Elections
Since gaining independence from the UK in October 1962, Ugandan women have played a critical role in shaping politics and governance throughout the country. From Joyce Mpanga, who served as Minister of Women in Development from 1988 to 1989, to Winnie Byanyima, who played a critical role in framing the 1995 Ugandan Constitution, women have shaped the political and governance landscape in Uganda, paving the way for countless young girls and women.
The 1995 Constitution introduced affirmative action. Article 21 of the Ugandan Constitution reserves one-third of local government seats and parliamentary positions for women, ensuring their active participation in the country’s decision-making processes.
In January 2026, Uganda held its general elections, and several women ran as candidates. However, women campaigners have to worry about more than giving speeches and rallying voters — they also have to navigate online violence that manifested as deepfakes, AI-generated images, gendered disinformation, and harmful narratives that were weaponised to target Ugandan women politicians during this year’s election.
Encouraging more women to seek public office — and helping them achieve that goal — is the focus of an upcoming virtual training event.
Set for Feb. 24, Run Where You Are – Say Yes “is calling on women and gender-diverse people to take the next step toward public leadership” by attending the free, non-partisan virtual event next week.
The news release about the event states women and gender-diverse people are still underrepresented in municipal leadership. One way to counter that underrepresentation is by supporting and encouraging women who are curious and interested but unsure.
The training “is designed for those who are curious about running for office, actively considering a campaign, or seeking clarity on what leadership could look like in their own community. The event focuses on breaking down barriers, addressing self-doubt, and offering practical insight from those who have already said ‘yes’ to leadership.
With the first primary elections of the 2026 midterms just two weeks away, the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, shares resources for covering women in this year’s elections and understanding their place in American politics.
These resources are available on CAWP’s newly-redesigned website. The most recent iteration of the CAWP website makes our research and data more accessible, refreshes the site’s visual identity, and makes it easier to navigate for all visitors.
Seven women candidates, majority of them from the BNP, have been elected to Bangladesh parliament in the 13th national election, a media report said on Friday. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which is set to form the Government with an absolute majority, has seen six of its female nominees win their respective seats, The Dhaka Tribune said quoting unofficial results.
The BNP women candidates are Afroza Khan Rita from Manikganj-3, Israt Sultana Elen Bhutto from Jhalokati-2, Tahsina Rushdir Luna from Sylhet-2, Shama Obaid from Faridpur-2, Nayab Yusuf Kamal from Faridpur-3, and Farzana Sharmin Putul from Natore-1, it said. In addition, Barrister Rumin Farhana, who had previously been expelled from the BNP, has been elected as an independent candidate from Brahmanbaria-2.
The results are based on unofficial tallies announced after the conclusion of voting and counting across the country, the newspaper said. The BNP had fielded only 10 female candidates among 300 constituencies in the polls. With more than 151 seats in the 300-seat parliament, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is cruising towards a sweeping victory in the landmark parliamentary polls held on Thursday, local media reports said.
It is a striking paradox. For more than three decades, Bangladesh has been led by women—an exceptional continuity across the globe. Yet the outcome of the 13th national election tells a different story. Even with women at the top position, women's presence in Parliament has declined significantly day by day.
In the elections of 1991, 1996 and 2001, women's participation was gradually increasing. The 2008 election is often seen as a milestone in terms of women's representation in the National Parliament. That year, 5.9 percent of all candidates were women, and 19 women won in directly contested seats—a record that still stands.
But in the 2026 election—widely regarded as relatively free and competitive after a long period—the share of women candidates fell to 4.08 percent. Out of more than two thousand candidates, only 84 were women. In a 300-seat Parliament, just 7 women were directly elected—the lowest number since 2001.
As Assam, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Kerala prepare for Assembly elections, two decades of electoral data reveal a clear pattern: more women are entering the fray, but they are not winning in proportion to their participation. In contrast, men’s win percentages have remained relatively steady over the last 20 years.
Let’s look at this state by state.
West Bengal
While Mamata Banerjee, one of India’s most prominent women leaders, has been chief minister since 2011, women’s overall electoral performance in West Bengal has been bad. While more women contested elections, the number of women victors has only declined. They did not win proportionally to the increase in participation.
From 2001 to 2006, women’s victory rate increased. But after 2006, it began to decline steadily. By 2021, only 16.7 per cent of women contesting the election won seats — quite a fall from 24.6 per cent in 2001.
Despite this decline over the past two decades, women in West Bengal have consistently recorded higher winning percentages than men. In 2001, 17 per cent of male candidates won their seats, compared to 24.6 per cent of women candidates. This pattern has largely continued. In 2021, 13.4 per cent of men won, while that figure stood at 16.7 per cent for women.
Abstract
Research on election violence often does not capture its psychological and gendered dimensions. Gender differences on the continuum of violence, as acknowledged in other fields, are applied here to election violence. Specifically, this article explores ways to unveil the forms of election violence that are hidden from the view of an external observer because they are either not carried out in public or not recognized as violence. Survey data and interview material was collected from men and women political candidates participating in the 2014 national elections in the Maldives. The study concludes that the continuum of violence is relevant for adequately assessing the full range of illegitimate acts used against men and women candidates to affect electoral races. Women candidates in the Maldives were more exposed than men candidates to threats and to verbal and figurative sexualized aggression.
Click here to read the full article published by Sage Journals on 12 March 2021.
Abstract
Are women more likely to quit politics after losing their first race than men? Women’s first-time candidacies skyrocketed in the wake of the 2016 presidential election. Yet we have little sense of the long-term impact of this surge in women candidates on women’s representation writ large: Inexperienced candidates are more likely to lose, and women might be especially discouraged by a loss. This might make the benefits of such a surge in candidacies fleeting. Using a regression discontinuity design and data that feature 212,805 candidates across 22,473 jurisdictions between 1950 and 2018, we find that women who narrowly lose these elections are no more likely to quit politics than men who narrowly lose. Drawing on scholarship on women’s lower political ambition, we interpret these findings to mean that women’s decision-making differs from men’s at the point of entry into politics—not at the point of reentry.
Click here to access the paper.
Executive Summary
2020 marked the historic election of Vice President Kamala Harris as the first woman, first Black person, and first South Asian person to be vice president. But women’s political success in 2020 was not limited to the presidential level. After a record year for women in election 2018, the 2020 election marked continued progress for women in waging candidacies and winning elections at the congressional and state legislative levels. Unlike the historic victories for Democratic women in 2018, women’s legislative gains in 2020 were concentrated among Republicans. After a year of decline in representation across levels of office as a result of election 2018, Republican women rebounded in 2020 elections to reach new highs in legislative representation in 2021. Still, they continue to be the minority of women and of Republican legislators.
Measuring women’s electoral success means placing 2020 outcomes into historical and contemporary context. That is the work of this report. In addition to breaking down 2020 congressional and state legislative data by gender, race, and party and providing specific comparisons to the 2018 election, this report evaluates progress for women in electoral politics by looking beyond the numbers. The 2020 election reveals – via candidate paths to office and strategies for success – both maintenance and disruption of the gender and intersectional dynamics that have historically contributed to women’s political underrepresentation.
Click here to access the report published by the Center for American Women and Politics.
Elections in 2020 were profoundly marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in delays and cancellations, logistical challenges for candidates and election administrators and often low turnout. Women’s leadership was frequently in the spotlight during the pandemic. The pandemic raised complex and deeply gendered challenges for citizens and created obstacles for MPs to communicate and engage directly with their constituents. It changed the ways parliaments operate, introducing flexibility and new technologies. A substantial number of MPs across the globe were infected, many lost their lives.
Click here to access the report.
Source: IPU
Within the next two years, 38 states will hold gubernatorial elections, including two states - Virginia and New Jersey – who will hold gubernatorial elections in November 2021. These elections provide multiple opportunities for women. Nine women currently serve as governor and just 44 women have ever served in gubernatorial office in U.S. history. Candidates, including some potential women candidates, are already jockeying for the governors’ offices.
But running for office isn’t the only way women can participate in politics and wield power. Political donations provide critical resources that help candidates win elections and they signal that a candidate has support and the potential to be competitive. Furthermore, research finds that candidates and party leaders are more attentive to the interests of political donors. The 2018 and 2020 election cycles demonstrated that women are emerging as a significant force as political donors, and the 2021 and 2022 races present an opportunity for women to flex that power and make their mark in gubernatorial elections.
In The Money Hurdle in the Race for Governor, co-authors Kira Sanbonmatsu, Kathleen Rogers, and I note the dearth of women governors and the challenges women candidates face in seeking gubernatorial office. Our research also reveals that women’s giving in gubernatorial elections hasn’t reached its potential. Women make up a majority of the American electorate and vote at higher rates than men yet have lagged behind in terms of political giving. That tide may be turning.
Click here to read the full article published by the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) on 14 January 2021.
This study applied a conceptual framework that uses a comparative and gendered approach to estimate the cost of politics, using a set of pre-identified variables regularly incurred by both candidates seeking political office and elected representatives while in office. This consideration was in line with the notion that analysis of election delivery and management should not be looked at in the realm of an event but rather as a cycle. The conceptual framework enabled the research team to arrive at both statistical and qualitative evidence regarding the cost of politics in Uganda.
Click here to see the report.