United Nations: India is placed at 111th position out of 189 countries in a list prepared by an international organisation that ranks nations on the number of women representatives in parliament.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), an international organisation of parliaments, said in its annual analysis that more women than ever before are being elected to parliaments around the world, with gender parity likely achievable in less than a generation if the current trend continues.
The IPU, which works closely with the United Nations, ranks countries on the number of women members in parliament.
India ranked 111th with 62 women parliamentarians sitting in the Lok Sabha, a small 11.4 per cent of the total 545 MPs.
The Rajya Sabha of 245 MPs has 28 women parliamentarians, a 11.4 per cent of the total.
The annual analysis of statistics and trends, released yesterday ahead of International Women's Day, said there was a 1.5 percentage increase globally in Parliaments as a result of elections that took place in 2013.
"That doesn't sound like a lot, but if you consider that we are now at almost 22 per cent of women in parliaments, if we were to continue with this rate of increase of 1.5 it means that within a generation, actually within 20 years, we should be able to reach globally gender parity in parliament," IPU Secretary-General Anders Johnsson said.
