Parliaments & Representatives

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.

It’s no secret that women have made unprecedented strides in seeking and attaining elected office over the last decade. Twenty-eight percent of elected officials in Congress are women (compared to 19 percent 10 years ago), nearly one-third of our state legislature seats are held by women, and we have our first-ever woman vice president.

But while more women are winning elected positions, the looming gender bias within our political system persists. And according to a number of women elected throughout various levels of government — it’s one hurdle to win an election, but quite another to thrive in office.

That was the consensus among more than 60 women across the political spectrum — including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., former Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego —  who were interviewed for a year-long reporting project by Cosmopolitan, “How to Succeed in Office.” The report was produced in partnership with Melinda French Gates-founded Pivotal Ventures.

Read here the full article published by MSNBC News on 16 May 2024.

Image by MSNBC News

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Gendered disinformation is being used across Africa as a tactic to silence critics and exclude women from online civic discourses, new research shows.

A new book ‘Digital Disinformation in Africa: Hashtag Politics, Power and Propaganda’ explores this further. It is written by Nkem Agunwa, a digital campaigner focusing on human rights activism based in Nigeria and member of the African Digital Rights Network (ADRN), hosted by IDS.

In an unprecedented year for elections in Africa – with 17 countries heading to the polls, the fear is that digital disinformation poses a rising threat to women’s political participation.

The book references the 2016 study by the Inter-Parliamentary Union of female lawmakers globally which revealed that 41.8 per cent of participants said they have been subjected to degrading or sexual images of themselves being circulate on social media. While gendered disinformation is not new, digital technology allows for collective and coordinated anonymous targeting of people with disinformation. As a result, digital spaces across Africa are increasingly being used to manipulate the public and spread disinformation, or to harass and intimidate individuals, creating an atmosphere of fear and distrust.

Not only does gendered disinformation keep women from participating in democratic processes, but as the book details, it directly threatens the fight for gender equality and inclusivity across Africa.

Read here the full article published by the Institute of Development Studies on 10 May 2024.

Image by Skorzewiak via Shutterstock 

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In recent years, the share of women in public office has surged.

*In 2000, just 65 women served in Congress. Today, the number is 151, more than a quarter of the total 535 voting members.

*Likewise at the state level, women now make up about a third of elected officials.

Yet despite these historic gains, women—who make up roughly half of the population—remain starkly underrepresented in government. And for women of color, the disparity is even greater.

No single factor created this gap, and no single change will fix it. But part of the problem is how campaigns are funded—and changing that will make a significant difference.

It’s expensive to run for office: Political ad spending in the 2024 election cycle is expected to exceed $16 billion. And the price of campaigning is a greater barrier for women, who typically have less access than men to the wealthy donors who provide most of this money.

Enter: public financing, a simple but powerful reform that uses public funds to boost small donations to candidates. It’s a policy that can help any candidate willing to engage with a broad base of voters—but some of its biggest beneficiaries are women, particularly women of color, who make up 25 percent of the country’s population but less than 10 percent of state and federal elected offices.

Read here the full article published by Ms. Magazine on 25 April 2024.

Image by Ms. Magazine

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A historic law, the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, mandates the reservation of one-third of the total seats in the Lok Sabha, state Assemblies, and the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi for women.

In 2023, a historic law was passed to usher more women in governance. The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, mandates the reservation of one-third of the total seats in the Lok Sabha, state Assemblies, and the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi for women. But representation in leadership isn’t the only sign of gender parity in politics — active participation of the women electorate is also paramount.

So, how has India fared in both regards so far? India Today’s Data Intelligence Unit analysed the turnout data from 1962 to 2019 and candidates’ data from 1957 to 2019 and found a mostly positive trend.

TURNOUT GAP NARROWED

In 1962, men's turnout stood at 63.3 per cent, while women's turnout was notably lower at 46.6 per cent, indicating a considerable gap of 16.7 per cent. This gap fluctuated over the subsequent decades but generally narrowed. For instance, in 2014, men's turnout was 67.1 per cent, while women's turnout increased substantially to 65.6 per cent, resulting in a smaller gap of 1.5 per cent.

Read here the full article published by India Today on 13 April 2024.

Image source: India Today