Not that anyone will be surprised, but here is confirmation of your suspicion that women are being shut out at the highest levels. The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is a globe-spanning organization of parliamentary democracies. With 181 members, there are very few places on earth that are not represented. One function it takes very seriously is to monitor the participation of women in national governments and in positions of leadership in large corporations.
Currently, 27.2% of Members of Parliament (MPs) worldwide are women. Despite all the scary headlines about how men are falling behind in educational achievement, they still manage to dominate the higher echelons of both government and business. Less than 19% of MPs are under forty; so governments are not only primarily composed of men, but of old men.
It is tempting to think that these attitudes were formed in an earlier age when progressive ideas were perhaps not so prevalent. Unfortunately, a recent survey indicates that we may be moving backwards on this topic. (See below)
This percentage is as of January 2025. This marks the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. The Declaration was a landmark UN framework which set out the roadmap for gender equality and women’s rights.
And the bias against women isn’t just a matter of numbers. Women are systematically excluded from areas of impact. As IPU points out:
…The allocation of ministerial portfolios highlights a continuing gender bias. Women are still primarily assigned to head policy areas concerning gender equality, human rights and social affairs. Most influential policy areas, such as foreign affairs, financial and fiscal affairs, home affairs and defence remain largely controlled by men.
This exclusion is short-sighted in the extreme, the equivalent of shooting oneself in the foot. To cite one significant example, New Zealand’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was one of the most successful in the world. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, the country took immediate and effective steps to stop the disease from spreading. New Zealand experienced very low COVID mortality rates. Life expectancy actually increased during the pandemic. Here is a link to an article celebrating the success of the strategy, but there is one really interesting point in–or not in–the article. Ardern’s name is not mentioned. The photo of her only identifies the photo credit.
Philanthropy Women has been following the subject of Women in Government for years. In 2021, we ran an article demonstrating that countries electing women to government are happier than those that don’t.
Unfortunately, the bias against women may not be abating. Progressives like to take comfort in the adage that the arc of history is bending towards justice. Progress, however, is not linear.
Philanthropy Women published an article back in July 2023 that discussed the problems men are supposedly having now that they no longer receive preferential treatment by the world at large. Given this, it is perhaps no surprise that a majority of Gen-Z men feel that “many Gen Z men feel they are being asked to do too much to support women, with some believing gender equality efforts have led to discrimination against men.”
As the article points out, the irony is that everyone, men and women, benefits from increased gender equality. This conclusion comes from none other than the Bank of America. BofA has found that increasing the prosperity of women increases overall wealth in society.
These results from Gen-Z men come from around the world. More than a quarter (28%) of respondents said that a man who stays home to look after the kids “is less of a man” than one who goes to work. This is in contrast to boomers; only 12% of them felt that staying home made a man less of a man.
Of course some of this change may be a reflection that more boomers are now retired and no longer face challenges from women on the job, or who may have had the opportunity to experience the pleasures–and pains–of childcare from interacting with grandkids.
Unfortunately, this attitude that men are facing discrimination fits too well with things like the incel movement. This form of misogyny is particularly heinous, given that it is based on the blatant assumption that all men are entitled to have sex with the women of their choice.
One has to wonder if this more hostile attitude among younger men is the cause of, or the result of, the return to power of the current leader of the US government.
To read more about UPI, below is the link to their website:
This provides a graphic depiction of the extend of the problem:
https://www.ipu.org/resources/publications/infographics/2025-03/women-in-politics-2025
To read the press release on this topic, please follow this link:
To read Philanthropy Women’s article on the correlation between women in government and happiness, see below:
For the article on New Zealand’s COVID response, follow the link below:
To read the article on the alleged difficulty boys and men face, use this link:
To read about how men feel they are victims of discrimination:
