Last week, 42 new women were sworn into Congress—a historical milestone. Now, 23.7 percent of Congress is comprised of women. This landmark increase in representation marks a reason to celebrate and a reason to keep pushing, as the US is still lagging behind many other countries in legislative representation for women.
According to research by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the US is ranked 74th for their percentage of female lawmakers. Who's at the top? Rwanda, with 61.3 percent of their lower house of parliament being female. Since the world average is 24 percent, the US falls right below the line—and most other western democracies—at 23.7 percent. While the data comes from countries with all different types of governments, these countries still set a good example of what we can keep striving for. The fight for representation is far from over!
