The Nordic and Baltic countries have historically been at the forefront of women’s inclusion in politics.
If Kamala Harris wins the US presidential election in November, she will become the first female president of the United States.
In Europe, who are the women political leaders, how many are there and from which countries do they come?
Out of 50 countries, only 15 have a woman at the head of government or the head of the country, not including monarchs.
The European Union has only seven, although three of the top EU positions are held by women: Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, and Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank.
The Balkans have recently seen an increase in the number of women in high-level positions: Slovenia, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Greece all have women at the helm of their countries.
Bosnia and Herzegovina also has a female prime minister. However, it has only four female counterparts in Europe: Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen, Latvia’s Evika Siliņa and Lithuania’s Ingrida Šimonytė.
What do they have in common?
Most of these women have studied law or worked in the legal profession.
Slovenian President Nataša Pirc Musar is a lawyer, who has also represented Melania Trump in legal cases regarding the use of her image for pastries, shoes and underwear.
North Macedonian President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova is a law professor, Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani is an academic, and Greece’s President Katerina Sakellaropoulou is a judge. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Prime Minister Borjana Krišto also has a law degree, and Latvia’s Prime Minister Evika Siliņa once worked as a lawyer.
The only ones without legal training are the Danish Mette Frederiksen, the Italian Giorgia Meloni and the Lithuanian Ingrida Šimonytė.
However, all of them have pursued higher education, with the exception of Giorgia Meloni.
Which European countries have had at least one woman at their head?
Although they have not been the majority, several women have reached the position of prime minister or head of state in the history of Europe, and most European countries have had women at their head at one time or another.
Only 15 states on the European continent have never had a woman elected as prime minister or president: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain and the Vatican.
Four of them (Cyprus, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Spain) are EU countries.
What is the proportion of women MEPs in European parliaments?
In 1907, Finland became the first European country to elect women MPs, followed by Norway, Estonia, Russia and Ukraine. San Marino (1974), Andorra (1984) and Liechtenstein (1986) were the latest.
However, women are still underrepresented in all European countries, except Andorra, where the ratio is 50/50.
Scandinavia is the region with the highest number of female MPs, with Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway all topping the rankings.
Spain has the most equal representation of the big five European countries, followed by the United Kingdom, whose recent general election produced the largest number and proportion of female MPs ever recorded in the country.
