Parliaments & Representatives
When Myriam Spiteri Debono was pregnant with her third child and campaigning for a national election, a fellow party member actively discouraged voters from supporting her because she was too busy as a mother and breadwinner to serve the public effectively.
The incident might sound like a matter of the past. But it’s still happening today as recounted by Nationalist MP Rebekah Borg who is pregnant with her second child and who admitted often faces the comment: "How will you manage and find the time?"
The President of the Republic and the MP were among those sharing their stories during a seminar titled 'Women, Politics and Violence', organised by the Gender Equality and Sexual Diversity Committee in collaboration with the Gender and Sexualities Department within the Faculty for Social Wellbeing.
Read here the full article published by the Times of Malta on 10 April 2025.
Image by Times of Malta
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is pleased to announce its new gender campaign for 2025, Achieving gender equality, action by action.
This initiative marks a pivotal year, in which the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the global blueprint for gender equality, is marking its 30th anniversary.
The campaign aims to mobilize the global parliamentary community to accelerate progress in achieving gender equality in politics and society.
With progress on women’s representation in parliaments stalling, as detailed in the IPU’s recent report Women in parliament 1995-2025, and a concerning rollback of women’s rights in some countries, the campaign emphasizes the urgency of immediate action.
The campaign promotes 10 key actions structured around three key thematic areas:
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Promoting parity in parliament and politics
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Encouraging gender-sensitive institutions
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Combating gender-based violence and discrimination
40 years of bringing women MPs together
The campaign was launched at the 150th IPU Assembly in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the IPU Forum of Women Parliamentarians.
Initially formed in 1985 as an informal global women’s caucus, the first of its kind, the Forum of Women Parliamentarians has since evolved into a powerful platform for women MPs worldwide, driving significant advancements in gender equality and women's empowerment.
For example, the Forum has played a key part in parliamentary efforts to address violence against women, with 104 countries now having comprehensive laws addressing domestic violence.
The Forum provides an opportunity for women MPs to learn about how other countries are addressing gender inequality and to share good practices.
More recently, male MPs have also participated in the Forum, underlining the shared responsibility of both men and women in achieving gender equality.
Read here the full article published by the IPU on 7 April 2025.
On March 25, after marking the arrival of the art installation “Thinking of you” in Strasbourg, a tribute to women who have suffered conflict-related sexual violence, the Congress held its debate on violence against women in politics. Those gathered in the Hemicycle heard a series of harrowing testimonies, but also glimmers of hope that the Congress could bring about real change in the political culture of its member states to protect and encourage women-elected representatives, without whom democracy has no future.
Opening the debate, Congress President Marc Cools pointed out that in 2024 the “Mayors under pressure” debate had drawn attention to the vulnerability of women mayors and local councillors who have suffered daily harassment and physical and verbal abuse, particularly via social media. This is a growing trend that discourages women in Europe from embarking on political careers.
Jaqueline McLaren, Lord Provost of the city of Glasgow in the United Kingdom, confirmed that the figures for women's participation in politics were not reassuring. Moreover, during her time as a local councillor and mayor of Glasgow, she herself had encountered violence. Threatened, among other things, with tarring and feathering, she had felt the helplessness and anxiety that many women politicians had experienced, were experiencing or would experience. Hence her motivation to invest in mutual aid, mentoring and solidarity programmes between elected representatives, such as Eurocity. She called on Congress members to take action and to get involved, also citing the Cartier initiative which sought to build mutual support between women entrepreneurs and leaders around the world, as well as Sophie's Stop, an app created by women for women to combat gender-based violence.
Read here the full article published by the Council of Europe on 26 March 2025.
Image by Council of Europe
The “Women in politics: 2025” map, created by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women, presents new data for women in executive positions and national parliaments as of 1 January 2025. These data illustrate men’s overrepresentation in decision-making worldwide, thereby slowing down the achievement of equality between women and men in politics.
Women serve as Heads of State and/or Government in only 25 countries and make up 27.2 per cent of Members of Parliament. Globally, fewer than one in four cabinet ministers is a woman (22.9 per cent). The 2025 map shows that, while women lead important human rights, gender equality, and social protection policy portfolios, men dominate policy areas like foreign affairs, financial and fiscal affairs, home affairs, and defence.
Check here the full map by UN Women published on 12 March 2025.
As Nigeria continues its quest for socio-economic development, women have been encouraged to vie for political positions at all levels of government, from local councils to the National Assembly.
This call to action was made by the Chief Responsibility Officer, Mother Gold, Dr. Adeshina Fagbenro-Byron, at the third annual Mental Health Series themed “Rise, Speak, and Renew’, organized by the Victoria Modupe Foundation. at Wemabod Estate in Ikeja, Lagos, in commemoration of International Women’s Day.
Dr. Fagbenro-Byron emphasized the crucial role women play in the health and well-being of a nation, likening their exclusion from decision-making processes to having 50% of one’s body injured or malfunctioning.
He stressed that women’s participation in politics was not just a matter of equality, but also a matter of national interest.
Addressing women at the event, he said : “At least, 50% of the population of every nation are women.
Now, you imagine if 50% of your body is either excluded, injured or maligned in some way. What would happen to the total health of the body? So, if 50% of our women population are disenfranchised and excluded one way or another, what do you think will be the total health of the nation? It will not be as it should be.
“ By excluding women, we limit our problem-solving capacity and hinder our progress.Solution can come from either a man or a woman. So if you exclude women or make them redundant, that means the totality of where your ideas should come from, you have already blocked it. That means you are walking on half speed”.
Read here the full article published by The Vanguard on 13 March 2025.
Image by The Vanguard
The future of work isn’t just about technology, automation or upskilling — it’s about power. Right now, that power remains unequally distributed. Women make up half the global population but hold just 26.5% of parliamentary seats and 22.9% of ministerial positions worldwide. This political imbalance isn’t just about representation — it has real economic consequences.
When women hold political power, economies grow. A 10 percentage point increase in women’s parliamentary representation is associated with a 0.7% percentage point increase in GDP growth. Countries with greater female political representation consistently implement policies that support gender-equal labour markets, such as paid family leave, pay transparency and childcare infrastructure. These policies don’t just benefit women; they increase workforce participation, boost productivity and fuel economic expansion.
Yet, despite decades of progress, we are still 169 years away from achieving gender parity in political representation. Without structural change at the policy level, labour market inequities will persist, limiting the economic potential of half the population. As AI disrupts industries, demographics shift and economic uncertainty rises, closing the gender gap in political leadership isn’t just a moral imperative — it’s an economic necessity.
Read here the full article published by the World Economic Forum on 13 March 2025.
Image by World Economic Forum
How do quotas for women in Sri Lanka’s local government institutions affect key governance indicators such as perceived fairness, institutional trust, and perceived performance? These dimensions of governance are underexplored in the context of gender quota policies in patriarchal societies like that of Sri Lanka. The study hypothetically varied the quota provision for women (decrease to 10%, increase to 45%, or keep at the current 25%) in local government, and then tried to understand people’s opinions about the three governance indicators. When examining the results of the experiment (around 1,200 samples), it was found that perceived fairness, institutional trust, and perceived performance increased along with the greater quota provision. Possible mechanisms for the increases in institutional trust and perceived performance may be associated with the signal of fairness generated by the increase of quota provision for women.
Click here to download the report.
This working paper presents data and analysis on women’s representation in local government by UN Women as the sole custodian agency for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 5.5.1b. It provides a comprehensive overview of women’s political participation at the local level for the first time, helping to shift the global narrative from national to local decision-making power, a less known but critical level of governance.
Data available for 133 countries and areas indicate that women’s representation in deliberative bodies of local government is higher than in parliament, but still not on equal terms with men. The paper also analyses the use of legislated gender quotas and types of electoral systems in local elections as factors impacting women’s political participation.
Remaining data gaps on women’s political participation at local level, including data disaggregation issues, underused electoral data, and the need for new data collection tools to capture women’s full and effective participation in local government are also discussed.
Click here to access the report.
Representing more than 447 million people across 27 countries, the European Parliament should be the poster child for the European Union’s “united in diversity” motto. However, the representation of women in the parliament and its key positions remains weak and change is slow. While the parliament has seen a steady increase in the proportion of female members (MEPs) over the years, from 16% in 1979 to 39.5% in 2021, this is far from the whole picture when it comes to women’s representation.
Click here to download the paper.
By Anoa Changa
For Rep. Barbara Lee, part of Chisholm's legacy is how she inspired and empowered other Black women to reach higher.
Fifty years since Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm announced her run for president, she remains a shining example for Black women in politics and beyond. More than simply a campaign slogan, “unbought and unbossed” has become a mantra for Black women in politics and their daily lives.
Click here to read the full article.
The 13th Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament (13SWSP) was held on 6 September 2021 in Vienna (Austria) on the theme Women at the centre: From confronting the pandemic to preserving achievements in gender-responsive recovery. Over 26 of the world’s leading women legislators took part in the Summit which was organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in partnership with the Parliament of Austria and the United Nations.
Click here to read the report.
The addition of identity types to ACLED data on political violence targeting women sheds new light on the threats to women’s participation in political processes, such as running for or holding office, supporting or voting for political candidates, leading human rights campaigns or civil society initiatives, and more. This report analyzes the expanded data to unpack key trends in violence targeting women in politics.
Click here to read the full report.