countries where women s representation in parliament is greatest such as china bangladesh and pakistan for example generally rely on legal gender quotas the experience of timorleste the asian country with the highest share of women in parliament in is instructive following the introduction of a female candidate quota in and the later extension of the quota to in the female share of seats in the national parliament jumped from in the election to in and to in the election in ipu however some of the countries where women s political representation is relatively high have not adopted legal gender quotas instead some rely on voluntary gender quotas andor targets adopted by political parties as in the philippines or on the promotion of women by the state as in viet nam