The latest update of the database on women and men in decision-making includes a quarterly update for the political domain (data mostly collected between 9th and 20th October) and an annual update for all other domains (data collected at different times during the second half of 2009 – see note at end of each table).

The list below gives a selection of highlights from the update.

Politics

• The recent elections in Germany, Portugal and Greece had little impact on the gender balance amongst members of parliament. In the lower house of the German parliament (Bundestag), there are currently 33% women and 67% men, whilst the share of women in the Portuguese parliament (Assembleia da republica) and the Greek parliament remain around 30% and 17% respectively.
• Angela Merkel remained chancellor after the September elections held in Germany, and is one of just three female heads of government throughout Europe, the others being in Croatia and Iceland.
• In Greece, the new cabinet appointed on 7 October 2009 has 31% of women compared to 11% previously. In Portugal too, the share of women in the cabinet increased significantly from 13% to 29% when the new government was appointed on 22 October 2009 following the September elections.
• The Lithuanian parliament (Seimas) is now presided over by a lady speaker, Irena Dugutiené, who took office on 15 September 2009. On the other hand, women leaders of parliament were replaced by male colleagues in Hungary (Orszaggyulés) and in the Netherlands (Eerste Kamer) over the autumn period.

Business and finance

• The central bank of each country across Europe is led by a male governor and more than four out of every five members of key decision-making bodies are men. It is only in Hungary (33%), Sweden (41%) and Serbia (38%) where women account for at least one in three members.
• In business, women account for an average of just 3% of the presidents of the largest quoted companies in each of the EU Member States in 2009 and less than 11% of board members. Sweden and Finland are the only two EU countries with more than 20% women on boards (27% and 24% respectively). Norway stands out as being the only European country where large companies have boards with anything approaching gender equality (42% women and 58% men).

Public administration and the judiciary

• In 2009, the top two levels of the civil service in each of the EU Member States comprised 68% men and 32% women. In Slovenia and Bulgaria there are actually slightly more women than men (53% and 51% respectively) and in Sweden, Latvia and Slovakia there are between 44 and 45% women.
• Women account for nearly one in three (31%) judges of supreme courts at national level and preside over the courts of Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, Austria, Romania and Finland.