In November 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formed the first gender-balanced cabinet in Canadian history. In announcing his cabinet, he ensured that half of his closest advisers (15 out of a total of 30) were women.

Canada's gender-equal cabinet vaulted the country from 20th to fifth place in the world in terms of percentage of women in ministerial positions.

There is broad consensus that women’s increased participation in politics is necessary for both the democratic development of the country, as well as women’s empowerment in Bangladesh.

In the recently-held 11th general election, 22 women were directly elected among in 299 constituencies. Despite this, the percentage of women elected to parliament is less than 8%—not even reaching double digits.

One of the hallmarks of post-Genocide Rwanda is inclusive politics. The year 2018 brought about more gains as far as political plurality is concerned, at least in the Chamber of Deputies where two new opposition parties won seats.

And this is significant in the country’s politics, according to the leader of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, Frank Habineza, whose party won legislative seats in last year’s elections following several failed attempts at the ballot.

When citizens of the Democratic Republic of Congo go to the polls next Sunday, attention will be focused on the race to succeed Joseph Kabila, the president of nearly 18 years. But away from the spotlight, there’s another battle going on: Women are fighting for a place in politics.

By Adam Taylor,

The United States has never had more women in Congress than it does now. As of last week, when the 116th Congress was sworn in, 23.7 percent of the 535 members of Congress are women — roughly a quarter of the Senate and 23.4 percent of the House of Representatives.

By Vanessa Williams,

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News and social media documented the historic diversity of the 116th Congress with images of women dressed in colorful traditional clothing and little girls gazing with pride as their mothers took the oath of office.