ABSTRACT
Much has been written about the under-representation of women holding elected office around the world. According to the international organisation of parliaments, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (2015), women constitute just over 20 per cent of members of parliament in upper and lower houses world-wide (22.4% in single or lower houses, and 20.4% in upper houses or senates). Of 179 serving heads of government, 22 are women, only 15 of whom were elected. With women making up nearly half of the world's population of over 7 billion, these statistics speak to an alarming and persistent gendered divide in the domain of institutional politics. 1
