These data were collected for a study of how the characteristics of political parties influence women's chances in assuming leadership positions within the parties' inner structures. Data were compiled by Fatima Sbaity Kassem for a case-study of Lebanon and by national and local researchers for 25 other countries in Asia, Africa and Europe. The researchers collected raw data on women in politics from party administrators and government officials. Researchers gathered information about parties' year of origin, number of seats in parliament, political platform, and all gender-disaggregated party data (in percentages) on overall party membership, shares in executive and decision-making bodies, and nominations on electoral lists. A key variable measures party religiosity, which refers to the religious components on their political platforms or the extent to which religion penetrates their political agendas.

Only parties that have at least one seat in any of the last three parliaments were included. These are referred to as 'relevant' parties. The four data sets combined cover 330 political parties in Lebanon plus 12 other Arab countries (Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, and Yemen), seven non-Arab Muslim-majority countries (Albania, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Indonesia, Senegal, and Turkey), five European countries with dominant Christian democratic parties (Austria, Belgium, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands), and Israel.