Youth
When men outnumber women in a room on gender equality, it challenges the norm. Too often, these discussions are left to women alone. Men's active involvement shows shared responsibility, while women contribute authenticity and life experiences. Together, they strengthen the dialogue and help #DebunkSocialNorms.
The recent dialogue on male engagement in gender equality, convened by International IDEA through the EU-funded Women and Youth Democratic Engagement (WYDE) Women’s Leadership Initiative, highlighted an urgent truth: gender equality is not just a women’s issue. Addressing social norms and barriers to women’s political participation requires dismantling patriarchal systems that silence women and youth. This transformation cannot happen without men as proactive, transformative allies, moving beyond silent sympathy to meaningful action.
True engagement means that men challenge harmful social norms and stereotypes, reshape institutions and leadership cultures, take responsibility, and hold one another accountable. They must create space for women’s leadership in families, communities, institutions, and political systems. Promoting transformative masculinities rooted in equality, respect, and dignity is essential for reimagining political life. Men are not only stakeholders but also beneficiaries of gender equality, as patriarchy harms men too, trapping them in rigid expectations that limit health, relationships, and freedom. Gender equality uplifts women while liberating men, enabling societies where all can thrive.
Kevin Casas-Zamora, Secretary-General of International IDEA, reinforced this message, stating, “Gender equality is not a women’s issue. It is a democratic imperative about fairness, inclusion, and better outcomes for everyone.” He highlighted the persistent underrepresentation of women in leadership, the damaging effects of patriarchal norms on both genders, and the urgent need for men to act as allies and agents of change. His call to participants was clear: turn dialogue into concrete action. (View the Secretary-General's full video message for the Male Dialogue on Advancing Gender Equality and the Transformation of Social Norms, 21 August 2025, in Nairobi, Kenya.)
Framing gender equality solely as a “women’s issue” is misleading. Patriarchy harms men too, trapping them in rigid expectations that restrict health, relationships, and freedom. True gender equality uplifts women and liberates men, creating a society where everyone can thrive. Achieving gender equality requires a holistic approach, as patriarchal norms are reproduced across families, communities, economies, media, and political institutions. Only by addressing these interconnected systems can societies achieve inclusive, gender-equal democracies where everyone has the freedom to lead, participate, and thrive.
Globally, men continue to dominate political leadership, reflecting deeply entrenched patriarchal norms. According to the 2023 UNDP Gender Social Norms Index (GSNI), nearly half of the world believes men make better political leaders and only a third consider women’s equal rights essential to democracy.
In the family, gendered expectations often define women’s roles narrowly around caregiving and unpaid labor, while discouraging men from active participation in care and household responsibilities. In communities, traditions and cultural practices can reinforce unequal power dynamics, limiting women’s mobility, voice and opportunities. Traditional and religious male leaders often reinforce these biases. In the economy, structural inequalities are sustained by wage gaps, lack of access to resources, and the undervaluation of women’s contributions. The media plays a powerful role by shaping perceptions of leadership and success, often amplifying male voices while sidelining women’s achievements. Political parties, frequently led by men, act as powerful gatekeepers who decide which candidates are supported and which voices are heard.
Male engagement must extend into all of these spheres, dismantling harmful norms, promoting shared responsibility, and modeling equitable behavior. Only by addressing the interconnected systems that reproduce inequality can we achieve lasting change.
Overcoming these barriers requires more than legal frameworks or quotas. Inclusive democracy depends on cultural change across institutions, communities, and political spaces. Promoting transformative masculinities allows both women and men to lead, while dismantling norms that restrict participation and leadership. Despite persistent challenges, women continue to show resilience, leading communities, mobilizing support and advancing politically. Progress requires multi-level action: stronger legal frameworks, economic empowerment, recognition of invisible labor, media accountability, and genuine male allyship.
Therefore, #DebunkSocialNorms and #MenAsAllies must move beyond symbolic gestures, actively dismantling patriarchal structures to build a #DemocracyforAll that reflects the voices and capacities of everyone.
Despite calls for inclusive governance, women and youth remain underrepresented in national politics; experts urge the government to address structural barriers, harassment, and tokenistic participation that limit meaningful engagement and hinder the country from fully harnessing its most dynamic demographic.
Addressing the challenges, the Centre for Governance Studies (CGS), in collaboration with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, hosted a roundtable on "Inclusive Politics: Women and Youth's Pathways to Leadership" today (25 September) in Dhaka.
CGS President Zillur Rahman, presiding over the dialogue, noted that Bangladesh's youth remain sidelined even a year after the July Uprising, and women continue to face societal and institutional barriers. "The success of any initiative to promote inclusive politics depends on political will," he said.
UN Women applauds the ECOSOC adoption today by consensus of the resolution on the revitalization of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), a process that will strengthen the leading UN body in advancing gender equality and the rights and empowerment of all women and girls.
This important resolution comes at a pivotal moment, reinforcing trust in international cooperation and demonstrating that progress through unity is not only possible, but essential. As the United Nations marks its 80th anniversary and advances its reform agenda, the resolution stands as a tangible triumph for multilateralism, placing gender equality at its heart. It is also a clear expression of shared commitment to the United Nations, the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, and the advancement of the Pact for the Future.
UN Women commends the strengthened accountability measures introduced by the resolution. These measures will help accelerate implementation, translate commitments into measurable results, and create space for Member States to share best practices and lessons learned. The resolution also enables the Commission to convene its five-yearly review sessions in rotating locations around the world. This will bring CSW closer to the lived realities of women and girls and help bridge the gap between global commitments and local experiences.
2025 is a crossroads. One road leads to deeper poverty, weaker economies, and human rights stripped away. The other, propels economies forward, building safer societies and fairer futures for everyone.
What makes this year pivotal is the timeline: Just five years remain before the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development deadline, which the world set to make equality a reality for all. The Gender Snapshot 2025, produced by UN Women and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, shows both the cost of failure and the gains within reach.
There are reasons to be hopeful. Girls are surpassing boys in school completion, women are gaining seats in parliament, and in just five years nearly 100 countries have scrapped discriminatory laws – from protecting girls from child marriage to establishing consent-based rape laws. But poverty, hunger, war, climate disasters, and backlash against feminism are eroding progress and could obliterate the gains made by a generation.
The data makes the choice we face clear: Equality could still be a reality for girls born today, but the world must invest now.
A new book, Women in Africa, authored by foremost historian Professor Toyin Falola and Dr. Jumoke Yacob-Haliso, has spotlighted the resilience and agency of African women across history and politics. The volume was the focus of the most recent edition of the Toyin Falola Interviews, where a distinguished panel of academics and advocates engaged with its themes, exploring visibility, erasure, and women’s intellectual contributions to Africa’s past and present.
The conversation brought together prominent scholars including Professor Abimbola Adelakun of the University of Texas at Austin; Professor Damilola Agbalajobi of Obafemi Awolowo University; Professor Khushi Singh Rathore of the European University Institute; Professor Tinuade Ojo of the University of Johannesburg; Professor Mary Owusu, historian of Ghanaian and African intellectual traditions; Professor Grace Ese-osa Idahosa of King’s College, Cambridge; and Professor Christine Vogt-William of the University of Bayreuth.
Opening the discussion, Professor Adelakun underscored the groundbreaking significance of the book, praising its breadth and vision. She described it as a “powerful reflection” on the place of women in African history.
Full article here.
“We want women to say, ‘This is my place’”, declares Yusra Al-Kharisha. “We want women to move into Parliament, into education and political leadership. We want them to say, “My place extends beyond the home.”
In the last five years, Jordan has enacted sweeping changes to boost women’s participation as voters, election workers and political candidates. In 2024, women won almost 20 per cent of parliamentary seats, up from under 14 per cent in the previous election.
To get a sense of the changes happening in the Arab state, UN Women spoke with Al-Kharisha, a recognized social activist and General Director of the Wayakom Foundation for Training and Political Development; and Jameeleh Kassab, an organizer with Jordan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) and part of a UN Women-facilitated scholarship programme that prepares women for senior roles in the electoral process.
Full article here.
This scoping study presents an in-depth exploration of youth political participation, focusing on the design and implementation of youth-related policies. The policy tracker study is based on a comprehensive literature and policy review, tracking key developments from 1980 to 2023. It covers three main areas:
•Youth involvement in political affairs,
•Participation in elections,
•And engagement in civil society, with an emphasis on democratic environments.
It is divided into two key parts, examining academic literature and significant policy shifts across four distinct epochs, providing valuable insights for policymakers and programme designers in the field of youth political engagement.
By systemically analysing research and policy documents that have shaped the policy discourse over the last four decades, the study brings a new perspective on the evolution of youth participation in politics across four key epochs. It offers a unique chronological order highlighting key trends and shifts in youth policymaking while situating them within broader democratic practices. By expanding the understanding of youth participation, the study provides insights for future avenues of research and development of more youth-inclusive policies.
Read here the full report published by the Youth Democracy Report on 16 September 2024.
Image credits: Youth Democracy Cohort
Several Indonesian thinktanks have unofficially assessed that female representation in Indonesia’s national parliament (DPR) for the term 2024-2029 would stand at about 19.65 per cent. If this proves correct, the proportion of women legislators in the new government will be lower than in previous years. During the 2019-2024 term, women’s representation in the DPR was at 20.9 per cent, surpassing 17.32 per cent after the 2014 elections, whereas during Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s presidency (2004 and 2009 elections), women legislators accounted for only 11.1 and 17.86 per cent of legislators, respectively.
While improvements in Indonesia’s electoral system and the internal structures of political parties are needed to provide more opportunities for women to participate in politics, the cultural attitudes of young voters (17-40 years old) towards gender roles and female political leadership are also crucial. As the most significant demographic of voters in the recent elections, at 56 per cent of the electorate, Indonesia’s youth wield significant influence. Examining their current attitudes toward gender equality is essential for envisioning the future of women’s political participation and leadership.
Read here the full article published by Fulcrum on 24 April 2024.
Photo by Fulcrum
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Last week, former prime minister Tony Abbott called for more women to be represented in the Australian parliament. While his comments were focused on the Liberal Party, they did remind us of the consistent gap that remains between the number of men and women in the nation’s parliament.
This is highly problematic, as a lack of women in the national legislature suggests our political system is misfiring.
The inequality of gender representation also undermines the democratic notion of government being for the people, by the people.
This problem isn’t unique to Australia, as many other countries continue to have fewer women than men representing the community in the national parliament.
Australia became a world leader when, in 1902, women gained the power to vote, and also stand for election to the parliament of Australia. But it took more than 40 years until, in 1943, Enid Lyons and Dorothy Tangney became the first women elected to the national parliament.
The situation has changed since the 1940s, but we’re still a long way from enjoying gender parity in parliament. For example, at the start of 2024, Australia was ranked 37th in the world for the percentage of women in its national parliament, with just 38% of seats in the House of Representatives (where governments are formed) being held by women. The story is somewhat better in the upper house, as 57% of seats are occupied by women.
Read here the full article published by the Monash University on 15 April 2024.
Image source: Monash University
Three quarters (77%) of women are not comfortable expressing political opinions online because of fears they will be targeted by harmful online behaviours such as misogyny, trolling, threats and harassment, according to new research published today (Wednesday 20 March) at AI UK, the UK's national showcase of data science and AI hosted by The Alan Turing Institute.
The survey found that while men and women reported seeing harmful content online almost equally overall, women reported being directly targeted by misogyny, cyberstalking, cyberflashing, eating disorder content, and image based sexual abuse to a significantly greater extent than men.
Women are also significantly more fearful of experiencing every type of harm that they were asked about.
The research also found that women were 96% more likely than men to say they had been left feeling sad or low as a result of an online experience, and 47% more likely than men to say they had been left with physical symptoms such as insomnia or headaches.
The research also looked at the use of safety tools and across all seven tools surveyed, including disabling location sharing, making accounts private and limiting who can engage with posts, women consistently report using these tools to a greater extent than men. This could suggest that women feel the need to do more to protect themselves from online harms.
Click here to read the full article published by The Alan Turing Institute on 20 March 2024.
Image source: The Alan Turing Institute
Young people form a large share of the global population, but they make up only a small proportion of members of parliament around the world. This disparity is greatest among younger cohorts: while half of people worldwide are under age 30, and 18% of people are between the ages of 20 and 29, this report finds that only 2.8% of parliamentarians are aged 30 or under. The exclusion of youth from these spaces is not only unjust, but also has important policy implications. By virtue of their age, younger generations will live the longest with the consequences of legislation passed today. If young people’s voices are not heard, these laws are not likely to reflect their political priorities and perspectives, making it less likely that attention will be paid to issues like education, unemployment and climate change.
Click here to read the full report published by the Inter-Parliamentary Union on 19 October 2023.
This year’s State of the World’s Girls report is focused on girls’ and young women’s political participation.
It explores their attitudes towards, and experiences of, political and civic participation and institutions, across many different backgrounds.
The report is based on a large-scale survey of almost 29,000 girls and young women aged 15-24 from 29 countries spanning all regions, income levels and civic contexts. Additionally, researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 94 girls and young women across 18 countries.
Click here to access the report.