Parliaments & Representatives

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."

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The Scottish Government has “betrayed women and girls” by failing to progress legislation designed to protect them, an opposition MSP has claimed.

Last year, the SNP administration said the protected characteristic of “sex” would be added to the Hate Crime Act.

The pledge came after plans for a standalone law against misogyny was dropped.

Yet moves to update the legislation have stalled with no clear timeline from the government as to when the change will be made.

Ash Regan MSP, who sits as an independent, described the delay as a deliberate political decision rather than a technical oversight.

“Women were told they would be protected, yet sex remains excluded from the Hate Crime Act years later, and after the promise of a stronger, standalone misogyny law was quietly dropped,” Ms Regan said.

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