Parliamentary representation of women rocket

By Sasha Forbes
05 May 2009

South African has climbed up from 17^th to 3^rd place in the global ranking of women in Parliament following last month’s fourth democratic elections.

According to Minister in Presidency Manto Tshabalala-Msimang who spoke at the National Gender Machinery yesterday, government was proud of South Africa’s achievements in the elections as far as representation was concerned.

Tshabalala-Msimang also said that this translated to an 11 percent increase in representation of women in the National Assembly to 45 percent.

South Africa is now only behind Rwanda who is at 56 percent and Sweden who is at 47 percent.