REYKJAVIK, Iceland — Xavier Prats Monné could not say what exactly he expected from Iceland, this tiny gender utopia where selling pornography has been banned since 1869 and the world’s first openly lesbian prime minister was elected in 2009. But it was no shock that the driver who picked him up from the airport was a woman.

Until she offered to help with his luggage.

“What? No, no, no, no, no,” Mr. Prats Monné replied, alarmed, and hastily picked up his suitcase himself. “No, no, no. Thank you.”

Mr. Prats Monné, 61, a quick-witted Spaniard with a ready laugh, runs the 900-employee department of health and food safety for the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union. He routinely mingles with Europe ministers and, once, met President Barack Obama.

But this past week, he was in Iceland to speak at what was billed as the largest ever gathering of female political leaders, sponsored by a nonprofit devoted to increasing their numbers. Less than one-quarter of parliamentary seats worldwide are held by women. Among heads of state, 7 percent are female.