Parliaments & Representatives
Aug. 26, Women’s Equality Day, marks the anniversary of the 19th Amendment’s certification—a milestone that granted American women the right to vote and expanded democracy in unprecedented ways. While it’s a victory worth celebrating, full enfranchisement happened later with the adoption of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, but it was never intended to be the end of the struggle.
One hundred and five years later, RepresentWomen’s new 2025 Gender Parity Index shows just how unfinished that work remains: Despite some gains for women in state legislatures, half of U.S. states still earn a “D” grade for women’s representation.
Those words resonate powerfully today. The 2025 Gender Parity Index shows that while strides have been made—with Maine, New Hampshire and Oregon earning an “A” this year—the U.S. is still far from true equality. More work is necessary.
Women’s participation in politics has significantly increased over recent decades, with many countries introducing gender quotas, anti-discrimination laws, and policies aimed at protecting women’s rights. Despite these advances, women’s underrepresentation in politics remains a systemic issue and barriers to their full participation in political life are still significant.
One of the most persistent obstacles growing at an alarming rate is the onslaught of sexism as well as violence against women in politics. These deter women from entering or remaining in politics and form a daunting barrier to achieving gender equality in political decision-making. Additionally, new and emerging threats, including technology-facilitated violence, are deepening existing inequalities and silencing women, including in political spaces and public debates, further weakening democratic discourse and inclusive governance.
The 2025 Annual Conference of the Gender Equality Commission of the Council of Europe addresses the pressing issue of violence and sexism against women in politics. We are focusing on combating these challenges within political parties and institutions.
From navigating backlash and countering violence, to addressing structural inequalities and the role of political institutions, the 2025 Annual Conference explores the ups and downs of women’s equal participation with a broad range of international experts.
Nepal is heading to the polls in less than two years. Voters will choose their representatives for three tiers of government – the local, provincial, and federal – which will shape Nepal’s political course until the early 2030s. As the election timeline approaches, Nepal’s political scene is slowly heating up, with political parties forming fluid alliances, striving to reclaim lost ground, and rolling out fresh campaign tactics.
This may seem like a regular democratic exercise for the Himalayan nation, but beyond the political hubbub, a pressing challenge looms large. Elections in Nepal are becoming increasingly expensive with each passing cycle, thereby threatening inclusive democracy and raising concerns about the future of political participation.
Political campaigning in Nepal, like all other South Asian countries, requires massive financial resources. Candidates must mobilize cadres, organize rallies, conduct door-to-door campaigns, arrange for media coverage, and now also compete in the fast-expanding digital sphere. All of this comes at a heavy price. This rising campaign cost does more than financially strain party resources and that of the individuals contesting elections. It has rather profound consequences, limiting the political participation of women and underrepresented groups.
Chișinău, 29 August 2025 - A new study by the Center Partnership for Development (CPD) shows that although women make up 44.5% of candidates in the 2025 parliamentary elections - almost achieving parity - this share has slightly decreased compared to the 2021 elections. The analysis confirms that compliance with the gender quota is essential to ensure such representation, as political parties take different approaches: some treat it as a formal obligation, while others regard it as a strategic objective. These findings provide important insights into the evolution of electoral competition.
The preliminary gender equality analysis of candidates, “2025 Parliamentary Elections: Analysis of an Electoral Competition”, was developed within the project “Strengthening Democratic Resilience in Moldova”, implemented by UNDP Moldova in partnership with UN Women Moldova and funded by Norway, Canada, Sweden, and Denmark.
Key findings of the study:
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Although the numerical presence of women on candidate lists is relatively balanced, the analysis of their placement reveals certain fluctuations. In the first 10 positions - considered the most competitive and with the highest chances of securing a parliamentary mandate - women account for 40.7% of all candidates, while in the next decile (positions 11–20) their share slightly increases to 42%.
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Although the gender quota is respected, men dominate the top positions on the lists, while women are concentrated in quintiles with lower chances of election.
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Some parties limited themselves strictly to meeting the minimum mandatory quota, while others went beyond the legal requirements by including over 50% women among their candidates.
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The average age of candidates running for parliamentary seats is higher than in previous elections. Parties tend to place older candidates in the top positions. In the first 10 positions, the average age is 50.5 years, while in the last 10 positions it drops to 39.1 years—a difference of over 11 years.
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The detailed analysis shows that younger candidates are predominantly placed toward the end of the lists, where their chances of entering Parliament are lower.
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Approximately 70% of candidates come from urban areas, with nearly half from Chișinău. More than half of the candidates (45.4%) are from Chișinău, while the next largest localities—Bălți, Ialoveni, Comrat, and Criuleni—each contribute less than 4%. The remaining districts provide very small fractions, mostly under 1% of the total. This urban concentration is explained by the greater resources available in cities, as well as the fact that rural populations are smaller and predominantly older.
This product was developed within the project “Strengthening Democratic Resilience in Moldova”, implemented by UNDP Moldova in partnership with UN Women Moldova and funded by Norway, Canada, Sweden, and Denmark.
Youth engagement is key for a healthy democracy. Young people are the future generations that will lead our democracies. They are also often amongst the most disengaged people of our societies. It is therefore a democratic imperative that parliaments actively promote meaningful youth engagement, if we are to strengthen our democracies into sustainable political systems.
This Guide is aimed at parliamentary staff and Members of Parliament (MPs) who want to learn more about engaging young people in parliamentary business. We use a wide range of examples from parliaments across the world to indicate how to design, deliver and evaluate meaningful youth engagement activities.
This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union as part of the Inter Pares I Parliaments in Partnership project, implemented by International IDEA. Its contents are the sole responsibility of International IDEA and the International Parliament Engagement Network (IPEN) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
Explore the full suite of Citizen Engagement Guides for actionable tips and inspiration to strengthen your parliament's engagement with the public on the Inter Pares page
A recent study has confirmed that women in politics are subjected to a higher degree of attacks and abuse on social media platforms compared to their male counterparts. The research analysed millions of posts and also revealed that the language used against politicians in the UK is more abusive than in other countries. This incivility includes misogynistic and sexist comments, violent threats, and attempts to defame or humiliate, according to the Daily Mirror.
Key takeaways from the incident:
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The study, which analyzed 23 million posts on X (formerly known as Twitter) aimed at politicians in the UK, Spain, Germany, and the US, found that women in Europe face online "incivility" regardless of their level of fame. This incivility includes hate speech, stereotypes, undermining or excluding a social group, threats, name-calling, casting aspersions, pejorative language, and sarcasm.
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Research associate professor of politics at Newcastle University and lead researcher of the study, Maarja Lühiste, noted that female candidates often receive morality-focused insults like 'vile,' 'shame,' 'shameful,' 'disgraceful,' 'hypocrite,' and 'deluded.' They also receive more messages with personal attacks, including words like 'kill,' 'destroy,' and 'rape,' rather than simple swear words.
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The study, published in Politics & Gender by Cambridge University Press, indicated that posts targeting Spanish and German politicians used fewer deliberately abusive words compared to those aimed at US and UK politicians. Lühiste explained that while both men and women politicians experience incivility, women in Europe receive uncivil tweets even when they are not well known.
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Several female politicians in the UK have spoken out about their experiences with online abuse. In 2019, Heidi Allen cited “utterly dehumanising” abuse as a reason for stepping down as an MP. Nicky Morgan, former culture secretary, also stepped down as MP in 2019, noting the increased abuse due to online platforms and strong political feelings. Angela Rayner mentioned in 2023 that she barely reads online posts due to the abuse and believes female politicians experience it more often, aiming to silence them.
Giulia Fossati, a member of the centre-left Partito Democratico in Italy, shared her experiences of online harassment, noting that insults often combine digs at her gender and age. She said that she gets many comments, especially when she talks about feminist topics, citing examples like “go to the kitchen,” or “idiot shut up”.
In late March 2022, 16 years after she was first elected to the Isabel Provincial Assembly in Solomon Islands, Rhoda Sikilabu became the country’s first female premier. The four-time MPA and former Deputy Premier replaced Leslie Kikolo who resigned a day before he faced a motion of no confidence.
The local coverage of Solomon Islands’ first female premier – in the Solomon Times, the Island Sun, Twitter, as well as the Australian and New Zealand Pacific outlets – was pleasantly surprising and suggests that women’s political leadership is finally becoming newsworthy.
Click here to read the full article published by DevPolicy Blog on 27 April 2022.
The Study "Violence Against Women in Politics" is commissioned by the UNDP Albania, in partnership with the People's Advocate and the Commissioner for Protection from Discrimination and it is conducted in the context of the UN Joint Programme "Ending Violence Against Women" in Albania"funded by the Government of Sweden.
The study shows the known trend: women politicians, compared to men, are more likely to experience violence that is not visible.
Click here to access the report.
This document presents the result of a series of surveys conducted by Abacus Data in January 2022, about women in politics and the future of women in politics.
Click here to access the report.
Data provided by the Center for American Women and Politics and KnowWho Data Services. Numbers include members and officers of the municipal legislative branch of incorporated cities and towns with populations over 10,000 as per the U.S. Census. These bodies vary by municipality, but include city councils, boards of alderman, city commissions, among others. Mayors and other officials who perform mayoral functions are included in these counts. Data is as of March 2022 and will be updated annually.
Click here to access the data.
A survey on politicians in Japan has shown that many former and current female national legislators and local assembly members have been subject to sexual harassment.
"I was threatened that if I did not kiss them, they would not vote for me," and "I was told that young women win elections even if they are not qualified," are examples of some of the responses.
Released in February, the results were a part of a "politician harassment white paper" containing the results of a survey carried out by Tokyo-based Woman Shift, a network of young female lawmakers and assembly members, as well as Polilion, a Gifu Prefecture-based organization that conducts harassment training for legislatures and assemblies. The survey was carried out between August and October 2021, and 200 people (100 men, 98 women and 2 others) responded.
Click here to read the full article published by The Mainichi on 29 March 2022.
Recent conversations prompted by the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements have put issues of workplace sexism, sexual harassment and sexual assault into the global spotlight. This paper examines how members of the Australian Liberal Party made sense of, and responded to, accusations by female Liberal MPs of bullying and intimidation in their party. Transcripts of media interviews identified by searching the ParlInfo database (between August and September 2018) were analysed using a critical discursive psychology approach. Two discursive repertoires were routinely mobilised in Liberal politicians’ accounts: (1) a gender-neutral repertoire whereby reported incidents of bullying were argued to apply equally to men and women, and (2) a ‘politics is tough’ repertoire that served to downplay and legitimise bullying and intimidation as normative and unproblematic. We argues that such repertoires functioned to silence talk about the relevance of gender and the persistence of inequality. The bullying and intimidation experienced by women may continue to be the cost of their political engagement unless systemic change occurs that acknowledges the ongoing relevance of gender in politics.
Click here to access the paper.