Parliaments & Representatives
Elise Pereira Nunes is the Deputy Mayor of Tours (France) for gender equality, international relations and city networks. An academic expert in gender issues, Elise has been a long-time activist in several movements for women and LGBTQI+ rights and regularly contributes to seminars. Her political commitment stems from her desire to be a voice at the intersection of the worlds of academic research, citizen mobilization and political action. As a deputy mayor, she demonstrates that exchanges between local authorities, locally and internationally, are vectors of progress on environmental, economic and societal issues. Internationally, she advocates for the recognition of local governments within the multilateral system and champions the political participation and empowerment of women. Elise joined a two-day Expert Group Meeting organized by UN Women to address one of the most persistent barriers to gender equality in political and public life: discriminatory social norms. This experts’ meeting was organized under the WYDE | Women’s Leadership, funded by the European Union, which is a collaborative global effort aimed at advancing women’s full and effective political participation and decision-making at all levels, especially those most often left furthest behind.
“In my role as Deputy Mayor, my focus is on making gender equality a core part of our city’s policies. Our goal is to create a city where everyone, regardless of gender, origin, age, or ability, can thrive. I also connect gender equality with international affairs, building partnerships with sister cities across Europe, Japan, South Korea, and Spain. Change must happen both locally and globally—if the world around us struggles, we will be affected too.
Of course, working in politics comes with challenges. Bureaucracy, budget constraints, and slow progress can be frustrating. But meaningful change requires both short-term action and long-term vision. Some policies take immediate effect, while others take years to show results. What matters is planting seeds for a better future. I take pride in pushing these issues forward and making gender equality a cross-cutting priority in city governance.
One challenge I faced was entering politics without ties to any political party or organization. I had to learn how political structures operate while ensuring my voice was heard as someone from civil society. Even if you don’t belong to a party, it’s essential to make politicians understand that they need engaged citizens, just as much as citizens need politicians to represent them. Citizens shape the projects that affect their communities, while political parties provide the platform and resources to implement them. It’s a partnership that can drive real change.
Another challenge is overcoming stereotypes about women in politics. Despite gender parity laws, I often hear claims that it’s "hard to find women willing to engage" or that their "quality" is questionable, implying that all male candidates are automatically competent. I wanted to prove that being a woman from civil society is not a limitation.
I also firmly believe in feminist municipalism. If we want more women in politics, we must demonstrate that it’s possible, including at local level. Too often, those who want to get involved hesitate because they feel they lack legitimacy, whereas their diverse perspectives are essential. Diverse voices—across social, economic, ethnic, racial, gender or disability backgrounds—enrich decision-making.
Local politics is crucial because it’s where real engagement with citizens happens, it’s where we can understand and respond to people’s needs. We may not be able to solve every problem, but we can do our best to make an impact with the power we have. Women have a major role to play in shaping the future. If there isn’t enough space for us, we will make space, because our voice is needed.”
Interview published by Capacity4Dev (European Union) on 14 May 2025.
When Florida state Rep. Fiona McFarland's infant daughter, Grace Melton, crawled for the first time, the mom of four was right next door, hard at work with her legislative policy staff in the state Capitol.
Thanks to the on-site child care available in the statehouse, McFarland didn't miss that magical first milestone in her 7-month-old's young life.
“The sitter I had with her just grabbed me out of my meeting right next door and I came over and got to witness it,” McFarland recalled.
As more women and young people run for public office, they're bringing more than fresh policy ideas to statehouses — some are bringing their kids.
Like working parents across the country, some lawmakers are scrambling to find child care that fits their often unpredictable schedules, at a price they can afford. Rushing back and forth from their districts, they juggle meetings with constituents and coordinate their children's drop-offs, power through late-night floor sessions and step out to pump breast milk between votes, hoping to make it home for their kids' bedtime.
“Looking back, I'm like, ‘How did I do that?'" Michigan state Sen. Stephanie Chang said, recalling those frenzied years when she was a new legislator and a new mom.
The Democrat used to race across the state with her baby and freezer bags of milk in tow, leaving her daughter with family members so she could make her 9 a.m. committee meetings at the state Capitol in Lansing.
Full article published by NBC Miami on 10 May 2025.
Image credits: NBC Miami
Hind Kabawat, the only female minister in Syria’s new government, in her house, in Bab Touma, a majority Christian neighborhood of Damascus. Hind Kabawat hopes her long experience as a conflict mediator can help Syria’s next generation. The challenges are immense.Hind Kabawat, the only female minister in Syria’s new government, in her house, in Bab Touma, a majority Christian neighborhood of Damascus.
In a white pantsuit, Hind Kabawat stood out a mile, the only woman in a lineup of 23 men in suits, all ministers of the interim Syrian government just sworn in, flanking the president.
“I want more women and I did tell the president the first day we met,” Ms. Kabawat said in an interview a few days after her appointment. “This is for me very important because it wasn’t very comfortable to be there.”
Her appointment as minister of social affairs and labor has been welcomed by many in Syria and internationally, both as a woman and as a representative of Syria’s Christian minority. It was taken as a sign that Syria’s new leader, President Ahmed al-Shara, was broadening his government beyond his tight circle of rebel fighters to include a wider selection of technocrats and members of Syria’s ethnic and religious minorities.
Full article here published by The New York Times.
Image source: NYT
NEW DELHI: India moved up three places to be ranked 130th among 193 countries in the Human Development Index rankings for 2023 due to progress made in improving life expectancy through health sector initiatives, and sustained improvements in key dimensions of human development, particularly in mean years of schooling and national income per capita.
While noting that India's progress continues amid global challenges, the 2025 report underscored a broader global slowdown in human development to an unprecedented 35-year low, and India is no exception. "Had pre-2020 trends continued, the world would be on track to reach very high human development by 2030, aligning with Sustainable Development Goal timelines," the report highlighted.
Income and gender disparities in India still significant, says UNDP
Achieving this goal now risks getting delayed by decades, UNDP said. "Inequality between low and very high HDI countries has increased for a fourth consecutive year, reversing long-standing progress," it added.
UNDP, however, signaled a strong post-pandemic recovery on life expectancy in India, which touched the highest of 72 years in 2023, compared with 58.6 years in 1990. The increase in life expectancy, which rose to 71.7 years in 2022, is among the biggest contributors to India's improved overall ranking. UNDP also highlighted that national health programmes by successive govts have contributed significantly to improved life expectancy over the years.
With an HDI value of 0.685, while India remains in the "medium human development category" it is moving closer to the threshold for high human development, which calls for a value of more than 0.7. UNDP said that India's HDI value has increased by over 53% since 1990, growing faster than both the global and South Asian averages. "This progress has been fueled
Read here the full article published by Times of India.
Image source: Times of India*
As Liberal MP Pam Damoff prepares to leave politics, she joins other Canadian women MPs in warning that growing threats and harassment are driving them out of politics.
Their call adds to the voices of other politicians in Australia and the United Kingdom who caution that misogyny and threats of violence, especially on social media, have caused them to refrain from seeking re-election.
With the Canadian federal election approaching, campaigns expose politicians to increased online incivility and abuse. Nearly 19 per cent of tweets analyzed by the Samara Centre for Democracy during the 2021 campaign contained harassment.
Harassment undermines democracy and threatens the equal participation of women in politics. When women politicians don’t seek re-election, we lose key voices advocating for a more equitable future.
Despite threats to our democracy being a key theme of the ongoing federal election campaign, barely anyone is talking about the threat harassment poses.
Read here the full article published by The Conversation on 16 April 2025.
Image by The Conversation
The UK Supreme Court has unanimously and unambiguously backed the argument that the definition of a woman in the Equality Act should be based on biological sex.
Reading out the ruling, Lord Hodge cautioned that it should not be taken as a triumph for one group in society over another.
But there were scenes of jubilation for women's campaigners outside the Supreme Court.
Tearful hugs were exchanged and a bottle of champagne was cracked open.
The fact someone had thought to bring one along underlines that it was potentially on the cards, but For Women Scotland (FWS) still seemed shocked by the scale of their victory.
The Scottish government's argument - that sex can be changed via the gender recognition process, and that someone with a gender recognition certificate should have the protections of that sex - were dismissed.
So what does it all mean?
Read here the full article published by the BBC on 16 April 2025.
Image by BBC
Abstract
The Canadian and British Houses of Commons have both recently adopted formal rules to address the problem of sexual misconduct in their parliaments. Using Feminist Institutionalism, we examine how these rules have been constrained or enabled by parliamentary privilege in both countries. As a result of their divergent historical approaches to privilege, we argue that the British House of Commons’ new rules are better suited to address this issue relative to its Canadian counterpart. This outcome has differential consequences for women and minorities who are the most vulnerable to abuse in each parliament.
Click here to read the paper published by Oxford University Press.
This year’s report looks back at 25 years of women in parliament on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Beijing conference and its groundbreaking action plan for gender equality.
IPU analysis shows that gender parity is possible. The overall percentage of women in parliaments has reached 24.9 per cent in 2020, up from 11.3 per cent in 1995. In four countries (Rwanda, Cuba, Bolivia and the United Arab Emirates) women now account for 50 per cent or more MPs in their lower or single chambers compared with 1995 when no parliament had reached gender parity.
The IPU has tracked women’s participation in parliament for decades, allowing it to monitor historical trends, progress and setbacks.
Click here to see the report.
In late 2018 and early 2019 UN Women interviewed 87 per cent of the women who ran for Parliamentary election (75 of the 86 women; of the 113 women who registered to run, 86 made it on to candidate lists). This report summarizes their stories and experiences as candidates and looks at issues of: violence against women in politics, financial constraints and campaign management, media and image portrayal, violence harassment and discrimination.
Click here to see the report.
This GSoD In Focus showcases global and regional data around trends in and the progression of gender equality, based on data from the Global State of Democracy (GSoD) Indices. The GSoD Indices are International IDEA’s measurement of democracy for 158 countries between 1975 and 2017.
The political position of women today is better than just 20 years ago. Trends in the GSoD Indices Gender Equality subcomponent show improvement in gender equality in every region of the world. Women are in more positions of political power, are more represented in the political sphere, have higher access to education and less barriers to civil society participation. In 1997, only 3 per cent of countries had a lower chamber legislature made up of more than 30 per cent women; in 2017, this had risen to 28 per cent of countries. These gains should be celebrated, although much progress remains to be made before most countries have a critical minority of women in parliament. Furthermore, progress with women in ministerial positions is slower. Although gender equality is a necessary ingredient for a healthy democracy, some of the countries in the GSoD sample have a high proportion of women in political office coupled with low levels of democratic performance overall. While these countries are often hailed for their high levels of gender equality, these gains need to be analysed critically, as women’s political agency within regimes that have democratic deficits may be limited.
Click here to see the report.
This map is a unique visual tool that captures women’s participation in executive government and in parliament on a given date—1st January 2019. The map of Women in Politics not only provides a country ranking for both ministerial and parliamentary representation, but also statistics on women in political leadership positions—Heads of State or government, women Speakers of Parliament, as well as ministerial portfolios held by women throughout the world. Borders are depicted and used on the map in order to present data. They are not the expression of any opinion concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or concerning the delimitation of frontiers or boundaries.
Click here to download the map in English.
The annual report provides an update and analysis of progress made and setbacks encountered by women in parliament further to elections and renewals held over a year. Produced every year on the occasion of International Women's Day (8 March), it presents data on women in national parliaments, regional and world trends, information on women presiding officers and women candidates. It also analyses mechanisms aimed at supporting women's access to parliament. The report is short and easy to read, providing a snapshot on the situation of women in parliaments worldwide.
Click here to see the report.