Here are a few random notes on women's participation in politics worldwide.
- At present, women occupy 15.4 percent of the world's parliamentary seats, up from 12.7 percent five years ago.
- In the United States, there are 62 women in the House of Representatives (14.3 percent) and 13 in the Senate.
- Rwanda, with 39 women in its 80-seat legislature (48.8 percent), has the world's highest proportion of women in a national parliament.
- Only once in history has one woman succeeded another as president: In 1997, Mary McAleese succeeded Mary Robinson as president of Ireland.
- Two women have served consecutively as prime minister in New Zealand: Jenny Shipley and Helen Elizabeth Clark.
For data on women in parliamentary bodies, see the web site of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
Information concerning female leaders is available at Zarate's Political Collections.