Parliaments & Representatives
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.
Opening a newspaper these days, one cannot miss the year-end reviews on a wide range of issues. Statistics and surveys published across various media outlets in 2025 help us grasp the country’s overall condition. What emerges from these accounts is a troubling picture of continued violations of fundamental rights and citizen security in the post–July uprising period.
This raises serious concerns and casts doubt on how much of the spirit of the uprising has been lost. After all, ordinary people took to the streets in July demanding a “discrimination-free” society, a “new order,” and “justice.” At the end of the day, people seek peace they seek visible improvements in their quality of life. I believe it is necessary to objectively observe and analyse how much of these expectations have actually been fulfilled.
Various studies show that in transitional contexts, people articulate their aspirations in multidimensional ways. While states or international organisations may define “peace” in terms of treaties or ceasefires, ordinary people understand peace as the ability to live their lives—not as an abstract concept.
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.
Across West Africa, women leaders and legislators are intensifying calls for ECOWAS to enforce laws mandating gender quotas in politics. The demand, freshly echoed at the ECOWAS Female Parliamentarians Association (ECOFEPA) Forum held during the Parliament’s 25th anniversary Extraordinary Session in Abuja, rests on a compelling argument: women make up more than half of the population, yet occupy only a fraction of parliamentary and executive seats across the region.
From Senegal, where women occupy over 40 percent of parliamentary seats due largely to strong quota laws, to Nigeria, where women account for barely 6 percent of legislators, the disparity is both glaring and persistent. The appeal by ECOFEPA president, Veronica Sesay, for member states to legislate reserved seats and proportional representation has revived a long-standing debate on legal fixes for political inequality.
Tajikistan ranked 89th out of 181 countries in the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Index 2025/26, scoring 0.685, according to the latest global assessment of women’s well-being and rights.
Across Central Asia, Kazakhstan placed 72nd (0.722), followed by Turkmenistan at 74th (0.720), Kyrgyzstan at 84th (0.697), and Uzbekistan at 98th (0.674), The Caspian Post reports via Tajik media.
One of Tajikistan’s strongest indicators is everyday safety: 93 per cent of women said they feel safe walking alone at night in their neighborhood-marked in the index as the best result within the comparison group. However, the country trails in areas related to rights and protection. Access to justice was rated 0.7 on a 0-4 scale, the lowest in the group, while 14 per cent of women reported experiencing intimate partner violence, also the weakest показатель among peers.
Results for inclusion are mixed. Women in Tajikistan complete an average of 10.9 years of education. Employment among women aged 25-64 stands at 28.8 per cent, financial inclusion at 39.4 per cent, and 68 per cent of women use mobile phones. Women hold 26.6 per cent of parliamentary seats.
A quilting metaphor, unique to our nakshi kantha, aptly describes Bangladesh's politics today. The intricate needlework that underpins the beauty of our nightly wrap-on continues to be a revered tradition, often ignoring the actual individuals who recycle worn-out cloths to infuse it with new vitality. The presence/absence of the women weaver's story in this tapestry is telling of our gendered reality. In theory, half the country is female. They lift trophies in football and cricket, they climb mountains, and they outperform their male peers in classrooms, laboratories, clinics, marketplaces, and factories. Yet, when the time comes to claim spaces of real political power, their role starts becoming scarce. The submission of candidatures by 110 women for the forthcoming election is one such example.
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.
In celebration of International Women's Day, we review the history of women in politics in Mexico. Gender parity electoral laws, leaders who value women's inclusion, and fierce women who have propelled Mexico's gender equality movement forward have altogether helped realize the major strides in women's representation, especially since the turn of the century. Women have not only vied for more elected positions; they have also secured a historic number of governorships and legislative seats, effectively reaching gender parity in Congress. President Lopez Obrador has also made a point to promote women to appointed positions, both in his cabinet and in the Supreme Court. While Mexico still has a way to go in reaching full gender equality and equity, gender quotas have had the positive effect of normalizing women's active role in politics and of welcoming them as viable and worthy contenders in the political arena, moving the needle in a necessary and positive direction.
Click here to read the full article published by The Wilson Center on 7 March 2022.
This is a House of Commons Committee report, with recommendations to government. The Government has two months to respond.
While there is still some way to go to achieve equal representation of women in the House of Commons, and in the wider political and public sphere, in recent decades the focus has broadened to encompass “gender sensitivity” in the House of Commons as a workplace. Steps have been taken to make the House a more welcoming and accommodating place for women. For example, there has been focus on its working hours and practices, and support for MPs who are parents. The planned restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster is an opportunity to design in greater accessibility and inclusion, for women and other underrepresented groups.
Click here to access the report.
Today’s parliament has more female MPs than ever but they remain a minority. What do they think is needed for equality in the corridors of power?
Viscountess Nancy Astor was the first woman to take a seat in parliament, receiving 2,000 letters a week from female voters desperate to finally have their voices heard.
More than 100 years later, women account for just a third of seats in the Commons and only a quarter of sitting peers in the House of Lords.
Click here to read the full article published by The Times on 8 March 2022.