India ranked 148 in the list of total number of women parliamentarians, according to the data released by Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women.
The data showed that women made up 11.8% of the Lok Sabha where 64 were elected to the 543-member house and 11 per cent of the Rajya Sabha with 27 of the 245 members.
India ranked 88 in the number of women ministers with five in the cabinet.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the head of UN Women, has called for reservations for women in the parliament. IPU Secretary-General Martin Chungong backed up the call for reservations for women saying that it would speed up the process of achieving gender equality.
Mlambo-Ngcuka said that the most progress in increasing women’s ranks in parliament was achieved in countries with quotas.
Rwanda ranked first in the number of women parliamentarians with 61.3 per cent in the lower house, followed by Bolivia with 53.1 per cent and Cuba 48.9 per cent.
Bulgaria, France and Nicaragua tied for the first rank for the number of women ministers with 52.9 per cent each.
