belgium and italy have quotas for listed companies to achieve women on boards this could be one factor driving the increase sweden on the other hand has a voluntary rule in their corporate governance code an equal distribution among the sexes shall be the goal women occupied an average of of seats in lower or single houses of parliament in in and in while women s representation in lower or single houses of legislature has grown in some oecd countries such as the united kingdom mexico portugal and spain it has undergone setbacks in countries like finland greece and denmark ipu