Since 1995, the presence of women in Belgium's parliamentary bodies has witnessed a consistent upward trajectory, primarily due to legislation promoting gender parity on electoral lists.

However, Le Soir reports on Monday, based on a study by the Centre de recherche et d’information socio-politiques (Crisp), that women remain underrepresented in executive positions.

While it is challenging to isolate the impact of legislation from broader societal changes in mentality, the study highlights that "each legislative advancement has undeniably contributed to an overall increase in the proportion of women among elected representatives and in political spheres."

In the federal Parliament, female representation has surged from 12 percent in 1995 to 43.3 percent in 2019. A similar positive trend is observed in Wallonia, where the proportion has risen from 8 percent in 1995 to 41.3 percent in 2019, and in Flanders, where it has increased from 17.8 percent to 46.8 percent.

While the number of women in the Brussels Parliament has steadily increased from 26.7 percent to 43.8 percent, progress has stagnated in recent years, with the peak occurring in 2004 at 46.1 percent.

Crisp, an independent organization that examines political decision-making in Belgium and the European context, conducted the study. Photo by KoS, Wikimedia commons.