18 per cent was the global rate of female representation at the national level in 2007

Rwanda superseded Sweden at the number one in the world in terms of women's parliamentary representation--48.8 per cent women against Sweden's 45.3 per cent

INDIA

44 of 543 MPs in Lok Sabha (8.1 per cent) are women

26 of 242 members in Rajya Sabha (10.7 %) are women

While there is no constitutional quota or election law quota at the national level, 33 per cent of seats in all local bodies (panchayats and municipalities) are reserved for women according to the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments. This includes the provision that 33 per cent of the reserved seats shall be women.

In 1996, the 81st Amendment proposed to reserve one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies for women under a constituency-rotation system. The women's reservation bill was introduced in Parliament by the United Front Government in 1996 after major political parties supported it in their election manifestos. Another proposal from 2003 suggested converting 181 of the lower house seats into double-member constituencies to elect one man and one woman so that the present male members wouldn't have to vacate their seats. This proposal has not been passed either.

United States Is among the few countries that have no quota for women representatives. 87 women serve in the US Congress (merely 16.3 per cent of the 535 seats) and 16 of 100 seats (16 per cent) in the Senate, and 71 of 435 seats (16.3 per cent) in the House. The number of women in statewide elective executive posts is 74, while the proportion of women in state legislatures is at 23.7 per cent. But the US has a woman speaker in Nancy Pelosi.

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