A fundamental problem facing the process of democratization is the continued lack of gender equality in political leadership. The basic facts are not in dispute: worldwide today women represent only one in seven parliamentarians, one in ten cabinet ministers, and, at the apex of power, one in twenty Heads of State or Government. Multiple factors have contributed towards this situation, including structural and institutional barriers. But what is the role of political culture in this process? Do attitudes towards women as political leaders function as a significant barrier to their empowerment, and in particular how important is culture in comparison to structural and institutional factors? Based on reexamining the evidence our thesis is that (a) there are substantial differences in egalitarian attitudes towards women’s leadership in post-industrial, post-Communist and developing societies; (b) traditional attitudes towards gender equality are a major obstacle to the election of women to parliament; (c) culture continues to prove a significant influence on the proportion of women parliamentarians even controlling for social structural and political institutions;but that (d) there is evidence that as a result of modernization these cultural barriers have been fading among the younger generation in postindustrial societies. After setting out the theoretical framework and core argument, the analysis testing these propositions draws on evidence from the World Values Surveys in 55 societies with data from 1995-99. The conclusion considers the implications of the analysis for strategies to advance gender parity.