Even though much progress has been made, women’s equality is an issue that many countries struggle with, even the United States. In many countries, women are still viewed as property of men, so this would of course effect how they are seen in a professional way. Although women have come a long way in terms of breaking into a male dominated world, there are still advancements to be made. Women still have not earned the right to vote in some countries, so that would greatly affect the number of women in politics. On the other hand, the

There is a relationship between % Female Legislation and Three Worlds shown in Figure 5. There is a strong negative correlation between these two variables shown with the correlation coefficient of –0.583**. There are again ninety-three countries in this data set with eighty-one missing which gives a fair representation of the population. There are no distinct outliers in this data set that would skew the results.

There are great differences in how involved women are in politics, if they are involved in a political sense at all. Countries with high levels of gender equality will have more women in politics than those countries with lower levels due to the fact that where women are viewed as equals, they would naturally receive equal representation in government. If a country has high levels of employment for women, it will be more likely to have higher percentages of women in parliament. Similarly, countries with high percentages of educated women will have higher percentages of women with seats in parliaments than those countries with less educated women, because the majority of people who hold parliamentary positions have high levels of education. High GDP/CAP percentages in a country will yield high percentages of women in parliamentary positions because richer countries tend to be more educated and politically advanced overall, both of these being factors in percentages of women in parliamentary positions. First World countries are more likely to have higher percentages of women in parliamentary positions than both Second and Third World countries due to the characteristics of Second and Third World countries, Third World countries especially. The Third World had become the backyard of the First World, home to peoples invariably affected by the conditions of suffering, poverty, inequality, violence, and social, political, and economic marginalization. The Second World was the Communist world led by the USSR. With the demise of the USSR and the communist block, there is no longer a Second World (Herrick 1997).

Figure 4 shows a definite relationship between % Female Legislation and GDP/CAP. The correlation coefficient of 0.447** shows a moderate to strong positive correlation between these two variables. Once again there are ninety-three countries in this data set with eighty-one missing which gives a fair representation of the population. There may also be a few outliers in this data set but they would not cause a significant enough change to skew the results. The majority of the countries are fairly close together on the scatter plot.

re are some countries that have come a long way in terms of women’s rights and equality. In countries like these that are well developed, the number of women in politics is going to be much greater. At the local government level the number of women councilors had been rising steadily, if less spectacularly, since the 1970’s; so that across England, Scotland, and Wales more than one-quarter of councilors are women (Bochel 2000).

A host of other social and economic factors must also be considered. If one thinks about how elites in every system are drawn from highly educated, professional groups, and how their eligibility for public office often derives from their field of work and the contacts they have established, then particularly in a culture such as that of the UK women are going to be disadvantaged. Yes, more and more women are highly educated, but entering the work force has not resulted in a lessening of their domestic responsibilities. To many, the prospect of active involvement in politics must seem little more than a potential additional burden.

Countries that have made the most significant advances are those where the electoral system is not based on first past the post but proportional representation. Compare elections in the Netherlands (an example of strict proportionality) with those in the UK (a purely majoritarian system). In the former

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