Women's Leadership
Women face an uphill battle to political election, and they continue to confront barriers to success afterward. But the type of legislature in their states can make a difference.
A new study from Virginia Commonwealth University researcher Jatia Wrighten, Ph.D., and colleagues finds that women are more effective lawmakers than men when serving in professional state legislatures, which are generally in session full-time, than when serving in part-time legislatures that have lower barriers to entry, lower salaries and fewer staff.
Once elected, women in professional legislatures are often more effective even when given less notable committee assignments, Wrighten finds. She said that means that voters in general are better served by professional legislatures, where more diverse voices, including those of women, are represented. Wrighten, an assistant professor in VCU’s Department of Political Science in the College of Humanities and Sciences, recently spoke about her findings, which were published in The Journal of Politics.
What does it mean for a state legislator to be effective?
Legislative effectiveness can be measured in several ways. In our article, we measure legislative effectiveness by the lawmaker’s ability to “act for” their constituents in policymaking. In other words, are women able to have their voices heard in legislatures, does their committee work matter, and do resources constrain them due to the level of professionalism in the legislature?
What roadblocks do women face before and after election?
As one can imagine, living in a patriarchy, women who run for office face sexism, which manifests in many ways. Many voters hold women to a higher standard than men who run for office and do not see them as leaders. Women running for office have been critiqued on their physical appearance, criticized for their voices being “too high” or “annoying,” questioned for their ability to both run for office and manage their families, and questioned when they do not have families. Once women are elected, they face much of the same from their male peers. They are also placed on lower-ranked committees, which have fewer resources than other committees, and are relegated to those labeled as focusing on “women’s issues,” such as education, criminal justice or health.
ElectHER, a pan-African non-partisan organisation advancing gender-inclusive democracy, has concluded a two-day engagement in Anambra State combining a multi-stakeholder roundtable with an advocacy visit to security agencies, as part of efforts to ensure an inclusive, peaceful and secure governorship election on November 8, 2025.
The stakeholder engagement roundtable, held on Wednesday at the Radisson Onyx Hotel, Awka, brought together representatives of the Independent National Electoral Commission, security agencies, political parties, civil society, academia, journalists and grassroots leaders.
Discussions centred on voter mobilisation, women’s participation and strategies to deliver credible, inclusive and peaceful polls. The engagement was convened with support from the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria programme, which partners with civil society to deepen electoral integrity and inclusion.
Speaking during the event, the Chief Executive Officer, ElectHER, Ibijoke Faborode, noted that Anambra State has a legacy of women’s political visibility, starting from Dame Virginia Etiaba’s tenure as Nigeria’s first female.
The Women's Forum of the LDK - Branch in Obiliq, held an electoral rally, it is announced through a press release sent to the media. The LDK branch in Obiliq, assesses that "in a magnificent way our daughters, wives, mothers and sisters - the pillar of every home - confirmed their strong support".
This gathering was also attended by the Mayor of Obiliq and candidate for a new mandate, Xhafer Gashi, First Lady Afërdita Gërguri Gashi, the Vice President of LDK Ms. Hykmete Bajrami, also a member of the Assembly of Kosovo, as well as the candidates for the Municipal Assembly from the winning list of LDK in Obiliq.
Mayor Gashi thanked "for the extraordinary presence and continued support, emphasizing the essential role that women have in society and in the development of the municipality."
He outlined the political program, with particular emphasis on areas where women have direct influence.
Deadline: 30-Sep-2025
The Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) has launched a new call for proposals to support local women’s and young women’s rights organizations in Mali.
This funding opportunity is focused on empowering grassroots initiatives that promote gender equality and protect the rights of women and girls in conflict and crisis-affected areas.
The primary goal of this initiative is to provide targeted grants to organizations working in the areas of humanitarian and crisis response, as well as the protection and empowerment of women and girls. Projects must align with the overarching mission of the WPHF to foster peaceful, inclusive, and gender-equal societies, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the principle of leaving no one behind.
Funding will be allocated to projects operating within specific regions in Mali, including Bandiagara, Bougouni, Dioila, Douentza, Gao, Kidal, Koulikoro, Ménaka, Mopti, San, Ségou, Sikasso, and Timbuktu. Only initiatives based in or directly impacting these areas will be considered, and multi-country or out-of-scope projects will not be eligible.
The ninth National Assembly of Nigeria squandered an unparalleled chance to promote equitable political representation and gender empowerment by rejecting landmark gender bills, including the Reserved Seats for Women Bill (HB 1349 & SB 440). As the public hearing for this bill kicks off today, Monday, September 22, 2025, under the chairmanship of Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, the nation stands at a crossroads in its journey toward gender-inclusive democracy. Activists, including renowned human rights advocate, Aisha Yesufu, are calling on the tenth Assembly to right past wrongs and cement their legacy by passing the bill.
The gathering brought together political leaders from around the world who collectively reflected on a vision of a future in which women not only participate equally in decision-making, but also actively shape global policies in the interests of peace, sustainability and equality.
On the occasion of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Vice President of the Parliament of Montenegro, Zdenka Popović, participated in the event with the theme "Positive Future", organized by the global network WPL (Women Political Leaders) at the invitation of WPL President Silvana Koh Mehrin.
As announced by the Parliament of Montenegro, the gathering brought together political leaders from around the world who jointly reflected on a vision of a future in which women not only participate equally in decision-making, but also actively shape global policies in the interest of peace, sustainability and equality.
"Vice President Popović used this opportunity for a series of important bilateral meetings with prominent international officials and leaders. Among the interlocutors were: Director-General of the World Health Organization Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, former President of Finland Tarja Halonen, former President of Ethiopia Sahle-Work Zewde, President of WPL Silvana Koh-Mehrin, as well as President and CFO of Salesforce, Robin Washington," it was announced.
RepresentWomen tracks women's representation and leadership in the United States and around the world to identify the "best practices" for creating a more representative government. Our research indicates that even as more women run, electoral rules and systems play a major role in determining electoral outcomes. As seen in both our 2016 and 2020 reports, we find that electoral outcomes for women and people of color are overall better in jurisdictions that have implemented ranked choice voting (RCV).
The 2020 ranked choice voting report, "In Ranked Choice Elections, Women WIN" provides a thorough review of ranked choice voting in the United States and how it is impacting women's representation in the cities that have implemented it. Over the last decade, 19 cities and counties have used ranked choice voting to elect sitting city officials, including 13 mayors and the city councilmembers in 14 jurisdictions. Over the last decade (2010-2019), women have won 45% of all municipal ranked choice elections. As of April 2020, nearly half of all mayors (46%) and 49% of all city council seats decided by RCV are held by women.
Click here to see the report.
A century on from women winning the right to vote in the U.S., our nation has made huge progress on many fronts. But plenty more is needed—and above all in the political sphere. The U.S. compares badly to most other countries in the world in terms of gender equality in politics—including to our nearest neighbors, Canada and Mexico.
Measuring gender equality
The 2020 Global Gender Gap Report from the World Economic Forum ranks progress toward equality in 153 countries around the world. The U.S. is in a disappointing 53rd place, compared to 25th place for Mexico and 19th place for Canada. WEF calculates gender equality in each country based on four equally weighted domains: educational attainment, health and survival, economic participation and opportunity, and political empowerment. WEF calculates the degree of gender equality in each domain, drawing on a range on indicators for each, where each indicator ranges from 0 to 1, with 1 indicating parity.
Click here to see the academic article.
- Since 1995, the world has made important strides in advancing gender equality. The increase in female representation in parliaments across the globe has been driving these advances, although there has been some progress on other indicators used to measure Gender Equality in the Global State of Democracy (GSoD) Indices.
- Democracies provide better guarantees for gender equality. Out of 29 countries that scored highly in the GSoD Indices on Gender Equality in 2018, 28 of them are democracies.
- There are wide regional variations in Gender Equality, with North America and Europe seeing the highest scores, and the Middle East the lowest. However, the greatest progress over the 25-year period has been achieved in Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
- The representation of women in parliament is considerably better today than 25 years ago. The world average has increased from 10 per cent in 1995 to 23 per cent in 2018 (and 24 per cent in 2019). The percentage of women legislators is highest in Latin America and the Caribbean (28 per cent), and lowest in the Middle East (11 per cent).
- Despite progress made to date, at the current rate it will take another 46 years to reach gender parity in all parliaments.
- Civic space is shrinking across all regions of the world and across all levels of democratic performance. The shrinking of civic space has had severe effects on women’s participation in civil society, as women’s organizations tend to be the most vulnerable, the least well-resourced and the least networked.
- Over the 25-year period since 1995, the global average of women’s participation in civil society organizations has seen very slow improvement. While the Middle East is the lowest performer, North America and Europe have the highest scores, although Europe has witnessed some declines in the last five years.
Click here to see the academic article.
Gender-based violence (GBV) increases during every type of emergency – whether economic crises, conflict or disease outbreaks. Pre-existing toxic social norms and gender inequalities, economic and social stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with restricted movement and social isolation measures, have led to an exponential increase in GBV. Many women are in ‘lockdown’ at home with their abusers while being cut off from normal support services.
This briefing note provides concrete actions and strategies that UNDP, UN agencies and other development partners can take to prevent and address GBV in the context of COVID-19. It includes recommendations for adapting dedicated GBV services and support to the crisis context, and for mainstreaming GBV prevention and response in 'non-GBV specific' interventions.
Click here to see the report.
Conventional wisdom holds that women politicians confront a parenting dilemma. Those with children are questioned about their ability to balance parental roles with political responsibilities, but child-free women are regarded as unable to relate to “ordinary” families or perform well in “feminine” policy areas. As both women and men are now balancing parenthood with politics, the time is ripe to re-investigate how cultural ideas about family life shape understandings of political leadership. By systematically comparing newspaper coverage of 22 Canadian and Australian government leaders with diverse families, our study investigates the ways in which discourses of family shape representations of high-profile politicians. It provides valuable insights into the ways in which politicians’ levels of conformity to the idealized western family model shape perceptions of political legitimacy and authenticity for women and men, and parents and non-parents. We find that when the families of newly elected leaders are discussed in newspaper coverage, the message conveyed is that only the “right” kind of family will facilitate political success.
Click here to see the Academic Article.
We assessed the effects of female political representation on mortality among children younger than age five in Brazil and the extent to which this effect operates through coverage with conditional cash transfers and primary care services. We combined data on under-five mortality rates with data on women elected as mayors or representatives in state and federal legislatures for 3,167 municipalities during 2000–15. Results from fixed-effects regression models suggest that the election of a female mayor and increases in the shares of women elected to state legislatures and to the federal Chamber of Deputies to 20 percent or more were significantly associated with declines in under-five mortality. Increasing the political representation of women was likely associated with beneficial effects on child mortality through pathways that expanded access to primary health care and conditional cash transfer programs.
Click here to read the full article published by Health Affairs on 6 November 2020.