Elections
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has raised alarms over an increase in violence targeting women, children, and religious minorities in Bangladesh as the country prepares for the 13th National Parliamentary Elections scheduled for February 12.
In a report published on its website on January 14, the rights watchdog stated that these attacks highlight the interim government’s failure to uphold human rights following the 2024 "Monsoon Revolution."
Surge in Gender-Based Violence
Citing police data, the report noted that gender-based violence from January to June 2025 has surpassed figures from the same period in 2024. Dr. Fauzia Moslem, President of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, attributed the decline in safety to the rising influence of religious groups and their provocative rhetoric.
According to Dr. Moslem, these groups are actively working to restrict women's freedom of movement and social participation. The report highlighted that since May 2025—when hardline groups labeled government gender equality efforts as "un-Islamic"—women have increasingly faced verbal, physical, and digital harassment, leading to a "silencing effect."
This week, the Minister of Solidarity, Social Integration and Family, Naïma Ben Yahya, announced the launch of a national campaign to raise awareness about women’s political participation. The initiative aims to strengthen the fight against discrimination and stereotypes in politics and is being rolled out under the Moucharaka program, ahead of the 2026 and 2027 elections.
Answering oral questions in the House of Representatives, the minister said the campaign includes training programs for women members of political parties, carried out in coordination with women’s sections within those parties. It also involves academic research conducted in partnership with universities, with findings to be published in order to identify avenues for improvement.
A total of 2,568 candidates have submitted nomination papers to contest the upcoming 13th Jatiya Sangsad elections. Of them, only 109 are women accounting for slightly over 4 per cent. Women’s rights activists have demanded that political parties give explanation before the public and be held accountable for nominating so few female candidates.
The demand was raised yesterday, Monday at a press conference organised by the Forum for Women’s Political Rights. The speakers also called for accountability from both the Election Commission and the political parties.
A written statement titled ‘The crisis of women’s nominations: The gap between political parties’ commitments and implementation, and the accountability of the Election Commission’ was read out at the press conference, held at the Sagar-Runi Auditorium of the Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) in Segunbagicha of Dhaka.
Speakers at a press conference on Monday said women’s participation in the upcoming election is extremely disappointing, despite some independent female candidates joining the race at the last moment.
Forum leaders made the remarks at a press conference titled “Nomination Crisis of Women Candidates: Gap between Parties’ Commitments and Implementation and the Accountability of the Election Commission”, held at the Sagar-Runi Auditorium of the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity.
Representatives from Gonoshasthaya Abhijan, Durbaar Network Foundation, Nagorik Coalition, Nari Udyog Kendra (NUK), Narigrantha Probortona, Nari Sanghati, Nari Pokkho, Narir Dake Rajniti, Feminist Alliance of Bangladesh (FAB), Bangladesh Nari Mukti Kendra, and Voice for Reform were present at the event.
They alleged that although the Election Commission frequently talks about a “gender-inclusive election,” there is little reflection of that commitment in reality.
The upcoming national election in Bangladesh is significant for a number of reasons, one of the more significant of which is the issue of higher female representation and inclusiveness in Bangladeshi politics.
As the signatories to the July Charter have pledged to uphold clauses related to female empowerment from this election, the nomination lists of political parties have become the first real measure of whether the Charter represents a political turning point or merely a reformist document with limited practical consequence.
Regrettably, most parties have already fallen short.
The July Charter set a clear benchmark: political parties would begin with at least 5% women candidates in parliamentary nominations and gradually increase this figure by five percentage points in each election cycle until reaching 33% direct representation. All major parties signed it.
The transition process in Haiti, underway since July 2021, is progressing toward the elections scheduled for 2026 under a new electoral calendar (https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-46492-haiti-flash-the-cep-has-just-published-the-revised-electoral-calendar-in-the-moniteur.html).
Despite some progress, Women's participation in governance in Haiti remains limited. Female representation in key bodies, such as the Presidential Transitional Council (CPT) and the Government, remains below the minimum constitutional quota of 30%. Women hold 22.22% of government positions and 11.11% within the CPT, where they do not have voting rights (observer status). They represent 27% of electoral staff at the departmental (BED) and municipal (BEC) levels. This underrepresentation highlights the persistent challenges to achieving gender equality in leadership roles.
This year marks the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees women the right to vote. But the United States was hardly the first country to codify women’s suffrage, and barriers to vote persisted for some groups of U.S. women for decades. At least 20 nations preceded the U.S., according to a Pew Research Center analysis of women’s enfranchisement measures in 198 countries and self-administering territories. Today, none of these 198 countries and territories bar women from voting because of their sex; some countries do not hold national elections.
Here is a closer look at the history of women’s suffrage around the world. This analysis focuses on when women in each country won the right to vote in national elections, not regional or local elections.
Click here to read the full article published by the Pew Research Center on 5 October 2020.
RepresentWomen tracks women's representation and leadership in the United States and around the world to identify the "best practices" for creating a more representative government. Our research indicates that even as more women run, electoral rules and systems play a major role in determining electoral outcomes. As seen in both our 2016 and 2020 reports, we find that electoral outcomes for women and people of color are overall better in jurisdictions that have implemented ranked choice voting (RCV).
The 2020 ranked choice voting report, "In Ranked Choice Elections, Women WIN" provides a thorough review of ranked choice voting in the United States and how it is impacting women's representation in the cities that have implemented it. Over the last decade, 19 cities and counties have used ranked choice voting to elect sitting city officials, including 13 mayors and the city councilmembers in 14 jurisdictions. Over the last decade (2010-2019), women have won 45% of all municipal ranked choice elections. As of April 2020, nearly half of all mayors (46%) and 49% of all city council seats decided by RCV are held by women.
Click here to see the report.
Political campaigns online have demonstrated that they can help candidates win elections, include more citizens’ concerns in political debates or allow upcoming parties to gain political exposure.
However, social media can also have a negative effect on political and electoral integrity by attacking an essential principle of democracy: the fundamental right of citizens to access trustable, reliable information to form their political opinions and, ultimately, decide their votes.
In this context of potential manipulation of public opinion through digital information operations, electoral management bodies, monitoring authorities, legislators and political parties face increasing difficulty in protecting the integrity of the political process.
Based on International IDEA’s work in Tunisia, Panama and Bolivia, this Fact sheet seeks to identify some overarching recommendations and a way forward based on how these types of activities may have potentially influenced their recent elections.
Click here to see the fact sheet.
In late 2018 and early 2019 UN Women interviewed 87 per cent of the women who ran for Parliamentary election (75 of the 86 women; of the 113 women who registered to run, 86 made it on to candidate lists). This report summarizes their stories and experiences as candidates and looks at issues of: violence against women in politics, financial constraints and campaign management, media and image portrayal, violence harassment and discrimination.
Click here to see the report.
Introduction
I was targeted because my husband is from a different community that was perceived to hold a differing political opinion from the one of the dominant community we live in.’
Survivor of sexual violence during the 2017 elections interviewed in this research Electoral-related sexual violence (ERSV) is a form of sexual violence, including rape, gang rape, sexual assault and defilement, associated with electoral processes and/or intended to influence or achieve a political end within an electoral process. In Kenya, sexual violence has been a recurrent feature of elections, which have been marred by deadly violence, unrest and serious human rights violations and abuses. Outbreaks of sexual violence during elections have been documented since the 1990s.Following the post-election violence in 2007/2008, the Commission of Inquiry into the Post-Election Violence (CIPEV), known as the ‘Waki Commission’, documented 900 cases of sexual violence perpetrated by security agents, militia groups and civilians against both men, boys, women and girls in a context of large scale violence, mass displacement and more than 1,000 deaths.
CIPEV provided critical recommendations for reform and was followed by the historic adoption in 2010 of a progressive Constitution with a robust Bill of Rights. Since 2010, an impressive set of laws, policies and standard operating procedures have been developed on prevention and response to sexual violence. Yet, during the general elections held in August and October 2017, within a context of localised violence, large numbers of cases of sexual violence perpetrated by persons in uniform and civilians were again documented. According to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), at least 201 Kenyans – most of them women and girls — were subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence; [4] however the actual figure is likely higher due to under-reporting and the fact that KNCHR documented these in 11 of the 47 counties.
Click here to see the report.
The Report on Gender-Sensitive Parliaments is the result of a two-year research project. It follows up on a previous IPU publication, Equality in Politics: A Survey of Women and Men in Parliaments (2008). That Survey had found that women were overwhelmingly the main drivers of progress in gender equality in parliament, but that parliaments, as institutions, must also shoulder their share of the responsibility. This finding begs the questions: What are parliaments doing to foster gender equality? What policies inform gender equality efforts? Are the institutional structures of parliaments around the world mindful of both men and women? In short, are parliaments gender-sensitive?
The Report seeks to provide answers to these questions. Simply put, a gender-sensitive parliament is one that responds to the needs and interests of both men and women in its structures, operations, methods and work. This publication not only provides an important assessment of the gender sensitivity of the world's parliaments, but also identifies key steps parliaments can take to become gender-sensitive institutions that contribute to the achievement of gender equality.
Click here to see the report.