By Ashim Steiner

In a region that has seen the greatest progress in political gender equality in the last two decades, Paraguay stands out, but for the wrong reasons: it has the third-lowest percentage of women in parliament in the Americas, with 17.5%, roughly half the regional average of 33.9%. When considering other elective positions, the divide widens.

After a quarter of a century of democratic experience that followed another 25 years of a revolutionary process that put women’s emancipation at the centre of the revolutionary discourse, women in Mozambique still face social, economic and political exclusions that impact their participation and representation in politics in general and in electoral processes in particular, while constituting 51 per cent of the population and 53 of the electorate.

Enhancing Women's Political Participation in Africa (Women in Political Participation (WPP) is a Pan-African gender project on the different facets of Women and Politics in Africa. Funded by Sida and implemented by International IDEA, it aims to advance gender equality in politics and governance, in line with the Maputo Protocol of 2003, various associated sub-regional protocols and standards, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Women make up over half of Myanmar’s population, yet significant obstacles remain for women to be able to participate in political processes and to achieve equal representation in Myanmar’s state institutions. Before the military coup on 1 February 2021, Myanmar’s 2020 general elections saw an increased number of women elected as members in legislatures (16 per cent) in comparison to the 2015 elections (13 per cent).