--- description: The organization's latest study looked at representation of women in parliament and at cabinet level. title: These Are the Best Countries to be a Woman in Politics image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c563896195d6af0/698859cfa988caf1416b357b/gettyimages-150102699.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # These Are the Best Places in the World to Be a Woman in Politics, According to the OECD by [Joanna Plucinska](/author/joanna-plucinska/) ## Joanna Plucinska Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 7, 2015 8:47 AM CUT  The city skyline is seen illuminated by lights at night in Reykjavik, Iceland, on Friday, Aug. 10, 2012. The city skyline is seen illuminated by lights at night in Reykjavik, Iceland, on Friday, Aug. 10, 2012.Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Joanna Plucinska](/author/joanna-plucinska/) ## Joanna Plucinska Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 7, 2015 8:47 AM CUT Aspiring female politicians should consider moving to Finland or Sweden, where women have the most representation in government, according to new OECD data. The findings, published July 6 as a part of the OECD’s _Government at a Glance_ report, saw Nordic countries leading the way for women’s representation both in lower houses of parliament and in ministerial positions. These countries are likely to benefit greatly from this representation, the OECD says. More equal gender representation can help governments institute better policies surrounding work-life balance, gender violence and equal pay. But the overall trend is not as promising in the rest of the OECD, where things have only gotten marginally better for women’s representation in politics since 2002. The report found that 16 out of the 34 OECD countries are failing to meet the desired 30% threshold of representation in both lower houses of parliament and ministerial positions. Among the worst performers are Hungary, South Korea and Turkey. The U.S. and the U.K. also showed below average representation. You can read the full report [here](http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/download/4215081ec024.pdf?expires=1436242894&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=CE7BD9CCBA20FE4EE4060F964D4B713F "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3947543/women-politics-oecd/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3947543/women-politics-oecd/"},"headline":"These Are the Best Places in the World to Be a Woman in Politics, According to the OECD","datePublished":"2015-07-07T08:47:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:00:33.693Z","description":"Most countries are not hitting benchmarks for female representation in politics, however","url":"https://time.com/3947543/women-politics-oecd/","keywords":["Turkey","Finland","sweden","norway","Hungary"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c563896195d6af0/698859cfa988caf1416b357b/gettyimages-150102699.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joanna Plucinska","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joanna-plucinska/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c563896195d6af0/698859cfa988caf1416b357b/gettyimages-150102699.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Banking And General Views As Iceland's Bankruptcy-to-Recovery Mode Proves Viable","caption":"Banking And General Views As Iceland's Bankruptcy-to-Recovery Mode Proves Viable","creditText":"Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3947543/women-politics-oecd/","name":"These Are the Best Places in the World to Be a Woman in Politics, According to the OECD"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Feminism Comes to the Forefront of Swedish Politics","description":"An inside look at one of the world's first feminist parties","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/IjgnFCKB/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-09-12T15:49:10.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/IjgnFCKB.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3947543/women-politics-oecd/","duration":"PT2M48S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3947543/women-politics-oecd/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```