The London School of Economics have launched a new study concluding that gender quotas to place women in positions of power are needed in order to guarantee gender equality. This quotas would include both private and public sectors and the study makes particular emphasis on parity within political parties to guarantee decision-making processes free from gender discrimination.

Violence against women takes many forms and it is a global phenomenon. It is the case, however, that during electoral processes violence against women is generally increased; the reason behind this trend is that the attention that the media pay to elections is often used as an amplifier for propagating the messages of violence. Thus, during the 2011 Nigerian national elections, several reports denounced that female volunteers suffered sexual harassment at polling stations.

German Chancellor, Angela Merkel (Hamburg, 1954) is sometimes considered as the most powerful women in the

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