As a result of an amendment adopted in 1990, the IPU's Statutes stipulate that Parliaments which comprise women members must include at least one woman in their delegations to IPU statutory meetings. Since then the Secretariat has been asked to prepare for each statutory session a table showing the presence of women MPs in delegations vis-à-vis their presence in their respctive national Parliaments.

These statistics reveal that, contrary to the average proportion of women in national Parliaments which suffered a set-back in 1989-1990 and has since tended to stagnate at about 11%, the proportion of women MPs at IPU meetings has generally increased.

In addition to reminders contained in the invitations sent out by host Parliaments and in the official convocations of the statutory sessions, two factors appear to have helped this increase:

• The sustained interest shown by the IPU in promoting the status of women and the emphasis it has placed on partnership between men and women as one of the key elements of democracy.
• The considerably increased awareness within the IPU generated by the women MPs themselves, whose action and influence have grown appreciably.