Britain’s Theresa May recently took office as the first woman prime minister since Margaret Thatcher. This week, Hillary Clinton will become the first American woman to receive the Democratic Party’s nomination for president. These examples, along with others around the world, seem to indicate that women are making solid progress in global politics. But the most recent United Nations report on global women leaders concluded that much can be improved. There are currently 16 women who head governments around the world, according tothe UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. While a few have stayed in office for a long time, many others only served a short time. Julie Ballington is a policy adviser on political participation for UN Women. She says although the number of women in elected positions has doubled over the past 20 years, much more can be done to keep the trend moving. “Overall the message is that progress is being made, but it’s very slow.”
