In the Guardian's A woman's place series, Lesley Abdela laments the paucity of women in parliament. Eighty years on, the UK parliament rates 69th in the world league of women in parliament, one ignoble place below Cambodia. Women's representation in politics is not linked to whether a country is rich or poor. The US has 16.8%

Reforms to discredited system would place women at risk of sexual assault a group of female MPs has said.

Scottish Parliament Motion entitled Inspiring Women Politicians S3M-03660 Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): That the Parliament notes with concern, following International Women’s Day on Sunday 8 March 2009, the recent report by Girlguiding UK that found that 19% of UK women MPs are failing to inspire young women to become interested in politics; further notes that on average fewer t...

The Rwandan parliament now has women in 55% of its seats. Under the Rwandan constitution, 30% of parliamentary seats must go to women and women elected in these reserved seats are not allowed to represent any party. There are also 3 seats in the 80-seat parliament reserved in other ways - 2 for youth representatives

Previously published at The Wardman Wire: The Rwandan parliament now has women in 55% of its seats. Under the Rwandan constitution, 30% of parliamentary seats must go to women and women elected in these reserved seats are not allowed to represent any party. There are also 3 seats in the 80-seat parliament reserved in other ways

The criminal justice system is ­condemned as an institutionally sexist operation that lets down female victims, fails to help women offenders out of a cycle of crime and prevents professionals reaching the top jobs. A five-year investigation by the Fawcett Society, which campaigns for gender equality, found that discrimination against women pervades the system in England and Wales at all level...

This year Ireland had the highest number of women politicians ever elected to its lower house of parliament, Dáil Éireann. A record, yes, but the numbers behind the headlines told a depressing story.       Women took just 25 (or 15%) of the 166 seats in the Dáil in February's general election – three more than the last election. And while th...

A speaker's conference has been convened in parliament for the first time in 30 years to get more women and ethnic minorities into parliament.

Ann Cryer, the campaigning Labour MP who put women's rights, and especially the issue of forced marriages, at the heart of her career, has announced she will step down from parliament at the next election.

Changes are due to be made to the state pension system, allowing thousands more women to receive the full amount.