Havana, July 31 (Prensa Latina) Cuba maintains a parliament with a majority of women today, after the validation of 10 new deputies during the recently concluded VII Ordinary Session of the X Legislature, to fill existing vacancies in the same number of municipalities of the country.
Of the ten newly added members, five are female deputies, which keeps the gender proportion above parity.
At the start of the current legislative session, the National Assembly of People’s Power (ANPP) was composed of 470 members, 57.4 percent of whom were women, according to official data from the body itself. The average age was 46, and over 94 percent had a university education.
In 2026, only 27.5 percent of parliamentarians globally are women, compared to 11 percent in 1995, according to data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union published on its website Women in national parliaments.
Cuba is one of the seven countries with parity or majority female representation and the second with the highest number of women in parliament in lower houses or unicameral parliaments behind Rwanda (64 percent).
Another 23 countries have reached or exceeded 40 percent, including 10 in Europe, six in Africa, five in Latin America and the Caribbean, and two in Asia-Pacific.
In the case of Cuba, this correlation has shown an upward trend in recent years. In 1981, men held 77 percent of the seats, while women held only 23 percent, according to figures published by the Cuban Observatory on Gender Equality.
In the 2022-2023 election process, that ratio was already 55.7 percent women, compared to 44.3 percent men.
There are 21 countries worldwide where women hold less than 10 percent of parliamentary seats, including three lower houses where there are no women at all. Given this situation, gender parity in national legislative bodies will not be achieved before 2063, according to UN Women.
The incorporation of the new parliamentarians was carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Law, which stipulates that, in the event of a permanent vacancy in the position of deputy, the corresponding Municipal Assembly of People’s Power elects the substitute to complete the term.
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