Women feature in just 16 per cent of political reporting, global study finds

Figure marks an increase of nine per cent over the past two decades

Hilary Clinton is one of two women running for US president in 2016 (Getty)

Women feature in just 16 per cent of political reporting, a new study on global media has found.

The figure marks an increase of nine per cent over the past two decades, up from only seven per cent in 1995, according to recent figures from the report Gender Inequality in the News which gathered data from 114 countries.

While overall there has been an upward trend, five years ago women were three percentage points more visible.

A closer examination of the numbers also reveals that just seven per cent of political stories featured in newspaper, radio shows and television have women as their central focus. This number has not shifted in the past 15 years.

Globally, around 22 per cent of all national parliamentarians are female, as of August this year, according to a United Nations Women study, an increase of 11 per cent over 20 years.

In the UK, the number of women in parliament has increased following the last election – but only 29 per cent of MPs are female. Despite the Labour party having almost a 100 fewer MPs than the Conservatives, they have 99 women on the benches compared to the Tories 68.