At the Beijing+20 Review Forum in Geneva November 3 – 5, Torild Skard , senior researcher and author of “Women of Power” states the 
following:
On a global scale the representation of women in power and decision-making has increased over the years, but extremely slowly. The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) noted this year that the percentage of women MPs was at a record high of 22 per cent and women ministers reached 17 per cent. The number of women presidents and prime ministers was totally 18. According to the new trends, gender parity in parliament was possible within twenty years, IPU stated.
In the ECE region as a whole, women amount to 25 per cent of the MPs and 28 per cent of the ministers in 2014. This is higher than the world average, but far from 50/50. Only 8 per cent of the presidents and prime ministers in the ECE are women.
Among her recommendations are that governments should
– take special measures to ensure that CEDAW and the Beijing Platform for Action are properly known to the general public, show the political consequences and establish special institutions for implementation.
– ensure that electoral systems are woman-friendly: replace simple plurality with proportional representation or mixed systems, and adopt “critical special measures” such as stimulation programmes, training, support groups and effective quotas for women, to ensure at least 50 per cent women at all levels of political and economic decision-making.
