More women sit in African parliaments but equality eludes

By end of 2026, 15 African countries will hold parliamentary elections. Women's representation in African legislatures has increased substantially over two decades, with 31 of 54 countries achieving at least 20% female parliamentary seats. Rwanda leads with over 60% female legislators, while Nigeria has only 4%. Recent electoral reforms demonstrate quota systems' effectiveness: Sierra Leone reached 28% after introducing representation laws in 2021, Seychelles achieved 26.5% and elected its first female speaker, and Benin reached 25.7% after reserving 24 seats for women. Ethiopia, Cameroon, and Senegal experienced exceptional increases in early 2010s, with Senegal surging 20% following mandatory female candidate quotas. Proportional gender representation in legislatures better reflects society and impacts gender norms, education, financial independence, and reproductive autonomy.

"Overall, women hold at least 20% of the seats in the national legislatures of 31 of the 54 recognized countries across Africa. The global per-country average is 27.5% of parliamentary seats held by women. Legislatures in which women and men hold a proportional number of seats more closely resemble the societies they represent."

"In Rwanda, where two-thirds of the people killed in the 1994 genocide were men and boys, women hold over 60% of the seats in the legislature. At the other end of the range, women hold just 4% of the seats in Nigeria's 360-seat legislature according to 2022 data from the global Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)."

"Following a revision of the electoral code to reserve 24 seats for women, the share of female lawmakers in Benin's parliament stands at 25.7% following elections in January. Ethiopia, Cameroon and Senegal saw an exceptional increase of women in their national assemblies in the early 2010s. The latter saw a surge of 20% after the introduction of a mandatory quota for female electoral candidates."

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