 
individual  parties  for  their  own  candidate  lists 
and are usually enshrined in party statutes and 
rules.

Annexes

Horizontal 
segregation.  Concentration  of 
women  and  men  in  different  sectors  and  occu-
pations.

Major  political  parties.  Major  political  parties 
are those with at least 5 % of seats in the nation-
al parliament (either the upper or lower house in 
bicameral  systems).  A  list  of  the  major  political 
parties  in  each  Member  State  is  available  here: 
https://eige.europa.eu/sites/default/files/wmid_
mapping_polpart.pdf

National  gender  equality  bodies.  Equality  bod-
ies  are  independent  organisations  that  work  to 
promote  equality  and  combat  discrimination  in 
relation to one, some or all of the grounds of dis-
crimination  covered  by  EU  law,  i.e.  gender,  race 
and  ethnicity,  age,  sexual  orientation,  religion  or 
belief  and  disability.  EU  equal  treatment  legisla-
tion requires Member States to set up an equality 
body. Most EU Member States have implemented 
the gender equal treatment directives.

Oversight function. The parliamentary oversight 
function  is  a  means  of  holding  the  executive  ac-
countable for its actions and ensuring that it im-
plements policies in accordance with the laws and 
budget passed by the parliament. Next to legisla-
tive function, it is through oversight that a parlia-
ment  can  ensure  a  balance  of  power  and  assert 
its role as the defender of people’s interests.

representation.  Genuine 

Substantive 
rep-
resentation  of  women’s  and  men’s  interests, 
beyond  representation  in  numbers.  This  is  not 
necessarily guaranteed if descriptive representa-
tion has been achieved, although descriptive rep-
resentation would help to achieve this.

Symbolic  representation.  Gender  sensitivity  of 
the  social  meanings,  perceptions,  messages  and 
physical spaces conveyed by parliaments.

Vertical  segregation.  Concentration  of  women 
and men in different grades, levels of responsibil-
ity or positions.

Women’s  caucus.  Women’s  caucuses  or 
working/reference  groups  are  mecha-

31

Gender equality in national parliaments across the EU and the European ParliamentAnnexes

nisms  created  within  national  parliaments 
to  strengthen  cooperation  among  women 
life.  Such  caucuses 
engaged 

in  political 

can  bring  women  parliamentarians  togeth-
er  across  party  lines  in  effective  alliances 
around a common goal.

Sources:

EIGE (n.d.a.). Gender-sensitive Parliaments tool. Available at: https://eige.europa.eu/gender-mainstreaming/toolkits/gender-sensitive-
parliaments/faq/who-tool

EIGE (n.d.b). Gender-sensitive parliaments — Glossary of terms. Available at: https://eige.europa.eu/gender-mainstreaming/toolkits/
gender-sensitive-parliaments/glossary-terms

EIGE (n.d.c). Glossary and thesaurus. Available at: https://eige.europa.eu/thesaurus/overview

32

European Institute for Gender EqualityAnnex 3.  Methodological note

In  an  effort  to  foster  greater  gender  sensitivi-
ty in parliaments across the EU, EIGE launched 
the Gender-sensitive Parliament (GSP) tool in 
June 2018, as part of its Gender Mainstreaming 
Platform. The tool monitors and assesses gen-
der sensitivity in the organisation and working 
procedures  of  parliaments  at  various  levels 
by  analysing  the  presence,  role  and  positions 
of  women  and  men  across  the  organisation. 
It  also  provides  an  assessment  of  how  parlia-
mentary  practices,  legislative  decisions  and 
actions  respect  and  promote  gender  equality 
(EIGE, n.d.a).

Between April and June 2019, ICF, on behalf of 
EIGE,  collected  data  on  the  gender  sensitivity 
of Member States’ national parliaments, as well 
as  the  European  Parliament.  The  purpose  of 
this  data  collection  was  to  assess  gender-sen-
sitive practices and gender equality within po-
litical  decision-making  at  parliamentary  level. 
National  researchers  for  each  of  the  28  Mem-
ber  States  and  the  European  Parliament  col-
lected  data  to  populate  the  general  version 
of  EIGE’s  gender-sensitive  parliaments  ques-
tionnaire,  which  focuses  on  political  functions. 
This  data  collection  comprised  desk  research 
and  consultation  with  national  contacts  where 
information  was  not  publicly  available.  In  sev-
eral  cases,  information  could  not  be  obtained 
from  national  contacts  and  these  data  gaps 
are mentioned where applicable.

For the EU-28, data were collected at national 
level only (not regional or local level). For Mem-
ber States with bicameral parliaments, national 
researchers collected data for both the upper 
and single/lower house. Only the data for the 
single/lower  house  will  be  uploaded  online  on 
the Gender-sensitive Parliaments toolkit. While 
this  report  primarily  presents  the  situation  for 
the  single/lower  houses  of  parliaments,  some 
of the key findings for the upper houses of bi-

Annexes

cameral parliaments are presented, where rel-
evant.

The questionnaire in the toolkit is composed of 
five  areas,  each  dedicated  to  measuring  a  spe-
cific aspect of gender sensitivity in parliaments:

  Area  1  —  Women  and  men  have  equal  op-

portunities to enter parliament.

  Area  2  —  Women  and  men  have  equal  op-
influence  the  parliament’s 

portunities  to 
working procedures.

  Area  3  —  Women’s  interests  and  concerns 
have adequate space on parliamentary agen-
das.

  Area  4  —  The  parliament  produces  gen-

der-sensitive legislation.

  Area  5  —  The  parliament  complies  with  its 

symbolic function.

For  some  Member  States,  as  well  as  the  Euro-
pean  Parliament  itself,  elections  took  place 
during  the  data  collection  period.  In  order 
to  ensure  a  common  benchmark,  data  are  cor-
rect  as  of  April  2019,  unless  otherwise  stated. 
Therefore, some data may not reflect the latest 
situation in all cases. The report does, however, 
briefly acknowledge the results of the 2019 Eu-
ropean  Parliament  election.  EIGE  will  continue 
to monitor the gender sensitivity of parliaments, 
and this round of data collection will serve as an 
important source of comparison for future data 
collection.

EIGE  is  testing  a  scoring  system  to  rank  Mem-
ber  States  on  their  performance  in  each  area 
of the Gender-sensitive Parliaments toolkit, and 
these  results  are  presented  at  the  end  of  each 
section of the report.

33

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35

Gender equality in national parliaments across the EU and the European ParliamentGETTING IN TOUCH WITH THE EU

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– by email via: https://europa.eu/european-union/contact_en

FINDING INFORMATION ABOUT THE EU

ONLINE
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website at: https://europa.eu/european-union/index_en

EU PUBLICATIONS
You can download or order free and priced EU publications from: https://publications.europa.eu/en/
publications. Multiple copies of free publications may be obtained by contacting Europe Direct or your 
local information centre (see https://europa.eu/european-union/contact_en).

EU LAW AND RELATED DOCUMENTS
For access to legal information from the EU, including all EU law since 1952 in all the official language 
versions, go to EUR-Lex at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu

OPEN DATA FROM THE EU
The EU Open Data Portal (http://data.europa.eu/euodp/en) provides access to datasets from the EU. 
Data can be downloaded and reused for free, for both commercial and non-commercial purposes.

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