ويسلّم كثير من البلدان بذلك الحق ولكن قدرة المرأة عمليا على ممارسته قد تكون مقيدة بسوابق قانونية أو بالعرف.
Women are rarely appointed to these senior or influential positions and while their numbers may in some States be increasing at the lower levels and in posts usually associated with the home or the family, they form only a tiny minority in decision-making positions concerned with economic policy or development, political affairs, defence, peacemaking missions, conflict resolution or constitutional interpretation and determination.