There is still a woeful lack of gender equality in politics. Despite women making up half the global population, our representatives in government are usually male. According to the UN, only 23 per cent of all national parliamentarians are women and there are 38 states in which women account for less than 10 per cent of parliamentarians in single or lower houses, including four chambers with no women at all.*
And this representation challenge goes beyond gender - afterall, it's just one of many ways in which we identify ourselves. Ethnicity, sexuality, age and socioeconomic background all make up who we are, and our diversity needs to be reflected in those who govern us. But if we don't crack gender equality in politics when 50% of the electorate is female, what chance do we stand of better representing minority groups?
The good news is that progress is being made. A number of countries have introduced quotas - either legislative candidate quotas or reserved seats - to accelerate the number of female politicians in their parliament.** Whatever your opinion of positive discrimination, these measures are undeniably opening space for women's political participation. The number of female parliamentarians globally has doubled in the last 10 years, and Rwanda and Bolivia have majority female parliaments.***
And it's not just through dedicated schemes that women are working their way into national politics. Sisters are doin' it for themselves. This weekend, Iceland elected a parliament representative of its population - female candidates won 48 per cent of the country's 63 parliamentary seats. According to the country's Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Iceland now has the "most equal Parliament in the world" without a quota system.
This isn't the first time Iceland has been leading the charge when it comes women in politics. Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was elected President of Iceland in 1980 - Europe's first female president and the world's first democratically-elected female president. This was all the more impressive as she was a divorced single mother - sadly two traits that are still seen as impediments to leadership.
Following three re-elections, Vigdís stepped down as President after sixteen years in power - she still remains the longest-serving elected female head of state of any country to date.
Back to the present day, it appears Iceland will be forming a three-party coalition - a daunting proposition for a country recently rocked by scandal. Will a gender-balanced parliament prove more adept at steering the country back on course? Only time will tell, but I suspect it won't do it any harm.
*, **, *** UN Women