Parliaments & Representatives
Women in the Grand Duchy have less confidence in democracy than men, according to a survey from the University of Luxembourg.
Women surveyed repeatedly display a "more cautious, critical and nuanced" attitude towards society, institutions and the workings of democracy, while the men are generally "more assertive and confident", according to the study, published last week by the university’s political observatory POLINDEX.
While men give "a presumption of legitimacy to Luxembourg's institutional structures", women think "more critically [and] more vigilantly, surely reflecting a heightened awareness of the limitations and dysfunctions of the system".
Former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje recently asserted that women have to work three times as hard as men to establish themselves in mainstream politics.
Addressing an event in Jaipur on Saturday, the BJP MLA stated, "At the time of Independence, the literacy rate of women in India was 9 percent, and today it is 65 percent. In the country’s general elections, the number of women contesting elections is 10 percent, whereas in 1957 it was only 3 percent."
Raje, who also serves as a national vice-president within her party, strongly emphasised that though the representation of women has increased noticeably in electoral politics since Independence, the growth is simply not sufficient.
She stated, "In the first Lok Sabha, the number of women Members of Parliament was 22, and today it is 74. In the Rajya Sabha, in 1952 the number of women members was 15, and today it has increased to 42. But this number is not enough. This number should be equal to that of men."
Violence against women in politics has become a systemic threat to democratic participation in The Gambia, forcing many women out of leadership spaces through intimidation, harassment, and abuse, a new study by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) has revealed.
The findings were unveiled on Friday 23rd January 2026 at the official launch of the Violence Against Women in Politics (VAWP) report, a landmark research conducted under WFD’s Governance for Inclusive and Accountable (GIA) Programme, bringing together government officials, lawmakers, diplomats, civil society, and development partners.
West Virginia has the lowest percentage of women legislators in the country. That fact alone should concern anyone who believes our government works best when it reflects the people it serves.
Misogyny in politics—both loud and quiet—doesn’t just silence women. It silences the communities we represent, and it shapes laws that harm families across our state. Politics has taught me that for women, the reality is never whether misogyny exists, but how much of it we must endure to keep our seat at the table. I learned this firsthand when I ran for office and during my service in the Legislature. This reality is demoralizing not only for women in office, but for the communities we are elected to serve. When women’s voices are ignored or silenced, entire constituencies are cut out of decisions that shape their lives.
The overt forms of misogyny are obvious—sexual harassment and legislation designed to control women’s bodies. But the most corrosive form is the subtle, everyday misogyny women are expected to tolerate just to stay in the room.
Read the full article here.
Gender isn’t just a matter of individual identity. It’s an axis of governance—and for the last year, across a range of policies, the Trump administration has punished women.
Today is the first anniversary of Donald Trump’s inauguration. From ICE deportations to the dismantling of DEI to the criminalization of pregnancy to environmental rollbacks, the administration has narrowed whom it protects and who, through degradations to citizenship, it has determined is expendable.
In this country, gender often determines who bears risks, absorbs costs, and is rendered responsible for the failures of markets and the state. This administration’s policies are, accordingly, especially harrowing for women as well as those who won’t or can’t conform to its gender regime.
Read More here.
The state of women’s rights in Turkey showed no meaningful improvement in 2025, as longstanding problems persisted and new challenges emerged. Femicides, institutional failures to protect women and increasing inequalities in social and political representation remained defining features of the year, with women’s rights defenders continuing to face legal and administrative measures aimed at curbing their activities.
Femicides in 2025 were marked not only by extreme violence but also by judicial processes that renewed concerns over impunity. The case of Rojin Kabaiş, a 21-year-old university student whose body was found three weeks after she went missing, became a striking example of this pattern. Despite authorities’ repeated assertions that her death was a suicide, details brought to light through the persistence of her family and public scrutiny pointed to the possibility of homicide and further intensified concerns over accountability.
Nigeria’s renewed push to correct decades of severe gender imbalance in political representation has thrust one proposal to the centre of national debate: the Reserved Seats Bill, a constitutional amendment legislation seeking to create additional elective seats exclusively for women in the Senate, House of Representatives, and State Houses of Assembly.
The idea is simple: To increase women’s representation because, clearly, if deliberate steps are not taken, women will remain excluded from Nigeria’s political system. But the process of implementing this bill, particularly how political parties will nominate candidates and the emerging concerns over cost, campaign size, and electoral fairness, is far more complex.
This explainer unpacks the bill, breaks down how parties may eventually select candidates, examines potential drawbacks, and situates Nigeria’s conversation in a global context.
It also interrogates the argument that women contesting state-wide seats will face gubernatorial-level campaign burdens and what that means for the cost of governance.
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Why Women’s Political Participation and Representation Matters
Women’s equal participation and representation in political life is fundamental to inclusive democracy, responsive governance, and sustainable development. Despite global commitments and some progress, women across South Asia remain significantly underrepresented in decision-making roles particularly in legislative leadership, executive office, and youth political spaces.
At the current pace, gender parity in national legislatures will not be achieved before 2063, and parity among Heads of Government may take until 21501.
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Key Facts & Regional Snapshot
Global & South Asia Overview
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Women in national parliaments (global): 27.2%
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South Asia average:
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Lower/Unicameral Houses: 14.7%
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Upper Houses: 19.9%
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South Asian countries with women in top government leadership: India, Sri Lanka
Key Takeaway
Advancing women’s political participation and representation in South Asia requires more than quotas. Sustainable change depends on transforming social norms that fundamentally define the role of women in the politics. Only through transformative gender social norms can we address critical issues like violence against women in politics, and create an inclusive political space for all, contributing to a strong democratic system.
Full snapshot available here.
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UN Commission on the Status of Women 65th Session on Women’s full and effective participation and decision-making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls: agreed conclusions E/CN.6/2021/3
Feminist scholars and advocates have long asserted that women’s rights and gender equality are fundamental prerequisites for democratic governance. The close correlation between women’s rights and democracy is becoming increasingly evident, as the erosion of women’s rights often signals early and unmistakable signs of democratic backsliding and the rise of authoritarianism worldwide (Allam 2019; Arat 2022; Chenoweth and Marks 2022). A gendered analysis of state institutions, policymaking, and elections provides crucial insights into the historical fluctuations in women’s rights and, by extension, the overall quality of democracy (Tajali 2022).
An overview of sexist repression in Iran highlights the depth of autocratic entrenchment, as evidenced by increasing gender-based repression and violence. These assaults on women’s fundamental rights are not new but are deeply rooted in the ideologies of Islamic fundamentalism, which have institutionalized patriarchal dominance and systemic gender discrimination (Hoodfar and Sadr 2010; Paidar 1995; Tajali 2024b). This analysis also exposes the contentious relationship between authoritarian elites and feminist advocates, who refuse to remain passive in the face of such attacks.
Feminist movements resisting systemic gender discrimination pose a significant threat to the Iranian regime, resulting in violent crackdowns on women’s rights advocates. A recent example is the regime’s harsh response to the nonviolent “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests, triggered by the killing of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Jina Amini in September 2022 while in police custody for allegedly violating Iran’s conservative hijab laws. To reassert control, the conservative-dominated Iranian parliament passed a controversial Hijab and Chastity bill in September 2023. This bill introduces harsher penalties for improper veiling, utilizing enhanced surveillance and artificial intelligence to identify those who defy mandatory hijab laws.
While the bill awaits approval from the unelected Guardian Council, Iranian authorities launched the “Noor (Light) Operation” in April 2024, enforcing the bill’s provisions through violent crackdowns on improperly veiled women and girls.
Global and regional commitments over the last thirty years provide solid support for promoting gender equality in politics. In recent years, the growth of women’s representation has stagnated, and the OSCE region is now witnessing escalating narratives against gender equality, which are having a detrimental effect on women’s political participation. Temporary special measures are being abolished, and no new ones are being introduced. Political polarization is steadily increasing, while sexism and violence against women in politics is pervasive, impacting female politicians’ decisions on whether to run for office, advocate certain policy solutions or leave their elected posts.
In this publication, ODIHR presents a seven-step roadmap for OSCE participating States — their parliaments, governments, political parties and other state agencies — to work towards achieving gender parity. It complements the results of the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s 2025 Global Conference of Women Parliamentarians with its visionary approach to parity as parity in numbers, influence and culture. These steps aim to inspire participating States to draft their own, national roadmaps to gender parity, tailored to their specific circumstances and needs.
Extract
The 2024 elections made US history in numerous ways. Vice President Kamala Harris became the first Black and South Asian woman to be nominated by a major party for the presidency. Former president Donald Trump made history by becoming the oldest person and the first convicted felon to become president. 2024 marked the first presidential election following the historic Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in 2022.
The 2024 elections made US history in numerous ways. Vice President Kamala Harris became the first Black and South Asian woman to be nominated by a major party for the presidency. Former president Donald Trump made history by becoming the oldest person and the first convicted felon to become president. 2024 marked the first presidential election following the historic Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in 2022.
We asked leading experts in the field to reflect on the gender and racial dynamics of the 2024 election cycle and consider which aspects of the election are illuminated by gender scholarship. We asked what theories help explain the dynamics of the campaigns, voting behavior, and the outcome, as well as which election aspects were unanticipated. We asked about the larger lessons and challenges for the study of gender, LGBTQ+ identities, race/ethnicity, elections, and politics. As Politics & Gender celebrates its 20th anniversary, we wanted to know what new questions should be addressed and whether new theories about gender and US elections are needed.
Full article available here.
ABSTRACT
While gender quotas in politics have received considerable scholarly debate, much of the focus remains on whether quota-elected women are less qualified due to their pre-election background. Far less attention has been given to their actual parliamentary performance and how it compares to their non-quota peers. This study uses UK parliamentary records between 2005 and 2017 to compare the parliamentary activity of Labour women selected via All-Women Shortlists (AWS) with those selected via the traditional Open-List. Parliamentary activity is measured through contributions in spoken debate, rebellion rates, submission of written questions, and vote attendance, alongside an examination of AWS women’s commitment to women’s substantive representation. The results show that AWS women were equally active in most parliamentary channels, but they were more active in submitting written questions and speaking about women’s issues during debates compared to their Open-List counterparts. Consequently, the findings refute claims that AWS women are less active or underperform in Parliament, demonstrating that they perform as well as, or better than, their Open-List counterparts across all measures. These results should encourage the broader adoption of quotas in other UK political parties.
Full article published by Taylor & Francis here.