Elections
Women voters could hold a crucial key to South Africa’s political future as parties prepare for the 4 November 2026 Local Government Elections.
New research suggests women remain an important electoral advantage for the ANC, despite declining support for the party.
It also points to what rival parties must do to win more women.
The findings come from the Institute of Race Relations’ 2026 polling report, which examines six years of polling from 2021 to 2026. The research tracks changing political preferences among women during a period of growing competition between political parties.
With South Africa’s 2026 Local Government Elections approaching, all talk seems to be of the growing prevalence of coalitions in the country.
However, the rise in coalition governance is coinciding with another electoral trend: the stalling of progress in women’s representation in legislative bodies. At the local government level, improved participation of women is not only essential for ensuring broader social inclusion, but has also been shown to promote better governance, strengthen policy-making, and enhance community resilience.
Yet, despite substantial initial progress since 1994 and the introduction of specific policies such as the National Policy Framework for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality, the country has struggled to consistently elect women to more than 40% of council seats in recent election cycles. Bearing these two trends in mind, it is necessary to ask what impact coalition politics has had on women, both in elected government positions and in the broader society.
Outside of coalition politics, women in elected positions or involved in politics already face several challenges to participation.
The Kenya Women Parliamentary Association (KEWOPA) has called for electoral and political reforms to create a safer environment for women and youth seeking elective positions ahead of the 2027 General Election.
The Association has expressed concern that discrimination in political parties, unequal access to campaign financing, difficult nomination processes, violence, intimidation and online harassment continue to limit their participation in politics.
KEWOPA Chairperson Leah Sankaire said political violence and intimidation were discouraging women from seeking leadership positions.
As tensions mount within the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) over allegations that women's nominations are being monetized, the selection process for regional candidates in the upcoming September 2026 elections reveals a broader issue of systemic political violence, transcending any single party.
Following their initial public comments, Meriem Jamal Idrissi, a lawyer and member of the USFP national council and the national secretariat of socialist women, along with Manal Tekal from the party’s political bureau, have intensified their critique of the mechanisms meant to bolster women's participation.
Practices Undermining Affirmative Action
Having called for an investigation into suspicions of «payments for nominations», Jamal Idrissi told Yabiladi that this issue isn't confined to one party. She emphasized, «Although political violence isn't clearly defined by law, it parallels the economic, social, and psychological violence recognized legally. Women in public affairs face exclusion and constrained decision-making power.»
The language of politics in Tamil Nadu has once again taken a turn for the worse with the recent comments made by the Leader of the Opposition regarding the aide of Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay and the controversial statement made by the State President of a National Political Party about the Chief Minister’s mother. The remarks made by both these leaders have received wide disapproval across political parties. But this problem is not unique to a particular political party or event. Governments, parties, and leaders may change but the phenomenon of reducing women to tools of political warfare is still rampant.
Women have been used in matters of politics before
Tamil Nadu boasts a dismal history when it comes to the entanglement of women into matters of political disputes. The case of Former Chief Minister. J. Jayalalithaa remains the most cited one. The incidents that took place in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on 25 March 1989 are still remembered. It was during this harsh incident that Ms.Jayalalitha, the Opposition Leader at that time, was said to face violence and aggression, and even have her saree pulled.
With women making up 52% of electorate, experts say candidates need concrete proposals to tackle gender-based violence and other issues affecting women.
Women, who make up 52% of Brazil’s electorate, are expected to play a decisive role in the campaign that officially began Sunday (16), forcing candidates seeking their votes to offer less ideological and more pragmatic platforms, with detailed and concrete proposals. That is the assessment of experts who study women’s voting behavior in Brazil, both at polling institutes and universities. They identify preventing and combating femicide as a central issue.
“Femicide is a central issue. It happens across all social classes. Beyond concerns about safety on the streets and the safety of their children, women are now aware that there is also a problem inside the home—that they do not feel safe with their partners,” said Cila Schulman, president of Instituto Ideia.
A poll conducted by Ideia on July 27 and 28 with 1,018 voters found that the three issues women consider most important are policies to prevent and combat violence against women, cited by 40%; combating moral and sexual harassment in the workplace, 36%; and equal pay for men and women, 32%.
In Chile, the last municipal elections were held on the 15th and 16th of May of 2021. In these elections, authorities responsible for local administration were elected, including mayors of 345 municipalities that administer 346 communes, the smallest administrative division in the country, and 13 regional governors. This was the first-time in Chile’s history that governors were democratically elected given they were previously always designated by the President of the Republic.
The next municipal and regional elections are set to take place on the 26th and 27th of October 2024.
International Conventions
Chile is signatory of the main international instruments on gender equality and women’s empowerment, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), that upholds women’s right to participate in public life, and the Beijing Platform for Action adopted in 1995, which calls for removing all barriers to equal participation.
The CEDAW Convention was signed and ratified in 1980 and 1989, and the CEDAW Optional Protocol in 1999 and 2020 respectively.
National Legislation
Political participation
Gender quotas to promote women’s representation at local levels have not been legislated in Chile. Other temporary special measures to address youth and indigenous peoples underrepresentation in local decision-making have also not been legislated to date.
However, a draft law (Bulletin No. 11994-34) establishing gender quotas for regional governors and local councillors, that establishes a maximum representation of 60 per cent for either sex in candidate lists is currently in the second stage of constitutional review in the Senate.[1]
Chile also introduced parliamentary gender quotas in the the 2015–2016 electoral reforms establishing at least 40 per cent of candidates standing for Parliament must be women. This temporary measure established under Act No. 20.840 is set to last until the parliamentary elections of 2029. It also provides that at least 10 per cent of state funding contributed to each political party must be used to promote the political participation of women.
Chile is also the first country in the world to carry out a constitutional electoral process with a gender parity mechanism for both lists of candidates and election results, as provided in 2020 by Act No. 21.216 on constitutional reform. As a result, the body currently has a membership of 77 women and 78 men. In addition, in 2020 the inclusion of 17 seats reserved for representatives of indigenous peoples was approved, 9 of which are occupied by women.[2]
Read here the full article published by GWL Voices on 24 October 2024.
Image by GWL Voices
For decades, a key goal of activists and policymakers has been involving women in politics. Achieving gender parity in the political realm – that is, seeing more women running for and winning political office – is not merely a rhetorical goal. In fact, research has shown that women bring unique perspectives and focuses to lawmaking. A seminal study by Raghabendra Chattopadhyay and Esther Duflo showed that when women are given a seat at the table, they implement policies more relevant to the needs of women generally.
Many countries have implemented targeted electoral laws, known as “gender quotas,” as part of an effort to increase women’s political participation. These laws vary in the size of the quota, whether the quotas are legally enforced, at what stage of the election process they are enforced, which branch of government they are applied to (legislative, executive, judicial) and what level of government they are applied to (local, regional, federal). India reserves a minority of districts for women to lead, while in France, it is mandated in municipal elections that half of the candidates each party nominates must be women. Designing each system requires trade-offs: while a reserved seat system like India’s guarantees that at least some women will be elected, such strict systems could face legal opposition in their implementation.
Read here the full article published by Boston University Global Development Policy Center on 1 October 2024.
Image by Boston University Global Development Policy Center
Introduction
Women, and women of color in particular, face numerous challenges when running for political office in the U.S. These include attacks they are subject to in various online spaces that, like their peers, they must use to campaign and promote their work. These attacks often aim to undermine and prevent women’s participation in politics. Previous research by CDT found that women of color Congressional candidates in the 2020 U.S. election were more likely to be subjected to violent and sexist abuse, and mis- and disinformation on X/Twitter compared to other candidates. These forms of abuse might contribute to the underrepresentation of women of color in politics, and may also undermine the effectiveness of the US democratic system in reflecting the interest and priorities of all voters in policy-making.
In this research brief, we turn to the 2024 U.S. elections to examine the nature of offensive speech and hate speech that candidates running for Congress are subject to on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), which remains an important forum for political candidates. More specifically, we compare the levels of offensive speech and hate speech that different groups of Congressional candidates are targeted with based on race and gender, with a particular emphasis on women of color. We also examine these factors for U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris as a woman of color and presidential candidate.
Read here the full report published by Center for Democracy & Technology on 2 October 2024.
Image credits: Center for Democracy & Technology
2. Global Trends
2.3. Rights
2.3.4. Gender Equality
The Gender Equality subfactor measures power distribution by gender and female participation in civil society organizations, the ratio of female-to-male mean years of schooling and the proportion of lower-chamber legislators who are female. It also measures exclusion by gender, women’s empowerment and women’s political and economic rights.
While Gender Equality has not made notable improvements globally since 2018 (eight countries saw advances, and five saw declines), there have been important markers of progress. These include the passage of a bill to implement a gender quota for the lower house of parliament and state assemblies in India and a landmark bill that would guarantee extra seats for women in provincial assemblies in the Solomon Islands (Brechenmacher 2023; RNZ 2024; Solomon Islands Government 2024).
Mexico is also a noteworthy case, as it sets a high standard in terms of the range of mechanisms it has in place to ensure women’s political participation. In 2024 voters chose Claudia Sheinbaum to be Mexico’s first woman president. Additionally, at the time of the writing of this report, the heads of the Supreme Court and the Electoral Tribunal were both women, as were the presidents of the Senate, the Chamber of Deputies and the National Electoral Institute (INE). Building on previous amendments that had gradually introduced gender parity, a groundbreaking 2019 constitutional reform established ‘parity in everything’ as a permanent principle in all branches of government to guarantee women’s access to politics, government and the administration of justice (Ravel 2024; Piscopo and Vázquez Correa 2023).
Although high levels of violence, particularly against women, have been an issue in this election year (INEGI 2022; Piscopo and Vázquez Correa 2023; Harrison-Cripps 2024; Calderón 2024), strong legislation and policies have facilitated the monitoring and sanctioning of gender-based political violence, including through a National Registry of Sanctioned Persons for Violence against Women in Politics and the INE’s collaboration with platforms regarding digital-based political violence (INE 2024; Meta 2024).
Read here the full report published by International IDEA on 17 September 2024.
The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, The Carter Center, the National Democratic Institute, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, and the Kofi Annan Foundation announced today the release of Model Commitments for Advancing Genuine and Credible Elections.
With democratic elections and institutions facing growing threats globally, it is critical to have actionable commitments that help improve, defend, and expand election integrity. The Model Commitments provides a resource with specific steps government leaders and democracy advocates can take to help strengthen democracy and elections, including ways to expand dialogue on key electoral issues. The Model Commitments are intended to benefit everyone involved in electoral processes and systems, including voters, candidates, election officials, election observers, and others.
The Model Commitments outline five sets of electoral integrity commitments — to protect Genuine Elections, Legal Framework, Election Administration, Electoral Accountability, and Information Integrity.
They draw on existing international norms, standards, and best practices for democratic elections, including most that are catalogued in the Carter Center’s Election Obligations and Standards Database and the Election Obligations and Standards Handbook.
Democratic electoral processes face constant pressures and changing circumstances in countries around the world. To help build public trust in election integrity and democratic governance, the Model Commitments are designed to reflect changing contexts and efforts to strengthen democracy in the face of new and evolving challenges.
This resource lays out ways for governments to affirm efforts to implement these commitments or to pledge an intention to apply them in a timely manner through appropriate electoral reform measures.
The Model Commitments for Advancing Genuine and Credible Elections is supported by like-minded organizations that share a commitment to the principles embodied in the Model Commitments. The organizations listed below have indicated their support for the Model Commitments. Additional supporting organizations will be added annually and announced around each International Day of Democracy.
·Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL)
·Election Watch EU
·Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA)
·European Partnership for Democracy (EPD)
·European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE)
·Experts in Democracy, Governance, and Elections (EDGE)
·Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD)
·Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD)
Read here the full Models Commitments published by the NDI on 15 September 2024.
In Congress this term, 25% of senators and 28% of representatives are women, near record highs for both houses, but far below equal representation with men. As Kamala Harris runs for president, will being a woman cost her votes?
To learn more about the role of gender in American politics, we spoke with Brian Schaffner, a political science professor and Newhouse Professor of Civic Studies. He is also a principal investigator of the Cooperative Election Study, the largest academic survey focused on U.S. elections, and is writing a book about how political polarization is defined by social divisions.
How have attitudes toward electing women changed in America in the last 30 years?
People now are much more open to electing women to all levels of office, including to president, although obviously we haven’t seen a woman president yet. The number of women in Congress, for example, has hit historic highs, even though it’s well under parity with men. There are also a lot of women governors throughout the country.
Political science research shows that when women run for office, they are at least as successful as men are. The big problem is not that voters won’t vote for a woman for political office now; it’s that women don’t run as often as men do.
Why don’t women run for office as much as men?
This is not necessarily my area of expertise, but there’s a lot of research that focuses on this. It shows a range of factors, from how women and men are raised differently to the types of things people have to do to run for office, like raising money—having to put yourself out there.
Also, until recently, women weren’t recruited as much as men to run for office. The parties would go out and try to recruit men, because they were the people who were in their networks.
Read here the full article published by the Tufts University on 4 September 2024.
Image credits: Tufts University