Parliaments & Representatives
In Uganda, women continue to occupy a growing share of parliamentary and leadership positions, reflecting deliberate policy efforts and affirmative action initiatives aimed at narrowing the gender gap
KAMPALA - Gains in women’s political representation across the Great Lakes region are increasingly being overshadowed by a troubling rise in gender-based violence (GBV), raising concerns about the depth and sustainability of gender equality progress.
According to Jean Paul Kimonyo, the regional director at the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), the region has registered notable improvements in the inclusion of women in political and governance structures.
In Uganda, women continue to occupy a growing share of parliamentary and leadership positions, reflecting deliberate policy efforts and affirmative action initiatives aimed at narrowing the gender gap.
He said, “I was told that the British High Commission is a major sponsor of this programme. I had the opportunity of meeting with the Deputy High Commissioner when she visited Bayelsa last week, and we discussed women participation in politics.
“She believes that the agitation for special seats for women in the National Assembly is good. While I agreed with her, in part, as a temporary solution, I however largely disagree with the idea. My point is, I do not want our women to be treated as second-class citizens.
“The women in Britain do not have special seats in parliament just as in America. The system flows and recognises them, and they participate fully in politics. Nobody talks about special seats or women being under-privileged there. We can do it in Nigeria.
Globally, the representation of women in politics has shown a slow but steady upward trend over many years. However, the latest data suggests that this progress has now come to a standstill, and in some areas has even begun to reverse.
The ‘Women in Politics 2026’ map published by UN Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) shows that women’s presence in decision-making bodies remains limited and that this limitation is becoming increasingly apparent. In Turkey, however, this picture points to a deeper inequality that goes beyond the global average.
THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A WOMAN PRESIDENT IN 101 COUNTRIES
On a global scale, women still do not occupy the centre of political power. The fact that only 22.4 per cent of ministerial posts are held by women and that parliamentary representation stands at just 27.5 per cent indicates that the long-standing narrative of ‘gradual progress’ has now stalled. Even more striking is the picture at the leadership level: Whilst only 28 countries worldwide are led by a woman, the fact that 101 countries have never had a woman leader highlights just how deeply rooted inequality is at the highest levels of politics.
Advocates belonging to liberal parties in Asia have called for an end to the non-physical violence against women in politics.
House Deputy Minority Leader Leila de Lima of ML Party-list, Deputy Director for Youth Development Michelle Wu of Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party and V Srivarathanabul, MP candidate of Thailand’s Democrat Party, raised the concern during the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) forum on Democracy Resilience at Risk: Violence Against Women in Politics in Asia held late Thursday.
“When we speak of violence against women in politics, we often describe it in terms of harm: harm to dignity, harm to safety, harm to participation. In the Philippines, we are often told we are doing above average because women are visible in public office, yet many of those openings still run through dynastic gates and the political culture remains deeply patriarchal and intensely masculine,” de Lima said.
Kenyan women are at the forefront of defending their democracy. Their recent leadership reflects a long history of pivotal contributions, both to women’s rights and the rights of all Kenyans. In a context of democratic backsliding, rising levels of gender-based violence (GBV), and accelerating human rights abuses in the lead-up to elections in 2027, women’s leadership is needed more than ever.
However, research shows that women’s leadership, especially in conflict or crisis, is often met with violent pushback. In Kenya and worldwide, violence targeting women in politics is deterring some women from seeking public office and punishing those who do run. This problem is not new to Kenya, but the dichotomy between the achievements of Kenyan women leaders and the lack of accountability for their attackers, online and offline, is starker than ever.
The United Nations, African Union, and government of Kenya are taking steps to analyze the problem and offer recommendations, but tangible implementation lags. Meanwhile, bilateral partners that used to support women’s participation in politics and fund efforts to prevent election-related GBV have pulled back. Despite the risks and limited tangible support, Kenyan women are pressing forward, but many fear the costs they are asked to bear are unsustainable, not to mention unconscionable.
When election time comes around, campaign posters feature candidates with a determined look in their eye, their local promises, well thought-out slogans in full view, and a smile – which particularly among women politicians has become something of a quiet, political prerequisite.
In 2016, during the Democrat National convention Hillary Clinton was commented more on supposedly not smiling or lacking warmth than on her electoral manifesto. Some years later Élisabeth Borne, who was then Prime Minister of France, was described several times as being “cold” and “stiff.” Recounting her twenty months spent at Matignon in a book (2024), she explains how her attitude was more harshly judged than if she had been a man. She appears on the cover of her book with a frank smile. In both cases, it was her appearance and allure that was being held against her rather than her ideas.
Women often get criticised for not smiling. But does this expectation have an impact electorally speaking? In other words, does choosing not to smile cost women more votes than it does men?
Gender equality in politics has faced both notable achievements and enduring obstacles in Pakistan, a nation with a multifaceted sociopolitical environment. It is believed that a democratic society must prioritize gender equality in politics. For many years, women’s rights have been the focus of heated discussion and agitation in Pakistan. Even with notable progress in social and legal systems, Pakistani women still confront formidable obstacles in their pursuit of equality. The need of equalizing women’s participation in politics, the economy, and public life is becoming more and more apparent in developing nations as they want to build their country. With the low representation of women in positions of decision-making, Pakistan still has a long way to go political power remains firmly the domain of men, except a small number of elite women with dynastic political backgrounds.
To eliminate the gender discrimination our nation’s fathers once remarked “Acquire education and participate in politics because you are the architects of the nation’s future” the statement represents the Quaid-e-Azam’s encouragement of women to enter politics; he had progressive ideas on the status of women in politics and society. Similarly, Allama Muhammad Iqbal’s poetry and prose, demonstrate a deep regard for women’s roles in society and their potential contributions to a variety of fields including politics, he said:
“The existence of woman adds color to the picture of the universe It is her lyre that adds passion to the flame of life” “Zarb-e-Kalim” By incorporating these viewpoints, both political figures promote and assist Pakistani women’s active political engagement with men.
Read here the full article published by Pakistan Today on 2 July 2024.
Image by Pakistan Today
As of December 2023, women constituted 61.3 percent of the Rwandan parliament (lower or single house). This makes it the country with the highest share of women in parliament worldwide. Cuba had the second highest share of female MPs with 53.4 percent, followed by Nicaragua. The European country with the highest percentage of women in their parliament was Andorra with 50 percent.
See here the full graphic published by Statista on 4 July 2024.
Image by Statista
As women increasingly participate in political decision-making around the world, the research emphasizes the need to further understand how informal barriers shape women's political participation. At the same time, the persistent stability of hybrid political regimes calls for additional inquiry into the impact of hybrid regimes on gender politics and its actors. Based on the case of Turkey, a hybrid regime, this study explores how women MPs navigate gendered, informal obstacles in parliament and to what extent their navigation strategies reflect the broader implications posed by the hybrid regime context. This exploratory study draws on qualitative, in-depth semi-structured interviews with eight women MPs in the Turkish parliament from government and opposition parties. The findings illustrate that navigating the informal barriers women MPs experience in the Turkish parliament happens both individually and in collective ways. Individually, women MPs choose to navigate the informal barriers of gender norms by either assimilating or contrasting the masculine way of doing politics. Collective navigation strategies of women MPs in the Turkish parliament illustrate their approaches to representing women's interests, seeking women's solidarity across the parliament, and linkages with civil society to empower women, which also reflect the different positionings of government and opposition within the Turkish hybrid regime dynamics. The findings reveal the need to further research the complex, dynamic interplay of how informal practices and hybrid regime tactics target gender politics and its actors, while also giving more attention to women's agency in tackling and countering obstacles to their political power within and beyond political institutions.
Read here the full article published by Frontiers on 1 July 2024.
Image by Frontiers
Abstract
This study draws together theories of women’s substantive representation and research on politicians’ knowledge of constituent preferences. We ask whether politicians are better at predicting their constituents’ policy preferences when they share the same gender. In doing so, we contribute to knowledge about the mechanisms underlying substantive representation. Using original surveys of 3,750 Canadians and 867 elected politicians, we test whether politicians correctly perceive gender gaps in their constituents’ policy preferences and whether women politicians are better at correctly identifying the policy preferences of women constituents. Contrary to expectations from previous research, we do not find elected women to be better at predicting the preferences of women constituents. Instead, we find that all politicians — regardless of their gender — perform better when predicting women’s policy preferences and worse when predicting men’s preferences. The gender of the constituent matters more than the gender of the politician.
Read here the full article published by the Cambridge University Press on 25 March 2024.
Image by Cambridge University Press
Women’s participation in politics is essential to advancing women’s rights and contributes to countries’ overall stability and economic prosperity. According to a 2023 report by UN Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, one-fourth of parliamentary positions worldwide are held by women. Although current representation is still far from equal, it represents a significant increase over the last 20 years.
However, a new paper from Washington University in St. Louis — published in the journal International Organization — shows that the progress women have made in politics is threatened when conflict strikes.
A team of WashU researchers led by Margit Tavits, the Dr. William Taussig Professor in Arts & Sciences, conducted an analysis of Ukrainian politicians’ engagement on social media in the months leading up to and after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine — a rare opportunity to observe the effect conflict has on politicians’ behavior in real time.
Their research provides evidence that violent conflict pushes politicians to conform more strongly with traditional gender stereotypes, so that men become more politically engaged than women, and politicians gravitate toward their respective gendered communication styles and issue spaces. They also show that gender biases among the public are magnified during war.
“Our findings suggest that women leaders’ voices may be drowned out by their male counterparts during conflict, which is troubling,” Tavits said. “We know that who engages, and how, in response to conflict can have significant consequences for how the conflict unfolds, how long it lasts, whose concerns are heard and represented and so on.”
Read here the full article published by the Washington University in St. Louis on 29 May 2024.
Image by Washington University in St. Louis
The IPU grew in 2023 with the accession of the parliaments of Liberia and the Bahamas, its 179th and 180th Members respectively, as well as many observers and partners signing up to join or rejoin our global parliamentary community.
Read here more highlights of the year in the Impact Report 2023 published by the Inter-Parliamentary Union on March 2024.