Elections

With a record number of women in the fight for the White House, it's time to re-examine what role - if any - gender biases may play in the 2020 election.

It's been a groundbreaking year for women in US politics: 1,834 women won office at the state and federal level during the mid-term elections last November and 2,112 are serving in state legislative offices .

Israelis are heading to the polls in a unique election. The vote on September 17 is the first time Israelis will vote in two elections in the same year, after the Likud party, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, failed to form a new coalition government following the April 2019 election. It’s also exceptional in terms of female political leadership – the only woman heading a party in this election, Ayelet Shaked, is a secular woman leading an alliance of religious, right-wing parties.

In Switzerland, female voters outnumber their male counterparts by 10%. Yet women remain a minority in cantonal and federal politics. Here’s a look at some of the reasons for this discrepancy.

The Swiss will elect a new parliament this October. Never before have so many women run for a seat in the House of Representatives. However, it is very likely that men will once again dominate the newly elected parliament.

Tunisia has long been seen as a pioneer for women's rights in the Arab world, but on the eve of presidential elections, women are calling this reputation into question.

"Men promise a lot to women. But when Mr Moustache arrives in power, nothing happens," said Feryel Charfeddine, head of Calam, an association fighting violence against women.

Men have greater confidence in their ability to serve as politicians and are more likely to have been personally encouraged to enter politics, a new poll shows, underscoring factors why women are under-represented at all levels of elected office in Canada.

One obstacle highlighted by the poll for the Environics Institute is the degree to which men and women see themselves as qualified to run for election and the amount of encouragement they get to throw their hat into the political ring.