Women's Leadership
New York, 19 December, 2024 – Women's representation in political leadership remained critically low in 2024. Only five women were elected as Heads of State out of 31 direct presidential elections held worldwide. These women leaders represent Iceland, Mexico, Namibia, North Macedonia, and the Republic of Moldova. For Mexico, Namibia, and North Macedonia, these elections were historic, as they marked the countries' first-ever women presidents. Additionally, Mexico and the United Kingdom achieved significant progress in gender equality by forming gender-equal cabinets following their respective elections, setting an important precedent for inclusive governance.
Women's representation in parliament remained stagnant at 27% in 2024. Among 39 countries with available data, 15 recorded increases in the number of women elected, while 24 experienced declines. Legislated quotas proved to be a driving force for progress; for instance, stricter enforcement in the Dominican Republic resulted in an eight-point rise in women's representation. Conversely, 12 out of 16 countries without quotas experienced declines, underscoring the pivotal role such measures play in advancing gender equality in political representation.
Read here the full article published by UN Women on 19 December 2024.
A new report has found that women in Congress are 70 times more likely to be targeted by deepfakes than men, often with sexually explicit images created by AI.
The American Sunlight Project (ASP) found that out of over 35,000 images of politicians, 26 different people have been exposed to non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII).
Out of these, 25 were women. Strikingly, one in six congress women have fallen victim to non-consensual imagery.
This is particularly concerning as Congress has previously introduced bills such as the Defiance Act, which criminalizes such activity. However, according to news outlet the 19th, due to the bureaucracy of the American political system, the House is still awaiting approval to finalize the legislation.
In a separate study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, an analysis of the comments on Instagram posts for women currently in power found that one in ten comments was highly likely to be toxic, with a staggering 93% of reports ignored by Instagram, as previously reported.
Read here the full article published by Cyber News on 16 December 2024.
Image by Cyber News
A new report published by the Open Nepal Initiative (ONI) sheds light on the increasing number of incidents of online violence targeting women politicians in Nepal.
The study says the pervasive issue undermines democratic participation and silences critical voices in public discourse. “The findings, based on monitoring the social media accounts of 12 prominent women politicians over three months (August–October 2024), expose alarming patterns and highlight the urgent need for action to create safer digital spaces,” a press release issued by the organisation on Sunday said.
The study finds that X, formerly Twitter, emerged as the primary platform for online abuse, accounting for most incidents during all three months. The anonymity and reach of social media have enabled perpetrators to launch coordinated attacks, spreading disinformation and gendered hate speech against female politicians, it said.
The study found that lawmakers Toshima Karki of Rastriya Swatantra Party, Sumana Shrestha of the same party and Minister for Foreign Affairs Arzu Rana Deuba of Nepali Congress are among the most targeted politicians.
Read here the full article published by The Kathmandu Post on 16 December 2024.
Image by The Kathmandu Post
The Coordinator, Afikpo North East Development Center, Comrade Ibe Immaculata Nnenna has urged women to encourage/support fellow women in office rather than castigate or seek their downfall.
The female politician spoke at a one-day high level multi-stakeholder’s roundtable on improving women’s political participation in Nigeria.
The event was organised by a Civil Society Organisation, Women Aid Collective, in partnership with UN Women, with support from the Government of Canada.
Sharing her experience as a young woman politician in Ebonyi State, Ibe, said the major hindrance she encountered in her political career were imposed by her fellow women.
She noted that as a young woman in politics, only few elderly ones showed willingness to extend mentorship to her while others were always bent on frustrating her efforts using diverse strategies.
Read here the full article published by 247ureports on 27 November 2024.
Image by 247ureport
The politician spoke at a one-day high level multi-stakeholder’s roundtable on enhancing women’s political participation in Nigeria.
The event was organised by a Civil Society Organisation, Women Aid Collective, in partnership with UN Women, with support from the Government of Canada.
Sharing her experience as a young woman politician in Ebonyi State, Ibe, the Development Centre Coordinator of Afikpo Northeast in Afikpo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, said the major roadblocks she encountered in her political career were imposed by her fellow women.
Others, she said, were always bent on frustrating her efforts using diverse strategies.
She stressed that men are not the major problem of women in making their marks in Nigerian politics, maintaining that women out of mutual jealousy scandalise their fellow women, fabricating all kinds of lies to discredit their fellow women excelling in politics or seeking political positions.
Ibe narrated: “Before I became an office holder, I was thinking that men are our problem.
“At every occasion I would always be saying that the men should be told to give us a chance; tell the men to give us 35 percent affirmative action.
“But now I have discovered that the problem is not totally from men.
Read here the full article published by The Eagle Online on 22 November 2024.
Image by The Eagle Online
Beyond the ballot box
The election results reflect broader societal patterns affecting advancement in politics and other spheres. Despite increasing representation in various fields, the path to executive positions remains complex. This reality resonates particularly with established professionals who have navigated similar dynamics throughout their careers.
The conversation extends beyond individual candidates to examine institutional structures that influence leadership selection. As more voices join public discourse, many note how traditional power dynamics continue to shape outcomes across sectors.
Creating sustainable change
Community engagement and strategic coalition-building emerge as critical factors for progress. Grassroots organizations are developing new approaches to leadership development and support systems. These efforts focus on long-term institutional change rather than individual electoral cycles.
An April 2023 Pew Research Center report shows increasing political participation among diverse demographics, suggesting potential for future breakthrough moments. Thus, sustainable progress requires addressing deeper systemic issues around access and opportunity.
Read here the full article published by Rolling Out on 20 November 2024.
Image by Rolling Out
Women who seek to participate in peace processes and political decision-making face many obstacles. To achieve sustainable peace and development, societies emerging from conflict must remove these obstacles. In so doing, they must recognize and prioritize that women are fully capable of active participation in all political processes. Women’s equal participation in leadership at every level and in every sector is imperative to eliminating gender-based violence, poverty and enabling sustainable peace.
In this policy brief, Women in International Security examines five main barriers to women’s participation at the peace table and in politics. And presents recommendations to the international community, state actors, civil society organizations, women’s rights defenders, and male champions to help create an enabling environment for the full participation of women in all political processes.
Click here to see the report.
A seemingly inescapable feature of the digital age is that people choosing to devote their lives to politics must now be ready to face a barrage of insults and disparaging comments targeted at them through social media. This article represents an effort to document this phenomenon systematically. We implement machine learning models to predict the incivility of about 2.2 m messages addressed to Canadian politicians and US Senators on Twitter. Specifically, we test whether women in politics are more heavily targeted by online incivility, as recent media reports suggested. Our estimates indicate that roughly 15% of public messages sent to Senators can be categorized as uncivil, whereas the proportion is about four points lower in Canada. We find evidence that women are more heavily targeted by uncivil messages than men, although only among highly visible politicians.
Click here to see the paper.
This research report seaks to analyze the use of social media during the 2018 General Election in Pakistan. The report focuses on online participation and harassement of female politicians along with issues pertinent to elections in the digital age: online advertising, misinformation and regulation of social media spaces.
Click here to see the report.
Around the world, women are targeted by violence because of their commitment to vote, their jobs as electoral officials and their aspirations to hold political office. NDI categorizes this kind of violence as “violence against women in elections” (VAW-E), and defines it as any act of violence -- threats, hate speech, assault, blackmail or assassination -- that is unduly directed at someone because of her gender, and that seeks to determine, delay or otherwise influence her engagement in an electoral process.
Election-related violence against women is a separate issue from general electoral violence because it is specifically aimed at preventing women from exercising their voice and agency. Women are targeted specifically because they are women, as opposed to the election violence that stems from differences in candidates’ or parties’ positions on issues.
Click here to see the report.
The Win With Women Political Party Assessment (WWW Assessment) is an initiative designed to help political parties become more inclusive and representative through an assessment that gauges men and women's perceptions of women in leadership, the types of social norms held by members of parties, and the individual, institutional and socio-cultural barriers to gender equality.
Click here to see the report.
This collaborative report between, Lokniti a programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung has attempted to look at women and politics from a multi-track perspective. While the assessment relied quite extensively on existing aggregate data on the theme and an exhaustive review of literature, the key focus of the analysis was the findings of a survey conducted among women across the country. The report is divided into eight chapters including the conclusion and the introduction and relies heavily on Lokniti’s survey data. Having chosen a sample of respondents that helped best mirror the larger `universe` it was meant to represent (Indian women), a range of questions on the patterns of political participation and representation were asked. The survey attempted to assess the perception of women to different dimensions of political participation and representation and the challenges in this regard. The survey findings have helped present the socio-economic and cultural context that define and decide the attitudes and perception of women to issues of political participation and representation. The varied factors that contribute to greater women’s participation in politics and the pathways to greater political representation were also assessed as part of the study. The study examines the perceptions of women to their role as voters. Their views on different dimensions of political participation and the barriers to the same are also studied. The impact of political socialization and the family are also analysed as part of the survey. Factors that influence voting decisions as well as womens’ perception of women as leaders, has also been attempted in this study.
Click here to see the academic article.