When Roxy Ndebumadu, a Black conservative woman, ran for city council in Bowie, Maryland, at age 26, it was hard to find mentorship from elected officials of similar backgrounds. "My, I guess you would say, makeup is very unique," Ndebumadu told CNN.

A Scottish council which has no female councillors hopes to encourage more women to stand in next May's local government elections. In the last elections in 2017, for the first time in its history, no women were elected to the Western Isles' Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.

A sea of change is washing across New South Wales local government as more women and young people take up seats as councillors. Until recently, 22-year-old Imogen Draisma could not see herself reflected in the local council running her home city of Kiama, in the Illawarra.

"My ideas and [I] were not represented by the people that were purporting to represent me," Cr Draisma said.

Democracy Works Foundation (DWF) in conjunction with Botswana Editors Forum Botswana recently held a two-day workshop to train journalists on how media can play a supportive role in advancing meaningful participation of women in politics.

Currently DWF is implementing a year-long program in Botswana geared towards the advancement and development of women in politics.

In just two years, the pandemic has threatened decades worth of progress towards gender equality. As of December 2020, women suffered a net loss of over 5 million jobs due to COVID-19; in 2021, one in three women reported that they may end up downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce entirely if conditions don’t improve in the United States.