Women in Legislative Chambers
Asia-Pacific Region

Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) www.ipu.org, unless otherwise stated.

Sub-region/Country	Legislative Chamber	Date of Latest Election	Extent of Women's Representation	% of Women
Pacific Sub-Region
Australia	House of Representatives Senate	October 1998 October 1998	33 out of 147 seats 23 out of 76 seats	22.4 30.3
Cook Islands		June 16, 1999	No data available	NA
Fiji Islands	House of Representatives Senate	May 1999 February 1994	8 out of 71 seats 3 out of 32 seats	11.3 9.4
Kiribati	Maneaba Ni Maungatabu	September 1998	2 out of 42 seats	4.8
Marshall Islands	Nitijela	November 1999	1 out of 33 seats	3.0
Federated States of Micronesia	Congress	March 1999	0 out of 14 seats	0
Nauru	Parliament	April 2000	? out of  18 seats	NA
New Zealand	House of Representatives	November 1999	35 out of 120 seats	29.2
Palau	House of Delegates Senate	November 1996 November 1996	0 out of 16 seats 1 out of 14 seats	0 7.1
Papua New Guinea	National Parliament	June 1997	2 out of 109 seats	1.8
Samoa	Fono - Legislative Assembly	April 1996	4 out of 49 seats	8.2
Solomon Islands	National Parliament	August 1997	1 out of 49 seats	2.0
Tonga	Fale Alea	March 1999	0 out of 30 seats	0
Tuvalu	Palamene o Tuvalu	March 1998	0 out of 12 seats	0
Vanuatu	Parliament	March 1998	0 out of 52 seats	0
East Asia Sub-Region
People's Republic of China	Quanguo Renmin Daibiao Dahui	January 1998	650 out of 2979 seats	21.8
Taiwan	Legislative Yuan National Assembly	December 1998	43 out of 225 seats [2] 61 out of 334 seats [2]	19.1 18.3
Democratic People's Republic of Korea	Choe Go In Min Hoe Ui	July 1998	138 out of 687 seats	20.1
Republic of Korea	Kuk Hoe	13 April 2000	16 out of 273 seats [1]	5.9
Japan	Shugiin Sangiin	Jun 2000 July 1998	35 out of 480 seats 43 out of 252 seats	7.3 17.1
Central Asia Sub-Region
Armenia	Azgayin Joghov	May 1999	4 out of 131 seats	3.1
Azerbaijan	Milli Mejlis	November 1995	15 out of 125 seats	12.0
Kazakhstan	Mazhilis Senate	October 1999 September 1999	8 out of 77 seats 5 out of 39 seats	10.4 12.8
Kyrgyzstan	El Okuldor Palatasy Myizam Chygaru Palatasy	February 2000 February 2000	1 out of 43 seats 5 out of 57 seats	2.3 8.8
Mongolia	Ulsyn Ikh Khural	July 2000	? out of 76 seats	NA
Tajikistan	Majlisi Milliy Majlisi Mamoyandogan	March 2000 February 2000	4 out of 33 seats 9 out of 60 seats	12.1 15.0
Turkmenistan	Mejlis	December 1999	13 out of 50 seats	26.0
Uzbekistan	Oliy Majlis	December 1999	18 out of 250 seats	7.2
South Asia Sub-Region
Bangladesh	Jatiya Sangsad	June 1996	30 out of 330 seats	9.1
Bhutan	Tshogdu	1997 (?)	3 out of 150 seats	2.0
India	Lok Sabha - House of the People Rajya Sabha - Council of States	September 1999 March 2000	49 out of 545 seats ? out of 245 seats	8.9 NA
Iran	Majles Shoraye Eslami	February 2000	10 out of 290 seats	3.4
Maldives	Majlis	November 1999	3 out of 50 seats	6.0
Nepal	Pratinidhi Sabha Rastriya Sabha	May 1999 June 1999	12 out of 205 seats 9 out of 60 seats	5.9 15.0
Pakistan
Sri Lanka	Parliament	August 1994	11 out of 225 seats	4.9
South -East Asia Sub-Region
Cambodia	Radhsphea Ney Preah Recheanachakr Kampuchea Senate	July 1998 March 1999	10 out of 122 seats 8 out of 61 seats	8.2 13.1
Indonesia	Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat	June 1999	40 out of 500 seats	8.0
Lao People's Democratic Republic	Sapha Heng Xat	December 1997	21 out of 99 seats	21.2
Malaysia	Dewan Rakyat - House of Representatives Dewan Negara - Senate	November 1999 March 1998	20 out of 193 seats 18 out of 69 seats	10.4 26.1
Philippines	Kapulungan Ng Mga Kinatawan Senado	May 1998 May 1998	27 out of 212 seats [3] 4 out of 23 seats	12.7 17.4
Singapore	Parliament	January 1997	4 out of 93 seats	4.3
Thailand	Saphaphuthan Ratsadon Wuthisapha	November 1996 March 2000	22 out of 393 seats [4] 21 out of 200 seats	5.6 10.5
Vietnam	Quoc-Hoi	July 1997	117 out of 450 seats	26.0

 
[1] Data from sub-regional focal point, September 2000
[2] Data from the Chinese Women in Politics Institute, March 1999
[3] Data from the Office of the Hon. Patricia Sarenas, Member, House of Representatives - Philippines
[4] Data from the Women in Politics Institute, Thailand - at 3 August, 2000 the members number 256. Since the November, 1996 elections 129 have resigned and 8 died. Of the remaining 256, 16 or 6.2% are women.

 

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Dated: 14Sep2000