Parliaments & Representatives
Would you take a job where abuse and violence were almost guaranteed? This is the reality of modern political life, making it less appealing to women - especially younger women - leading to even less representative democracies. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Parliaments around the world are taking practical steps to prevent violence, protect women, and prosecute offenders.
Read the full article here.
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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
Globally, an estimated one in five women have a disability. While there are no concrete statistics on the proportion of women in political leadership positions, an analysis of many parliaments and local authorities does not indicate their proportionate representation in leadership positions.
Equal participation of women with disabilities in politics is often ‘othered’ to adhere to normative frameworks or policies. Their inclusion in political participation is mostly superficial with little or no genuine meaningful approaches to create platforms for their voice, choice and control. Systemic marginalisation and structural barriers to meaningfully include women with disabilities in political participation and representation are driven by social norms. These then translate to the low representation of women with disabilities in political decision-making positions.
The milestone adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2006 and its domestication thereof in many countries is commendable. Yet, burgeoning experiences from women in politics with disabilities has revealed a multitude of obstacles for them to be in elected office. The glaring barrier for women in politics with disability is the intersection with violence. This is often pronounced during election campaigns where in some instances the campaign terrain infrastructure is set up to deliberately frustrate women in politics with disabilities. Their limitation to access some facilities, including polling stations as well as materials is turned into a tool for abuse by some of the male politicians. The media reporting on women in politics with disabilities is sometimes a form of secondary victimisation to the women politicians with disabilities. Training of media practitioners on inclusive reporting for political participation and representation is a remedy.
Full article available here.
Introduction
In the lead-up to the 2025 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development, Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5) – Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls took center stage as a critical priority. The review of SDG 5 provided a timely opportunity to accelerate efforts to address deeply entrenched structural inequalities and to highlight the urgency of ensuring inclusive leadership worldwide.
With particular attention to target 5.5, which calls for women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making, the webinars underscored both progress and persistent gaps.
Despite notable advances, women remained underrepresented in political leadership, executive positions, and decision-making bodies globally. Discussions emphasized that achieving gender parity required integrated, evidence-based policies to dismantle legal, institutional, and cultural barriers, supported by governance and accountability mechanisms that move commitments from symbolic gestures to structural realities.
To engage diverse audiences and broaden perspectives, a series of three webinars were organized. One in Arabic, one in English and one in Spanish. Each session explored the following key questions:
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What is the High-Level Political Forum, and what was on the agenda for 2025?
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How might the outcomes impact the future of the global gender equality agenda?
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What are the trends in SDG 5, particularly with reference to target 5.5 on leadership and decision-making?
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What lessons have been learned since the adoption of the SDGs?
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How can more diverse voices be brought into global forums?
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How can reporting on indicators be improved at the national level?
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How can policy reflect a holistic and grounded approach to addressing the SDG 5 agenda?
The webinar in English was held on 11/07/2025
In Japan, women have long been severely underrepresented at the highest levels of business, government and society, the product of a culture that expects them to bear a disproportionate share of child care and housework.
But on Tuesday, the country is poised for a milestone: Sanae Takaichi, a hard-line conservative lawmaker who idolizes Margaret Thatcher, is expected to be named Japan’s next prime minister during an extraordinary session of Parliament. She would be the first woman to serve in that role and the first woman at the top of Japanese government in centuries.
Ms. Takaichi, 64, is a divisive figure in Japan, and her breaking of the glass ceiling has drawn a range of reactions. Her supporters have hailed her as a pioneer who knows firsthand the challenges of Japan’s male-dominated culture. Activists and scholars have expressed concern that she will continue to support policies that have held Japanese women back. Political rivals have accused her of serving as a puppet to men in her party; one male lawmaker recently described her as a bride who had married into a powerful political faction.
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.
This Handbook aims to serve as a resource for lawmakers from around the world for designing gender-responsive laws. Such law-making should address the strategic needs of women and girls and must encompass the enactment of new laws, amending or repealing laws which are outdated, are inconsistent with constitutions, or discriminate against them. The Handbook was prepared in close consultation with parliamentarians from across different legal systems of the world, combined with a desk review of relevant literature.
Click here to access the report.
Recently, the issue of harassment and intimidation of women in politics in long-established democracies has become a source of concern. Current research emphasizes that while women may be more frequently attacked, not all incidents of abuse against women in politics are of a gendered nature. This finding prompts further questions such as are women more frequently targeted because they are women and does such targeting inhibit women from fully participating in political campaigning? Using data from the Representative Audit of Britain’s survey of candidates contesting the 2019 General Election, this study shows that harassment has a negative electoral effect for women, even while controlling for the visibility of the candidate. This article argues that the harassment of women candidates in the UK is gendered, both in its motives and outcomes as it forces women to modify their campaign activities in ways that diminish their chances of gaining office. Our findings contribute to the theoretical and empirical understanding of violence towards women in politics and gendered political violence.
Click here to read the full article published by Taylor and Francis Online on 23 August 2022.
Political decisions get better the more diverse the people are who make them. That is especially true in deeply divided societies, in countries that want to move from war to peace. Yet, women and marginalised groups are often absent from tables where key decisions are made. The same applies to our own EU and national institutions. Foreign and security policy often remains a closed circle of “people with badges talking to people with badges”. And the higher the level, the “harder” the security, the fewer women. This shouldn’t be news, but it is important to have data on the subject matter to push for real change. And that is why I set out, in 2020, to build the #SHEcurity Index; together with a growing team of supporting organisations and individuals.
This is the 2nd edition of the #SHEcurity Index. The index for the first time gave a comprehensive overview of how far we have come with regards to gender equality in Peace & Security and UN resolution 1325.
Click here to read the full report published by SHEcurity.
Women’s political leadership is important for ensuring that women’s perspectives and experiences are included in political decision-making. Over the past 25 years, the overall percentage of women in parliaments has more than doubled. However, the pace of progress has slowed in the past five years and women still make up less than a quarter of representatives in legislatures worldwide. Whilst theories that explore women’s political recruitment are well developed, we need more research on how women get selected. We need to know more about how they win positions as political representatives and how they adapt to the realities of political life.
This report focuses on women’s experience of candidate selection and elections and their experience of political leadership. It asks:
- How can women political leaders build their profile?
- What factors support and hinder women’s candidate selection and election success?
- How do women cope with, and adapt to, the realities of political leadership?
- How can programmes and policies effectively support women in political leadership roles?
Click here to read the report.
Systemic and legal barriers to equal political participation persist at all levels and take different forms, including unfavourable electoral systems, lack of support from political parties, socio-economic, and cultural.
Women, people with disabilities, indigenous people, LGBT+ individuals, and young people face all of these barriers, particularly insufficient access to political finance. Campaigning has become an expensive affair, and political aspirants and candidates from these groups find it challenging to secure the substantial sums of money usually required to run a campaign and win an election. In order to address these barriers and level the playing field, several targeted political finance measures have been designed and adopted by some governments, political parties, and private initiatives, although they vary in their target and effectiveness.
This paper explores the challenges facing different groups in accessing political finance and it provides a set of recommendations to ensure that the quest for more accessible political finance includes consideration of other important aspects that are indispensable to more inclusive and representative politics.
Although significant progress has been made with regard to the participation of women in political and public decision-making in Europe, such progress is too slow and uneven. In addition, there is still a lack of participation and representation in political and public decision-making of women with disabilities, young women, LBTI women, Roma women, women of colour, women with an immigration background, women belonging to minorities and indigenous women, rural women and women with a lower socio-economic background.
Adopting a draft resolution based on the report prepared by Eglantina Gjermeni, (Albania, SOC), the Equality Committee called on member States to promote the participation of women from under-represented groups in political decision-making by acting at several levels, with particular emphasis on combating stereotypes, access to public decision-making and participation in political party structures. According to the committee, “an intersectional approach to decision-making as well as targeted measures can help to leaving no one behind”. Men are also called upon to further promote gender equality and the fight against violence against women, especially in politics.
Click here to read the full article published by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 15 March 2021.