Time to act: Everyone has a role in making women’s leadership the norm

Advancing women’s political participation needs to go beyond legal and policy reforms. Deeply rooted social norms continue to keep women out of political leadership  — from unequal care burdens at home to media bias and exclusionary party practices. Seeing real progress means changing attitudes and daily practices across institutions and society.

 Change is possible, but it requires action from different stakeholders:

• Parliamentarians are lawmakers and play a role in passing gender-sensitive laws, enforcing protections against harassment and violence, and supporting women’s caucuses, which are critical steps to dismantle barriers. Parliaments shape not only laws and policies but also public perceptions of who belongs in decision-making.
• Local representatives can support a shift in public perceptions within communities through awareness campaigns, promote women’s leadership at the local level as an entry point for young women candidates, and can enact gender-responsive policies, such as public services and care systems to enable participation of diverse women.
• Political parties are gatekeepers to leadership. By adopting internal quotas for leadership positions, providing training and resources, enforcing gender-sensitive internal rules and procedures, and holding members accountable for harassment, parties can open the pipeline for women candidates and reshape internal cultures that too often exclude them.
• Women’s organizations, youth-led organizations, and grassroots organizations can elevate women’s leadership through training and mentoring, providing stepping-stones for decision-making at the local level, building confidence, agency, and skills for leadership.
• Media are storytellers and powerful agents of change. Highlighting diverse women leaders, rejecting stereotypes, and reporting responsibly on women in politics can normalize women’s leadership and inspire the next generation.
• Families and schools are the norm-setters. Social norms take root early. Parents and teachers can show children that leadership has no gender by modelling equality at home and in classrooms, providing inspiring role models, encouraging girls’ ambition, and teaching boys to value women’s leadership.
• Men in leadership have influence and they should use it.  By calling out discrimination, nominating women for decision-making positions, and promoting cultures of respect, they can help shift norms from within.

What can I do?

Everyone has the power to challenge harmful norms in daily life:

• Hear a stereotype or bias? Challenge it whether in the classroom, the office, or at the dinner table.
• Boost women’s voices: Share, support, and celebrate women leaders, especially on social media.
• Lift the next generation of girls to take leadership roles at school or in community initiatives. Future changemakers start young!
• Vote like gender equality depends on it. Support candidates who champion women’s rights and leadership. Be the example. At home, at work, and in public, show equality is possible and powerful. Lasting change takes all of us.

Shifting mindsets is as crucial as changing laws. From institutions to households, everyone has a role in creating societies where women’s leadership is not the exception but the norm. Together, we can build inclusive democracies that reflect the voices, experiences, and diversity of all women and girls.

Continue reading: Invisible barriers — how social norms keep women out of leadership roles