A/HRC/23/50 20. The right to representation in the legislative branch includes the right to vote in all elections and public referenda. This condition has gradually been fulfilled during the course of the twentieth century and is now almost universally implemented. Nevertheless there remain some discriminatory laws and practices, such as kinship voting practices. In one State, women have still have not been granted the right to vote. 21. In the executive branch, only 17 women are Heads of State/Government.11 Women’s representation in Governments is far lower than their representation in parliaments. Good practice where women occupy more than 40 per cent of Government positions were found in only a small number of States: six in the region of Western European and other States, two in sub-Saharan Africa and three in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Working Group notes that the obligation of States to secure women’s equal representation includes the executive branch, and draws attention to the good practice in different regions which has demonstrated the feasibility of female-headed States and gender-balanced Governments. 22. In the judicial branch, women account for only 27 per cent of judges worldwide.12 There is wide divergence among States as regards the numbers of women in the judiciary, with some States in the Eastern European region having a majority of women judges. Even in countries that have a higher representation of women in the judiciary, the numbers of women decrease at higher levels. There are few women in the highest courts, including supreme courts, and rarely are the presidents women. In most religious courts women are excluded from holding office. There is, however, good practice in the Asia-Pacific region: in one country, women judges have been part of the religious courts since the institution was created in the 1950s, reaching a participation rate of 20 per cent in 2011;13 in another, female judges were appointed to the Sharia court pursuant to the removal of its reservation to article 7 (b) of the Convention.14 23. In other public bodies there is no systematic data regarding women’s representation which covers the whole spectrum of political and public life as defined by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women: public administration, local government, political parties, trade unions, professional or industry associations, women’s organizations, community-based organizations and other organizations concerned with public and political life. 24. Within the United Nations system, the Secretary-General set a target, endorsed in the Beijing Platform for Action, of 50 per cent of managerial and decision-making positions for women by 2000. Gender parity was achieved at the lowest two levels (P1 and P2) in 2011; the percentage of women at the professional levels was 40.7; but only 27.4 to 30.2 per cent at the highest decision-making levels (D-1, D-2 and Under-Secretary-General).15 11 12 13 14 15 IPU, Women in Politics: 2012, map. Available from www.ipu.org/pdf/publications/wmnmap12_en.pdf. UN-Women, Progress of the World’s Women: In Pursuit of Justice (2012), p. 59. 2011 Annual Report of the Supreme Court of Indonesia, www.badilag.net/lakip-dan-laptah/465laptah/10211-laporan-tahunan-2011.html (Indonesian only). Background global report prepared for the Working Group, p. 48. UN-Women, The Status of Women in the United Nations System, available from www.un.org/womenwatch/uncoordination/documents/overview/unsystem/unsystem-factsheet.pdf, and Representation of Women in the United Nations System, available from www.un.org/womenwatch/uncoordination/documents/overview/unsystem/unsystem-infographic.pdf. The category of Under-Secretary-General also includes Assistant Secretary-General positions. 7