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Ligestillingsudvalget 2020-21
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HIGHLIGHTS

Globally

• 2020 was marked by

continued gradual progress

for women in parliament

(+0.6 points) despite the

unprecedented COVID-19

pandemic and its impact.

The global average for the

proportion of women in

parliament reached an all-time

high of 25.5 per cent. Women

won 22.6 per cent of all

seats up for renewal in 2020

in 70

chambers across 57

countries. Women took 22.9

per cent of the unicameral or

lower chamber seats up for

renewal, and 21.6 per cent of

the upper chamber seats.

• COVID-19 created extensive

challenges for elections and

campaigning (especially online

violence and harassment

against women in politics) but

raised public awareness and

debate about many gendered

aspects of governance and

political leadership, such as

the ability to combine private

and public life, as well as the

need for gender-awareness in

recovery planning.

• Of the 57 countries that

held elections in 2020, 25

implemented legislated

quotas (either reserved seats

or candidate quotas). On

average, parliaments with

legislated quotas elected

11.8 per cent more women

to single and lower chambers

than parliaments with no

legal quotas (27.4 per cent

v. 15.6 per cent), and 7.4 per

cent more women to upper

chambers (25.6 percent v.

18.2 per cent).

• Quotas continued to act as a

shield against backsliding in

most cases but once quotas

are introduced, women’s

participation often plateaus

for multiple election cycles.

• Electoral systems play a role

in the adoption – but not the

effectiveness – of quotas.

Quotas were much less likely

to be used in countries with

majoritarian electoral systems

during parliamentary renewals

in 2020. But when they were

in place, quotas in majoritarian

electoral systems performed

Elections in the Central African

Republic and Venezuela are excluded

as results had not been validated or

confirmed at the time of publication.

Women in parliament in 2020

The year in review

2020 elections in New Zealand saw an unprecedented increase in the numbers of women and traditionally

under-represented groups both in parliament and in government, reflecting people’s demand for due

representation of all sectors of society in a time of pandemic. The female Prime Minister was widely

considered to have competently and efficiently managed her country’s response to COVID-19, which may

have boosted her bid for reelection. © Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images via AFP

Introduction

Elections in 2020 were profoundly marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in delays

and cancellations, logistical challenges for candidates and election administrators and often

low turnout. Women’s leadership was frequently in the spotlight during the pandemic. The

pandemic raised complex and deeply gendered challenges for citizens and created obstacles

for MPs to communicate and engage directly with their constituents. It changed the ways

parliaments operate, introducing flexibility and new technologies. A substantial number of

MPs across the globe were infected, many lost their lives.

Women’s participation continued to grow by 0.6 per cent in 2020, passing the 25 per cent

mark for combined upper and lower/single chambers worldwide for the first time (+0.7 points

for lower/single chambers and +0.2 points in upper chambers). This is a similar rate of growth

to the past decade. Several parliaments, such as Mali’s and Egypt’s, overcame remarkable

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HIGHLIGHTS

as well as quotas in proportional

or mixed electoral systems.

• Political party configuration has

a significant impact. Women

running for office in states with

dominant parties experienced

strong outcomes. Likewise,

where dominant parties that

have been championing gender

parity experience setbacks

or major change, women’s

representation followed suit.

challenges to introduce or enhance electoral quotas.

Burkina Faso’s loosening of quota rules

and subsequent rollback of gains marked one of the year’s notable setbacks. Kuwait also saw

a setback, with no woman being elected, as compared to one woman previously. Despite

political unrest and upheaval in Latin America, women’s representation remained intact

at existing levels while women’s activism and engagement in reform may presage future

growth. In the same year as the first female vice president took office in the U.S., there was

continued incremental growth and the U.S. made important gains in closing partisan gaps

and enhancing diversity in the legislature. New Zealand’s elections also heralded an era of

unprecedented women’s representation and diversity as a whole, in the legislature. Syrian

women overcame extraordinary challenges to participate in constitutional reform.

Violence against women in politics, including many forms of online harassment and abuse,

continued to be a major barrier. While quotas prevented backsliding, many countries with

quotas failed to make significant progress beyond quota levels in 2020. Countries with

majoritarian electoral systems were far less likely to use a gender quota, but those that did

achieved equivalent success as countries with proportional and mixed systems using quotas.

Regionally

• In sub-Saharan Africa, Mali and

Niger made significant gains

in women’s representation,

despite grave security

challenges. New or revised

quota policies helped protect

these gains against instability.

Burkina Faso saw the most

significant setback of the year,

as weakened quota rules and a

lack of implementation resulted

in backsliding to its weakest

outcome in over 30 years.

• Of 14 parliamentary renewals

in Europe in 2020, in four

countries women exceeded

thirty per cent of parliamentary

representation in at least one

chamber (Ireland, Serbia, North

Macedonia and France). In

three countries women failed

to account for at least 20 per

cent of parliamentary seats

(Azerbaijan, Czech Republic and

Romania).

• In the MENA region, although

Egypt reached historic highs for

women in parliament thanks to a

new quota law for the House of

Representatives, the proportion

of women in parliament in the

region was the lowest among

all regions (17 per cent, all

chambers combined).

• Gains in Asia were driven by

women’s representation in

the upper houses in Tajikistan,

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Of parliamentary renewals in

2020, only Nepal exceeded 30

per cent women, sustaining a

strong track record on women in

parliament over the past decade.

• With the exception of

New Zealand, women’s

representation in parliaments in

the Pacific remained consistently

low or entirely absent following

elections held in 2020. New

Zealand’s new government

made history with more women,

people of colour, LGBTQ+

people and Maori MPs than at

any time in the past as well as

the election of MPs of African,

Latin American and Sri Lankan

descent for the first time.

Regional trends

Figure 1

World and regional averages of women in parliaments, 1995 and 2021

World average: +14.2

11.3

25.5

Americas: +19.7

12.7

32.4

13.2

30.4

9.8

25.0

6.3

20.9

4.3

17.8

13.2

20.4

0.0

1995

10.0

2021

20.0

30.0

40.0

Europe: +17.2

Sub-Saharan Africa: +15.2

Pacific: +14.6

MENA: +13.5

Asia: +7.2

Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) data for all houses combined, figures correct as of 1 July 1995 and 1 January

2021 respectively.

Sub-Saharan Africa: Consistent highs and lows, Mali and Niger make gains

Women represented 25 per cent of parliamentarians in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020 (+0.6 from

2019), the world’s third ranking region after the Americas and Europe. During parliamentary

renewals in 2020, sub-Saharan African countries that had previously attained comparatively

strong levels of women’s representation (30 per cent or higher) held the course. They

included Burundi (both chambers), Tanzania (unicameral) and Cameroon (lower chamber).

States with low levels of women in parliament (less than 15 per cent) had divergent

outcomes. Representation remained very low in some countries, including Liberia (upper

chamber), Madagascar (upper chamber) and Ghana (unicameral). Burkina Faso experienced

In the case of Mali, the elections were nullified following a coup d’état in August. However, the Transitional

National Council that was appointed following the coup maintained a similar level of representation of women.

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Mali saw the largest progress in

terms of the number of seats held

by women among all countries

holding parliamentary elections

in 2020. The percentage of

women MPs tripled from 9.5%

previously to nearly 29% thanks

to a new quota law. Later in the

year, Parliament was replaced by a

Transitional National Council where

women hold 26% of the seats.

further backsliding. Other countries which had previously

had 15 per cent or lower women representation took a

different path and made gains. Comoros, Niger and Mali

were notable exceptions. All three recorded double-digit

increases in women’s representation in their parliaments.

Several elections were postponed to 2021 in some countries,

including Chad, Ethiopia, Gabon and Somalia, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic.

Stand out elections – Mali and Niger

Greater women’s participation in parliament was a common

thread through

Mali’s

tumultuous electoral year, which saw

not one, but two new legislatures seated. Mali’s two-round

parliamentary elections took place in the early months of the

COVID-19 pandemic, on 29 March and 19 April. They resulted

in women winning 41 out of 147 seats in the unicameral

parliament (27 per cent), nearly tripling their previous

representation (9.5 per cent). The parliamentary elections

were due to take place in late 2018, but were postponed due

to security concerns related to rebel and jihadist factional

violence in the north and central parts of the country.

Security was still a major concern at the time of the 2020

polls: Mali’s first COVID-19 death was made public early in

the day of the first poll. Also, the lead opposition candidate,

Soumaila Cisse, was kidnapped days before the election.

Women voters and candidates’ campaigns were especially

impacted by security concerns and the public health risk,

which further limited their movement. Women reportedly had

less access to accurate information about COVID-19 and less

means to protect themselves.

Building off the success of the quota used in local elections

in 2016, the 2020 elections were the first national elections

to be held since Mali passed a gender quota law in 2015,

requiring at least 30 per cent

of elected and appointed

officials to be women.

The

introduction of the quota

was a major step forward

for women’s rights in Mali.

Women parliamentarians

and civil society organizations were instrumental in ensuring

the adoption and due implementation of the quota law.

Women’s representation in Mali had been slowly decreasing

since the late 1990s, hovering just below 10 per cent for over

a decade. Years of instability triggered by a military coup in

2012, severe drought and the occupation of northern regions

by armed groups further limited women’s participation owing

to economic hardship and insecurity.

This progress in women’s rights appears to be holding

despite ongoing instability: in August 2020, President

Keita resigned and dissolved the parliament following a

military coup. The Transitional Charter (1 October 2020) only

contained general provisions regarding women’s political

participation rather than a specific quota target.

Women’s

rights remained part of the public consciousness as a

large rally was held in Bamako on 26 September to protest

violence against women following revelations on social

media about intimate partner abuse involving a famous

Malian artist. When the transitional authorities announced

the names of 121 members of a new legislative body on

5 December, the National Transitional Council (CNT), it

included 32 women (26.4 per cent). Despite the weakened

quota provision, the level of women’s representation

continued to reflect the previous target of 30 per cent.

In addition to conflict-related sexual violence, Malian

women in politics also face gender-based violence.

According to national data (2018), one in two Malian women

aged 15 to 49 has suffered acts of physical or sexual

violence, and nearly 80 per cent of women considered

The percentage of women elected in municipal elections increased

from 9 per cent in 2009 to more than 25 per cent in 2016 with the

application of the quota law. The IPU has been supporting the work

of parliament to promote gender equality and ensure the adoption

and implementation of the quota law, including at national level. See

https://www.ipu.org/news/news-in-brief/2019-03/malian-parliament-

working-increase-gender-equality.

CHAPITRE IV : DES AUTRES DISPOSITIONS Article 17 : L

’accès des

femmes aux fonctions électives et nominatives peut être favorisé

par des mesures particulières prévues par la loi. La composition des

différents organes de la Transition prend en compte le genre.

https://www.journaldumali.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/mali-jo-

2020-17-sp.pdf.

However, the +13.6 point gain in Comoros is attributable to the very

small size of the parliament.

Cisse was subsequently held hostage by an armed group for 6 months

and then died of COVID-19 less than four months after his release.

https://minusma.unmissions.org/trois-fois-plus-de-femmes-

%C3%A9lues-aux-l%C3%A9gislatives-2020%C2%A0-un-

progr%C3%A8s-%C3%A9norme-vers-une-repr%C3%A9sentation.

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physical violence by a man against his female partner to be

normal and justifiable.

Rising from a low of just 1.2 per cent in 1996 and 14.6 per

cent in the previous election,

Niger’s

level of women’s

representation in the single-chamber parliament jumped 11

points to reach 25.9 per cent in 2020. The elections were

held despite threats of Jihadi violence in many parts of the

country. The growth in Niger is attributed to the reform of

the gender quota in 2019, which increased the quota target

from 10 per cent for elected positions and 15 per cent for

nominated offices, to 25 and 30 per cent, respectively.

Women’s representation in the

Comoros

remains low (16.6

per cent in the unicameral legislature). However, women

won more parliamentary seats in 2020, going from a single

seat to four following the January elections. Those elections

were boycotted by the main opposition parties. Prior to the

election, a women’s political protest, the “Mother’s March”

was violently disrupted by police, and dozens of women

were arrested. The small size of the parliament (24 of the

33 seats were up for election in 2020) accounts for the

statistical significance of the gain in seats.

The high performers: Burundi, Tanzania and Cameroon

Once again, Burundi,

Tanzania

and

Cameroon

all elected

women to at least one-third of parliamentary seats during

elections held in 2020. Burundi and Tanzania both have a

30 per cent quota of reserved seats. All three countries are

dominant party states.

In Tanzania and Cameroon, the dominant parties have

implemented voluntary party quotas in addition to the

legislated quotas. Tanzania’s Revolutionary Party (CCM) set

forth a goal of 50 percent in 2015, while Cameroon’s People’s

Democratic Movement introduced a 25-30 per cent quota

on electoral lists in 1996. Tanzania uses an unusual reserved-

seat quota system, known as PR-tier, where the seats

specially set aside for women are distributed among the

political parties in proportion to the number of seats won by

them in parliament.

Among the African countries that held parliamentary

elections in 2020,

Burundi

is the highest ranking in terms

of women’s representation (38.2 per cent in the lower

house, 41 per cent in the upper house). The year 2020

marked the 15

anniversary of the implementation of

gender quotas in Burundi and the introduction of a new

constitution. The new constitution maintains the minimum

30 per cent gender quota for women’s representation in

the legislature and the executive branch and extends it to

the judiciary (article 213). As a result, women will have at

the minimum a critical mass in the three branches of state

power during the period 2020-2027.

Setbacks and stagnation: Liberia, Burkina, Madagascar,

Namibia and Ghana

Women’s representation in four of sub-Saharan Africa’s weakest

performing states slid even further below the 15 per cent in

2020 and was close to static in Ghana. The Liberia elections led

to women’s representation of only 3.3 per cent in the upper

chamber (-6.7 points); Burkina Faso elected just 6.3 per cent

women to the single chamber (-3.1 points), and Madagascar

elected 11.1 per cent to the upper chamber (-7 points).

Although

Namibia’s

National Assembly (lower chamber,

not up for election in 2020) has a high level of women’s

representation (43 per cent), the indirectly elected National

Council (upper chamber) dropped from 23.8 per cent of

women to 14.3 per cent after the December 2020 election.

This may reflect a historic level of pluralism in these

elections. For the first time since the early 1990s, the

dominant party, the South West Africa People’s Organisation

(SWAPO), suffered numerous defeats at local and regional

levels of government in elections (in which the National

Council is elected by indirect vote). At least one opposition

party has recently implemented a voluntary party quota,

but for years, SWAPO was the only political party to do

so. SWAPO’s share of the vote at the regional councils

dropped from 83 per cent in 2015 to 57 per cent in 2020.

This outcome was reflected in the National Council indirect

elections, which saw six parties gain seats apart from

SWAPO, up from only two in all past elections since 1992.

Burkina Faso’s

elections were a notable setback in

progress for women in parliament, as their numbers shrank

to a mere 6.3 per cent of seats (-3.1 points). This is the

weakest outcome in Burkina Faso since Blaise Compaoré

overthrew Sankara’s socialist government in 1987 Women’s

representation topped out at 15.7 per cent of parliamentary

seats in 2012, and their representation has been in steady

decline for nearly a decade.

Burkina Faso’s 2009 legislated candidate quota law

was

revised in January ahead of the 2020 elections. The revision

included a legislated 30 per cent candidate quota for party

lists of both primary and secondary elected positions

(“

titulaires

” and “

suppléants

”) using a zebra placement

system. The lack of such placement rules had been identified

as a factor in the low success of quotas in previous

elections. However, a trade-off was made on sanction rules.

Sanctions for non-compliance (loss of 50 per cent of public

funding) were removed and only incentive measures were

retained (20 per cent additional funding for parties that

met the target). According to the National Independent

Electoral Commission, just 23 out of more than 100 parties

complied with the target. This reflects past patterns where

parties failed to comply and electoral authorities omitted to

enforce quota rules: during the 2015 elections when stronger

legal sanctions dictated nullifying non-compliant lists, the

electoral commission nonetheless validated 98 (out of 101)

lists that had no women candidates and three lists with

https://reliefweb.int/report/mali/time-tackle-violence-against-women-mali.

Dominant party systems are defined as “democratic polities which are

dominated by one party or a bloc of parties which control government

for long periods” Boucek, F (1998). Electoral and parliamentary aspects

of dominant party systems.

Comparing Party System Change,

103-124.

https://www.ndi.org/sites/default/files/Quota-Law-BF-FRE.pdf.

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no male candidates.

In 2020, parties failed to respect the

new zebra placement rules for national lists. None of the

parties placed women in the first spots for the

titulaire

(titular

or substantive) positions. Women were overwhelmingly

placed on the lists for the secondary

suppléant

(alternate

or substitute) positions (80 per cent).

Only one female

candidate, Yeli Monique Kam, was among the 12 candidates

challenging President Roch Marc Kabore. She finished in

last position, receiving seven votes fewer than the candidate

immediately ahead of her and receiving just 0.53 per cent of

the vote.

The failure of the Burkinabé quota system is attributed to a

lack of political will on the part of political parties to respect

quota laws and to non-enforcement of those laws by the

electoral authorities. These factors are compounded by poor

design of sanctions, embedded exclusion within political

parties and women’s marginalization during the transition.

Financial sanctions are the weakest form of penalty, and

incentives are only helpful when they meaningfully influence

the financial calculations of political parties. In Burkina Faso,

where political parties have deeply entrenched patriarchal

networks, the opportunity costs of reconfiguring internal

power distribution to comply with the quota did not outweigh

the benefits of the incentive offer.

Despite widespread awareness campaigns in 2020,

the

implementation of the quota mirrored the lack of political will

that has characterized the Burkinabé approach to women’s

political empowerment for decades. This was left unchanged

after the 2014 popular uprising that unseated long-time

President Compaoré. Despite women’s active participation

in the uprising, the women’s movement was relatively weak

and disorganized

and the “rushed, violence-prone transition

process left them without much time to coordinate and forge

alliances with reform-oriented political actors” This resulted

in their low representation in the National Transitional Council

(CNT). Since that time, women have lacked the influence

to press political party leaders for greater commitment to

gender goals. The women’s wing of the ruling MPP party

lacks the resources to support women’s leadership, and

women in politics continue to face intimidation, violence and

resistance from relatives and male party members.

Liberia’s

upper house saw a 6.7 point drop, bringing

women’s representation to just 3.3 per cent or a single

female senator, Madam Botoe Kanneh. This marks a 22-year

low for Liberia, making it the lowest performing country in

the region for women in the upper house of parliament and

the world’s 3

lowest upper chamber, after Yemen’s and

Haiti’s. Only 18 women contested 12 of 15 counties out of

118 total candidates.

Senatorial candidate Botoe Kanneh

faced a dramatic situation of violence against women in

elections. The election in Gbarpolu county was re-scheduled

twice (from 8 to 15 December 2020, and then moved to 7

January 2021), initially because of youth groups seizing ballot

boxes. Ahead of the new 15 December date, Botoe Kanneh

was reportedly beaten, harassed and threatened with

politicization of a traditional cultural practice, the Poro Master,

commonly known as the “country devil”

Part of traditional

authority practices, “country devils” are able to impose an

instantaneous curfew in communities, and violators face

severe consequences. This specially applies to women, as

they are prohibited from viewing the “male devil” The “devil”

was allegedly deployed strategically to prevent Botoe Kenneh

and supporters from entering the town to campaign, leading

her to hide in the bush from where she was ultimately

rescued by a team of women’s rights advocacy organizations,

who moved her to a safe location.

Whereas support to train women aspirants and candidates

has been spearheaded by local civil society organizations and

a coalition of women in political parties for decades, it has

produced little progress. Also, while Liberia had Africa’s first

female head of state (Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, 2006-2018) and

current President George Weah has affirmed his feminism,

efforts at legal reform in 2014

and 2010

failed to secure

quota provisions.

In the 2020 elections,

Madagascar’s

Senate witnessed

the election of the fewest women into office in the country

since 1965. The Senate was substantially reduced in size in

2020, from 63 to 18 members, six of whom are appointed

by the executive. While the National Assembly is dominated

by the President’s Young Malagasies Determined party,

prior to the 2020 election opposition parties controlled

the Senate, which is elected indirectly by local elected

officials. Both of these factors likely influenced the number

of women elected in the 2020 Senate election. First, the

opposition parties boycotted the election,

resulting in a

sudden shift in existing representation. Second, women’s

representation at the local level was extremely low, with

only 5 to 7 per cent of women local mayors and councillors

elected in 2019.

Although quota laws have been

repeatedly proposed for over a decade,

Madagascar has

not adopted any of the proposed measures.

10 https://eeas.europa.eu/archives/eueom/missions/2015/burkina-faso/

pdf/moe-ue-burkina-faso2015-rapportfinal-version-light_fr.pdf.

11 https://lefaso.net/spip.php?article100214.

12 See https://www.matd.gov.bf/accueil/actualites/details?tx_news_

pi1%5Baction%5D=detail&tx_news_pi1%5Bcontroller%5D=News&tx_news_

pi1%5Bnews%5D=112&cHash=a2d6c8551b37db9faca1e21c8d1ad9e3 and

https://www.burkina24.com/2020/10/24/respect-du-quota-genre-aux-

legislatives-ligd-pose-le-debat/.

13 Brechenmacher & Hubbards, 2020. https://carnegieendowment.

org/2020/03/24/breaking-cycle-of-gender-exclusion-in-political-party-

development-pub-81345.

14 Ibid.

15 https://frontpageafricaonline.com/news/liberia-18-women-100-men-will-

vie-for-15-senate-seats-in-midterm-elections/

16 https://www.liberianobserver.com/news/country-devil-in-election-an-

abuse-of-cultural-symbol/

17 https://www.iknowpolitics.org/en/news/world-news/liberian-women-

demand-security-female-senatorial-candidate-ahead-rescheduled.

18 https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20200812-liberia-s-self-proclaimed-feminist-

president-weah-fails-to-nominate-woman-candidate-politics-africa.

19 https://necliberia.org/doc_download/New%20Elections%20law%20

Amendments.pdf.

20 https://www.loc.gov/law/foreign-news/article/liberia-proposal-to-

increase-womens-participation-in-politics/.

21 https://www.foreignbrief.com/daily-news/madagascar-to-hold-

senatorial-elections/.

22 https://genderlinks.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/50-50-PB-

MADA-NOV2020rev3.pdf.

23 CEDAW Shadow Report 2015.

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Finally, in

Ghana,

Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang was

nominated on 6 July 2020 as the presidential running

mate for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the

December 2020 general elections. She became the first

female running mate among Ghana’s two major political

parties. The NDC lost to the incumbent New Patriotic Party.

There is evidence of increased awareness of gender issues:

according to a recent report by the National Commission

for Civic Education (NCCE), 66 per cent of voters are willing

to cast their ballot for a female presidential candidate, and

76 per cent a female member of parliament.

However,

the lack of political will on the part of leading parties to

adopt the Affirmative Action bill (after nearly 10 years

of debate), and the 59 per cent increase in the cost of

running for political office between 2012 and 2016

have

been a further impediment for women seeking to break

through. Harassment and abuse of women in politics are

widespread, and include targeting women with insults,

ridicule and rumour.

The Americas: Plateaus in LAC, Diversity in the USA

Once again, the Americas outpaced other regions with

women accounting for 32.4 of parliamentary seats in 2020.

Latin America entered 2020 shaken by the region-wide

political upheaval which had marked the previous year,

including massive and unexpectedly violent protests in Chile,

Colombia and Ecuador, the abrupt resignation of Bolivian

president Evo Morales following a disputed election and the

disbanding of congress in Peru. By mid-year, the region was

considered to be the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic

with devastating outbreaks in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina,

Colombia and Peru.

The pandemic took a uniquely huge toll

on Latin American economies, which contracted at roughly

double the rate of other emerging market regions and are

expected to recover more slowly.

This will only lead to

further inequality in what is already the world’s most unequal

region.

Despite the pandemic, feminist social movements

played a significant role in shaping the region’s political

landscape in multiple countries.

Among the single and lower chambers of parliament,

the greatest improvements in women’s parliamentary

representation occurred in Jamaica (+11.1 points) and

Guyana (+5.2 points). The small parliaments of Saint Kitts and

Nevis (15 members) and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

(23 members) also registered significant percentage gains

(+11.7 points and +5.1 points respectively), reflecting the

election of three more women MPs over the previous

elections. In upper houses, the most notable gains were

24 Madsen, D et al. “A step forward but no guarantee of gender friendly

policies” The Nordic Africa Institute. 2020.

25 Westminster Foundation for Democracy. http://www.wfd.org/

wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Cost_Of_Politics_Ghana.pdf.

26 Madsen et al.

27 BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-52711458.

28 BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-52711458.

29 CSIS https://www.csis.org/analysis/effects-covid-19-latin-americas-

economy.

30 https://blogs.worldbank.org/health/have-south-and-central-

america-become-new-coronavirus-covid-19-epicenter and https://

www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australianoutlook/latin-americas-

coronavirus-crisis-why-it-disproportionally-affects-the-poor/.

achieved in Jamaica (+14.2 points), Belize (+13.2 points) and

Trinidad and Tobago (+8.4 points).

Jamaica,

a record 30 women, 18 from the Jamaica

Labour Party (JLP) and 12 from the People’s National Party

(PNP) contested the 3 September 2020 general elections.

Eighteen were elected, bringing women’s representation to

28.6 per cent in the lower chamber. The record number of

women candidates was partially the result of the enthusiasm

generated by Kamala Harris’ candidacy in the US elections.

Harris’ father is of Jamaican descent.

Although progress was incremental, 2020 saw historically

high levels of women’s representation in the

United States

Congress

(26.9 per cent chambers combined). In particular,

Republicans (the “GOP”) now have thirty-eight women

lawmakers, or fourteen more than in the previous Congress,

breaking the 2006 record. The partisan gender gap in

American politics is attributed to several factors, including the

fact that more American women identify as Democrats than

as Republicans,

and that Republican women are less likely

to have access to the social, recruitment and fundraising

The US made history in 2020 with the election of a woman as

Vice President for the first time. Vice President Kamala Harris also

constitutionally became President of the Senate. The US therefore

has women presiding over both chambers of Congress.

31 https://www.caribbeannationalweekly.com/caribbean-breaking-

news-featured/women-surge-historic-number-of-women-elected-to-

jamaicas-parliament/.

32 US Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government

of the United States and consists of the House of Representatives

and the Senate.

33 Pew Research https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/18/

men-and-women-in-the-u-s-continue-to-differ-in-voter-turnout-rate-

party-identification/.

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networks that support Democratic women candidates.

Republican party actors set out to address the resource gap

following the stark outcome of the 2018 midterm elections,

where GOP women only won 13 seats, including only one

non-incumbent seat. The creation of groups dedicated to

recruiting and supporting Republican women candidates

played an important role in this. Such groups include the

Elevate Political Action Committee (E-PAC) and Winning for

Women super PAC.

Despite the gains in the Republican party, a significant

partisan gender gap exists in the US legislature. The GOP still

counts roughly one third the number of Democrat women

representatives and only one tenth the number of Democrat

women of colour. A record fifty-one women of colour now serve

in Congress (5 Republicans, 46 Democrats). Kamala Harris was

elected as the first female and first black vice president, as well

as the first person in this position of South Asian descent.

On a global scale, the US has been the country worst hit by the

COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the impacts that the pandemic

has had on Congress, including the partisan gender gap, are

also gendered. In 2020, nearly one quarter of US legislators

announced they had tested positive for COVID-19 or had been

exposed to the virus through close direct contact with an

infected individual.

Women in the House of Representatives

(lower house) accounted for 24.4 per cent of representatives

infected or exposed (+1.1 points higher than the proportion

of seats they occupy), while women in the Senate (upper

chamber) had proportionally lower impact rates (-12.5 per

34 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-

review/article/womens-representation-and-the-gendered-pipeline-to-

power/8865503038A92830047B4DB0481787A1 and https://www.

journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/698848.

35 https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/01/15/a-record-number-

of-women-are-serving-in-the-117th-congress/.

36 The US is one of the only countries where data is available.

cent impacted compared to percent seats held). Overall,

Congresswomen in the US were less likely to test positive

than their male counterparts (90 per cent of positive COVID-19

cases in the Senate were male Senators, and 86 percent of

positive cases in the House were male Congressmen).

Republican women in both the House and the Senate were

significantly more likely to be exposed or infected than their

Democrat counterparts (30.8 per cent of Republican women

House representatives and 25 per cent of Republican

women Senators were impacted, compared to 19.3 per

cent and 11.8 per cent of women Democrats, respectively).

All women who were exposed or infected took action to

self-isolate or other (3 per cent of exposed or infected male

delegates took no action).

Among parliaments in the region surpassing 30 per cent

women, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago plateaued, while

Bolivia

registered a relative decrease but remained within

margins of parity.

The share of women parliamentarians in Bolivia’s lower

house dropped from 53.1 percent to 46.2 percent, a

-6.9 point drop. This is the first time since 2014 that women’s

representation has fallen below 50 per cent, but it remains

close to parity. Bolivia has ranked second in the world for

women’s representation in parliament since 2014, after

Rwanda, and has parity quota in place. The 2020 elections

were held after the sudden resignation of President Evo

Morales and the annulment of a previous general election

held in October 2019. Fresh elections were initially set for

3 May 2020 but were postponed twice due to the COVID-

19 pandemic. They took place amid an economic downturn

37 Source: https://www.govtrack.us/covid-19 and https://cawp.rutgers.

edu/data_element/data_page_archive/204.

Chile’s referendum in October 2020 saw overwhelming support for reform of the country’s dictatorship-era constitution, with young women

among the supporters for such reform. The Constituent Assembly will include gender parity in its membership. © Martin Bernetti/AFP

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and a spike in unemployment triggered by the pandemic.

Bolivia wrote a new constitution in 2008 recognizing itself

as a multi-ethnic country which guarantees protection

for indigenous languages, cultures and lands. The current

decrease reflects regular annual adjustment rather than a

backslide. Bolivia remains one of the world’s most dangerous

places for women, with among the highest rates of femicide

on its continent, an estimated 70 per cent prevalence of

gender-based sexual or physical abuse and ongoing violence

against women in politics, despite the enactment of the

groundbreaking Law 243 (2012) proscribing harassment of

and political violence against women.

Figure 2

As other global cases suggest, women’s participation in

reform processes is critical to their future performance

in electoral office.

Chile

is one such example. Nearly

80 per cent of its citizens voted in favour of drafting a new

constitution as part of a referendum in October 2020. The

drafting, due to begin in April 2022, is to be undertaken

by a 155-member constitutional assembly comprising an

equal number of women and men, with reserved seats for

indigenous peoples. The inclusion of a historically diverse

constitutional assembly lays the groundwork for future

advances for women in politics.

Parliamentary renewals in 2020

Progress and setbacks (in %) of women in lower or single houses of parliament renewed in 2020

Mali

Comoros

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Egypt

Niger

Jamaica

Croatia

New Zealand

Lithuania

Singapore

Myanmar

Guyana

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Serbia

Tajikistan

Georgia

North Macedonia

Suriname

United States of America

Belize

Cameroon

Kiribati

Republic of Korea

Burundi

Ghana

Israel

Seychelles

Guinea

Slovakia

Dominican Republic

Azerbaijan

Sri Lanka

Ireland

Mongolia

United Rep. of Tanzania

Saudi Arabia

Vanuatu

Iran (Islamic Republic of)

Montenegro

Kuwait

Peru

Syrian Arab Republic

Romania

Burkina Faso

Jordan

Trinidad and Tobago

Palau

Bolivia (Plurinational State of)

18.4

13.6

11.7

11.3

11.1

10.6

10.0

5.7

5.6

5.4

5.3

5.1

4.8

4.7

4.2

3.9

3.7

3.2

2.8

2.4

2.0

1.8

1.7

1.6

1.4

1.3

1.1

0.6

0.5

0.3

0.2

0.0

-0.3

-1.2

-1.5

-2.0

-2.8

-3.1

-3.8

-4.8

-6.3

-6.9

-10.0 -5.0

0.0

5.0

10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0 30.0

Mali: After the 2020 elections, due to

a coup d’état, the National Assembly

was replaced by the Transitional

National Council (CNT). The appointed

CNT has 32 women out of 121

members (26.5%), whereas the

previously elected National Assembly

had 41 women out of 147 members

(27

.9%). Data in the report

corresponds to the previously elected

National Assembly.

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In 2020, Azerbaijan elected a woman Speaker of Parliament for the first time in the country’s history. © Russian Foreign Ministry/Sputnik via AFP

Europe: Modest gains

The most significant overall gains in the region were

registered in Croatia (+10.6 points) and Ireland’s upper

house (+10 points). Three chambers experienced minor

setbacks in the following countries: Romania, Montenegro

and the Czech Republic. Women’s representation in

Romania’s lower house decreased by 2.8 points, to 17.9

per cent. Montenegro’s single chamber and the Czech

Republic’s upper house both lost 1.2 points, reflecting the

loss of one woman MP in each case.

Four countries exceeded 30 per cent women’s

parliamentary representation during elections held in 2020:

Ireland (40 per cent women in the upper house), Serbia

(38.8 per cent, unicameral), North Macedonia (35.8 per

cent, unicameral) and France (33.3 per cent, upper house).

Following the trend, these countries had reached the 30

per cent threshold several electoral cycles before 2020

and (with the exception of the indirectly elected Irish upper

house) did not make any notable gains in this cycle. Among

the European countries that held elections in 2020, only

Azerbaijan (17.4 per cent, unicameral), the Czech Republic

38 France’s Senate was nearly 30 per cent (29.3) in the previous

election. The National Assembly is at 39.5 per cent.

(14.8 per cent, upper house) and Romania (upper and lower

chambers, 18.4 and 17.9 per cent respectively) failed to

elect at least a 20 per cent share of women to parliament.

Women gained 16 additional seats in

Croatia’s

unicameral

legislature in 2020, nearly doubling their previous level of

representation in the 2015 and 2016 elections. The results

brought Croatia back to a representation level similar to its

previous record (from 2000 to 2011, women held between

17 and 24 per cent of seats). Following the formation of

the government, the percentage of women in parliament

reached the 30 per cent mark. A legislated candidate quota

(40 per cent) was introduced in 2008. It was subsequently

loosened to replace sanctions with financial incentives. The

decision to revise the sanctions reflects a 2015 Constitutional

Court decision which states that the disqualification of

incompliant lists would be disproportionate given that the

Law on Gender Equality provides for a fine. In 2020, thirty-

nine party candidate lists (20 per cent) failed to respect

the quota, including the governing party, resulting in fewer

women candidates overall and fewer women at the head of

the lists.

There is no placement requirement in the quota

law and as a result the percentage of women included in the

more winnable top five positions on lists ranged from 14 per

39 https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/b/4/465120_0.pdf.

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cent to 52 per cent. Only two parties, Možemo! and Most,

were fully compliant with quota rules, and only Možemo! has

a voluntary party quota.

Ireland,

women’s representation was static in the Dáil

Éireann (lower chamber), which witnessed the election of

nearly the same number of women as in 2016 when a record

35 were elected. The result was static despite a record share

of female candidates.

Although the 2016 quota resulted in

an increase in the proportion of women in the Dáil Éireann,

from 15.6 to 22.2 per cent, a significant regional disparity

persisted, ranging from 40.9 per cent women elected in

Dublin to just 4.3 per cent women in the south west. In

2020, women gained six additional seats in the indirectly

elected Seanad Éireann (upper chamber), bringing the

average to 40 per cent, up from the 30 per cent level at

which it had stood since 2011. The outcome likely reflects

major political shifts rather than gender-specific factors. The

2020 Irish elections were historic in that they marked the

victory of a coalition of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael (who were

on opposite sides of the 1922-1923 Irish Civil War and have

dominated politics as opposing coalition leaders for nearly

a century) and also brought Sinn Féin to the fore after it

outpaced the two leading parties in the popular vote.

Two executive elections in the European region are of also

note due to significant levels of violence against women in

politics and political impact. Following the 2019 parliamentary

elections,

Moldova

elected Maia Sandu as its first woman

40 https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/b/4/465120_0.pdf.

41 https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/election-2020-record-

share-of-women-running-for-d%C3%A1il-seats-1.4148409.

president in a run-off election held in November 2020. She

defeated incumbent Igor Dodon with 57 per cent of the run-

off vote after facing severe misogynistic attacks throughout

her campaign and putting her earlier unsuccessful bid in 2016

behind her.

Belarus,

the main opposition presidential candidate was

a woman, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Although she did not

win the election against incumbent Alexander Lukashenko,

her campaign was one of the most significant challenges to

Lukashenko, who has held the office since independence in

1992. The campaign was marked by a “deliberate targeting”

of women activists and female family members of political

opponents, threatening them with gender-specific reprisals,

including threats to subject them to acts of sexual violence

and to put their children into the custody of the state.

The

election triggered massive protests and a general strike.

Following the election, Tsikhanouskaya and her children went

into exile after threats were made on her life; her husband

remained in jail.

Middle East & North Africa: Wide Divides

Women’s representation in parliaments in the MENA region

grew by 1.2 percentage points, reaching 17 per cent in

2020. Wide divides exist among parliaments renewed in

2020, ranging from no seats won by women in Kuwait

to a

record high number in Egypt.

42 https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/belarus-authorities-

threatening-women-political-activists-ahead-election.

43 The only woman in parliament is an ex-officio member, who sits in

cabinet.

Egyptian women, mask-clad due to the COVID-19 pandemic, wait to cast their ballots outside a polling station near Cairo in August 2020. Elections

to the House of Representatives led to an unprecedented number of seats held by women in the country thanks to a new quota law. © AFP

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In June, the

Egyptian

parliament approved an amendment

to an article of its constitution to allocate 25 percent of

seats in the House of Representatives to women. An

October 2020 presidential decree to appoint 20 women

to the Senate (the upper chamber) doubled women’s

representation in the newly-created upper chamber, the

Senate. The new law on the Senate provides for both

a 10 per cent quota for the 100 appointed seats and

candidate quotas for the 200 elected seats.

In all, Egypt’s

parliament reached historic levels in 2020 with 26.2 per

cent women in the lower chamber – but only 13.3 per

cent in the upper chamber. Women’s representation in

the Egyptian parliament has relied on quotas since 1956

(when women first became eligible to stand for office)

and has fluctuated significantly as various quota laws

have been introduced and repealed through the years.

Quotas introduced in the 1979, 1984 and 2010 parliaments

yielded female representation of 8 per cent, 7.8 per

cent, and 12 per cent, respectively.

Repealed following

the 25 January Revolution as part of the rejection of

reforms passed by the previous regime, a quota was

reintroduced in 2015 and led to a historic level of women’s

representation, at 14.9 per cent. Egypt’s experience

suggests the relevance of an incremental approach to

quota implementation in the region.

Women’s representation in

Jordan’s

lower and upper

chambers lost 3.8 points and 4.6 points respectively.

Fifteen seats are reserved for women in the 130-seat

House of Representatives (lower chamber). While

the outgoing lower chamber had 20 women, the new

one only elected the 15 required by law. Voter turnout

decreased from 36 to 29.9 per cent. Voters chose from

1,674 candidates, of whom 360 were women (an increase

of 0.4% from 2016). Reserved seats were introduced

at the national and municipal levels (in 2003 and 2007,

respectively). Also, a 2010 amendment of the Election

Law raised the number of reserved seats from 6 to 15 (10

per cent of the House of Representatives at the time).

During the previous elections in 2013 and 2016, five

women made it to the lower chamber by vying for seats

outside the quota system. Likewise, local government

quotas raised women’s representation to historic levels

(28.8%) in municipal and governorate council elections

held in 2017. However, the gains were not sustained in

the 2020 parliamentary elections and the quota was the

minimum threshold for women elected in the House of

Representatives.

Syria,

parliamentary elections were held across

government-controlled areas of the country on 19 July

2020 after months of delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The purpose of the polls was to elect 250 representatives

from among 1,656 candidates, including 200 women.

Twenty-eight women were elected, constituting 11.2

per cent of the Assembly. This reflects a slightly lower

average for women’s representation since 2003, before the

outbreak of the war. There were restrictions on opposition

groups, including those outside of Syria, barring them from

taking part in the election.

Gender-based challenges for women in politics are

extensive.

Civil documentation is in crisis status,

specifically impacting Syrian women’s ability to vote and

stand for office. Customary voting practices, such as family

voting and public voting, impact women’s freedom of

choice. Electoral insecurity and violence against women in

politics are widespread It includes harassment and abuse

on social media. Exclusionary party structures and practices

and lack of support prevent women from penetrating

political party leadership. The economic impacts of COVID-

19 exacerbate structural inequality. In areas controlled by

opposition forces, women’s representation is minimal and

women are frequently compelled to run as independent

candidates without party backing.

While progress on women’s representation in parliament is

slow, important gains have been made in the constitutional

reform process underway in 2020. Syria’s Constitutional

Committee (convened under Security Council Resolution

2254 (December 2015) as part of the peace process)

resumed in Geneva in late August 2020, following a

nine-month delay. Women comprise 27 per cent, roughly

one-third of all committee members, holding eleven seats

(22 per cent) for women in the delegation nominated by

the Government of Syria, seven seats (14 per cent) in the

delegation nominated by the opposition Syrian National

Council, and 23 seats (46 per cent) in the delegation

representing civil society. One sitting woman MP (Nous

Arissian) from the Government of Syria delegation to the

full Constitutional Committee (the “large body”) stood in

the 2020 parliamentary election and won a seat. No women

from the drafting committee (“small body”) stood for office

or held a seat in 2020. The proportion of women in the

Constitutional Committee reflects a significant improvement

from the talks process of the previous two years in

which only two women in each delegation, government

and opposition, consistently participated. Women’s

representation in the formal constitutional process is

complemented by a Women’s Advisory Board (WAB).

Established in 2016 by the Office of the Special Envoy for

Syria, the WAB is comprised of 17 women from across the

political spectrum and from diverse ethnic, geographic and

professional backgrounds.

44 https://www.sis.gov.eg/section/228/9463?lang=en-us.

45 https://www.bakerinstitute.org/media/files/files/e2167238/bi-brief-

090218-cme-carnegie-hassan.pdf.

46 See UN Women, Research on the gender and women’s rights

aspects of the electoral framework of the Syrian Arab Republic,

forthcoming February 2021.

47 Ibid.

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Table 1

Women in lower and single chambers after parliamentary renewals in 2020

Country

New Zealand

Bolivia (Plurinational State of)

Serbia

Burundi

United Republic of Tanzania

North Macedonia

Guyana

Cameroon

Singapore

Suriname

Jamaica

Dominican Republic

Mali

United States of America

Lithuania

Egypt

Trinidad and Tobago

Peru

Niger

Israel

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Tajikistan

Croatia

Seychelles

Ireland

Montenegro

Guinea

Slovakia

Georgia

Saudi Arabia

Rep. Of Korea

Saint Vincent and Grenadines

Romania

Azerbaijan

Mongolia

Comoros

Myanmar

Ghana

Jordan

Total seats

120

130

250

123

384

120

180

190

147

434

141

564

130

166

120

151

160

114

150

151

300

330

121

425

275

130

250

127

286

223

Total women

141

118

148

% women

48.3

46.2

38.8

38.2

36.7

35.8

35.7

33.9

29.5

29.4

28.6

26.2

25.9

25.0

23.8

23.2

22.9

22.5

22.2

21.9

21.3

20.7

19.9

19.0

18.2

16.7

15.3

14.5

11.5

11.2

9.7

8.9

6.3

5.6

5.4

1.5

0.0

Quota

Voluntary party

Legislated + voluntary party

Legislated

Reserved seats

Legislated

Reserved seats

Voluntary party

None

Legislated

Legislated + voluntary party

None

Voluntary party

Reserved seats

None

Legislated

Reserved seats

Voluntary party

None

Legislated + voluntary party

None

Legislated

Legislated + voluntary party

Legislated

Voluntary party

Reserved seats

Legislated

None

Voluntary party

None

Legislated

None

Reserved seats

None

Legislated

None

40 Syrian Arab Republic

Belize

Kiribati

Burkina Faso

Palau

Iran (Islamic Rep. of)

Sri Lanka

47 Kuwait

Vanuatu

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Table 2

Progress and setbacks of women in upper houses of parliament up for renewal in 2020*

Country

Tajikistan

Jamaica

Belize

Ireland

Kazakhstan

Trinidad and Tobago

Uzbekistan

Myanmar

France

Romania

Dominican Republic

Bolivia (Plurinational State of)

Nepal

United States of America

India

Burundi

Czech Republic

Jordan

Palau

Liberia

Madagascar

Namibia

Total seats

216

348

136

100

241

Total women

116

% women

22.6

38.1

28.6

40.0

18.8

40.6

24.7

14.4

33.3

18.4

12.5

55.6

25.0

11.2

41.0

14.8

10.8

3.3

11.1

14.3

% point change

16.3

14.3

13.2

10.0

9.1

8.4

4.1

4.0

3.7

3.1

2.8

0.6

0.0

-0.2

-0.8

-1.2

-4.6

-4.8

-6.7

-7

-9.5

*For countries where comparative data is available.

Asia: Maintaining the status quo

The average proportion of women in Asian parliaments rose

slightly to 20.4 per cent in 2020 (+0.4 points). The 13 national

level elections held in 11 Asian countries in 2020 resulted

in an average of 15.1 per cent for women’s parliamentary

representation. Women constituted 14 per cent of single/

lower chambers and 17 per cent of upper chambers in

parliamentary renewals in 2020.

The most significant gains in the region were in the upper

houses in Tajikistan (+16.3 points), Kazakhstan (+9.1 points)

and Uzbekistan (+7 points). All of these bodies are chosen

through indirect elections. As with the high performers in

sub-Saharan Africa in 2020, these three dominant party

states marked the most significant gains.

The overall highest performing countries in the region where

elections were held were Nepal (37 per cent women in

the upper chamber) and Singapore (29.5 per cent women in

the unicameral parliament). Nepal’s performance was static

to its last election. Women gained six additional seats in

Singapore’s 95-member parliament.

Although several national policies and programmes are aimed

at increasing the numbers of women in leadership positions,

Tajikistan

has no quota for women’s representation in or

incentive for women’s inclusion in political parties’ candidate

lists.

The number of female MPs in its upper chamber

steadily decreased from a high of 23.5 per cent in 2005 to

6.3 per cent in 2015, while the lower chamber increased

slightly (+1.5 points) over the same time period. In 2020,

nearly 20 per cent of the 241 candidates for the elections to

the upper chamber were women, leading to a 22.6 per cent

gain in seats.

The year after long-standing Kazakh president Nursultan

Nazarbayev stepped down in March 2019,

Kazakhstan

renewed its Senate in an indirect election that saw women

gain 9.1 points in that upper chamber. On 25 May 2020,

in advance of the January 2021 Majilis (lower chamber)

election, Kazakhstan introduced a number of measures

aimed at democratizing the country and increasing the

transparency of its electoral system and procedures. Those

measures included a mandatory 30 per cent women quota.

While

Uzbekistan’s

2019 lower chamber elections resulted

in a doubling of women’s representation (32 per cent), the

increase was more moderate for the upper chamber during

the January 2020 election (+7 points, 24.7 per cent women

total in the upper chamber).

48 https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/institutional-document/185615/

tajikistan-cga.pdf.

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Nepal,

one-third of the upper chamber was up for

re-election through an indirect vote. Women were elected to

the seven seats reserved for them, but did not make additional

gains beyond this.

While gains were registered in

Myanmar

(+6.9 points in the

lower chamber, +5.3 in the upper chamber), the overall level

of women’s representation in parliament remained low (16.8

per cent and 15.5 per cent). The number of women candidates

increased to 15.6 per cent of over 7

,000 candidates (previously

13 per cent in 2015). Although Myanmar was one of the first

countries in Asia to grant women suffrage (in 1935), women’s

ability to participate in political life was stifled by 50 years of

military rule, coupled with conservative cultural norms. In the

previous parliament, only 1 per cent of the military’s appointed

seats were held by women. At the time of publication of this

report (February 2021), the parliament elected in 2020 had

not been installed as a result of a military intervention and the

declaration of a state of emergency.

In 2020, only 5.4 per cent of legislators in

Sri Lanka’s

225-member parliament were women. Women make up

56 per cent of registered voters. A 25 per cent reserved seat

quota was introduced for local elections in 2016, resulting in

a dramatic gain in women’s representation (17

,000 women

candidates stood for local office and women elected

rose from 89 to 2,300 in the course of a single election).

However, no quota exists at the national level and women’s

representation has never exceeded 6 per cent.

Elsewhere in the region, the

Japanese

government announced

that it would aim for a 35 percent quota of female candidates

for parliament and local government by 2025. Only 9.9 per cent

of Japan’s lawmakers are women (lower chamber).

Paciﬁc: Diversity in New Zealand, Stagnation in the PICs

With the exception of New Zealand, women’s representation

in parliaments in the Pacific region remained consistently

low or entirely absent in elections held in 2020. On average,

women’s representation accounted for only 6.4 per cent of

newly elected houses in the three Pacific Island Countries

(PICs) that held elections in 2020. Kiribati elected four

women to its 45-member unicameral parliament. Palau

elected one woman to each chamber of its parliament.

For the third consecutive election,

Vanuatu

failed to elect

any women to parliament. Only 18 women contested the

elections across 10 of Vanuatu’s 18 constituencies and they

were significantly outnumbered, as they represented only 6

per cent of all candidates. Although the five women who have

been elected in Vanuatu since it won independence in 1980

were all backed by political parties, close to half the women

candidates in the 2020 elections stood as independents.

Two out of the top three ranking political parties, the Graon

mo Jastis Pati and the Reunification Movement for Change,

endorsed no women candidates. The country’s second-ranked

and oldest party, the Vanua‘aku Pati, fielded two women out

of 27 candidates. What is believed to be the Pacific’s first ever

woman-led party, the Leleon Vanua Democratic Party, was

formed in 2018, but did not field any candidates in the 2020

elections. At its November 2019 meeting, the party’s National

Committee decided that it needed more time to prepare since

it was newly formed. Candidates who had been endorsed by

the party had the option to contest as independent candidates

or to affiliate with a political party of their choice.

Local-level reserved seats for women were first introduced in

2013, but they remain controversial at the national level. The

last time a woman was elected to parliament in Vanuatu was

in 2008.

Alongside Vanuatu, two other PICs, Papua New

Guinea and Micronesia, have no women in parliament.

Following the October 2020 elections, Jacinda Ardern now

heads the most diverse government in

New Zealand’s

history, with more women, people of colour, members from

the LGBTQ+ community and Maori MPs than at any time

in the past. Her government also includes New Zealand’s

first MPs of African, Latin American and Sri Lankan descent.

Women MPs make up 48.3 per cent of parliament, a ten

point increase from 38.3 in the previous elections. Nanaia

Mahuta became the first Maori female foreign minister.

Overall, eight of the 20-strong cabinet are women, five are

Maori, three are Pasifika and three are LGBT. For the first

time in New Zealand history, both major party candidates for

prime minister were women.

Gender quotas & electoral

systems

A gender quota was applied in some form in 25 of the 57

countries that had parliamentary renewals in 2020. On

average, parliaments with quotas elected 11.8 per cent

more women to single and lower chambers and 7 per cent

more women to upper chambers. Several countries with

quotas took steps to raise their quota provisions. Ecuador

will henceforth apply a “horizontal” quota to heads of party

lists. Peru and Serbia increased their quota targets. Ukraine

introduced quotas at the local level. New quotas were

applied successfully in Egypt and Mali.

Quotas acted as a shield against backsliding in 2020. Only

two countries with quotas experienced a relapse in women’s

representation in 2020:

Burkina Faso (-3.1 points) and Jordan

(-4.6 points). Jordan’s reversal reflects the broader trend that

women’s participation often plateaus at quota levels. Burkina

Faso’s experience in 2020 underscores the importance of

adequate enforcement measures and sustained political will.

Seven chambers without quotas saw declines in women’s

representation of 2 percentage points or more: Madagascar

(-7 in the upper chamber), Liberia (-6.7 in the upper

chamber), Palau (-6.3 and -4.8 in the lower and upper

49 https://dailypost.vu/news/leleon-vanua-democratic-party-will-not-

contest-2020-general-election/article_80bf9660-4d17-11ea-9cea-

f380b5412f8f.html.

50 https://www.policyforum.net/how-did-women-fare-in-the-2020-

vanuatu-elections/.

51 This does not include countries with minor adjustments of less than

1.5 per cent or adjustments in countries within parity margins.

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chambers, respectively), Trinidad and Tobago (-4.8 in the

lower chamber),

Jordan (-3.8 in the lower chamber) and

Syria (-2 in the single chamber).

Countries with quotas significantly outperformed those

without. Countries with legislated quotas in directly-elected

legislatures saw an increase in women’s representation by 3.2

points on average (averaging 27 per cent overall). Directly

elected chambers in countries with no legislated quotas (and

no voluntary party quotas) only gained an average of 2.2 points.

Appointed or indirectly-elected legislatures with no quotas

made a remarkable gain, averaging 8.8 points in 2020, as did

appointed or indirectly elected bodies with legislated candidate

quotas (+8.4 on average). In contrast, appointed or indirectly

elected legislatures with reserved seats lost an average of

52 Note: the appointed upper house of Trinidad and Tobago increased

women’s representation (+8.4 points).

1.8 points in 2020. This trend in 2020 suggests that quotas

continue to provide a notable advantage for women seeking

election in direct elections. The broad variation in results for

indirectly-elected or appointed bodies reflects various internal

political dynamics, including dominant party systems.

Results of elections in 2020 indicate that electoral systems

play a role in the adoption – but not the effectiveness – of

quotas. Specifically, quotas were far less likely to be used in

majoritarian electoral systems compared to proportional or

mixed systems in countries that held parliamentary elections in

2020. However, countries with quotas performed equally well

in both majoritarian electoral systems and proportional or mixed

electoral systems. This suggests a need to eliminate barriers to

adopting quotas in majority-based electoral systems.

53 See https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21565503.2015.10

80615.

Figure 3

Election type (direct/indirect or appointed) & quota type

Average gains (in % point change) in seats held by women following parliamentary renewals in 2020

8.8

-1

-1.8

-2

Directly-elected

legislatures

+ Legislated quotas

Directly-elected

legislatures

+ No legislated quotas

Appointed or indirectly-

elected legislatures

+ No quotas

Appointed or indirectly-

elected bodies

+ Legislated candidate quotas

Appointed or indirectly-

elected legislatures

+ Reserved seats

3.2

2.2

8.4

Figures 4 & 5

Adoption and effectiveness of legislated quotas by electoral system

Absence of legislated quotas by electoral system

Number of countries that applied no legislated quotas

during parliamentary renewals in 2020

(lower/single chambers)

No quotas

Majority

Effectiveness of legislative quotas by electoral system

Proportion of seats won by women

during parliamentary renewals in 2020

(lower/single chambers)

40.0%

30.0%

20.0%

10.0%

0.0%

All types of legislated quotas

Mixed

Legislated candidate quotas

Reserved seats

Proportional

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Women in the top

leadership of Parliament

Parliamentary speakers

hold the position of highest authority

in any given legislative body. Often among the parliamentarians

most widely recognized by the public, they generally exercise

powers to organize and oversee parliamentary business, to

decide who may speak and also have the powers to discipline

members for breaches of procedure.

Women held speaker positions in all regions of the world

in 2020, albeit with deep regional variations. The global

average (20.9 per cent) was pulled upwards by high rates

in the Americas (29.1 per cent) and Europe (27 per cent).

Meanwhile, Asia (15.9 per cent), the Pacific (6.3 per cent) and

the Middle East (4 per cent) exerted downward pressure on

the global average.

Globally, 58 women held speaker positions in 2020, one

position up from the previous year. On average, women

speakers were slightly younger (by 3.2 years, or 59 years of

age) than their male counterparts. Globally, as at 31 December

2020, incumbent women speakers had held their positions

Figures 6 & 7

Women Speakers of Parliament, all chambers combined

Progress of women Speakers 1995–2021

20.0%

18.0%

16.0%

14.0%

12.0%

10.0%

8.0%

6.0%

4.0%

2.0%

0.0%

1995

2000

2005

2010

2015

2020

2021

10.5%

8.3%

15.8%

12.4%

13.0%

20.5%

20.9%

for a relatively shorter time than their male counterparts

(male speakers averaged 39.4 months in the speaker’s seat

compared to 31.1 months for women). Length of time in the

speaker role varied considerably by region, with the Americas,

Europe, MENA and the Pacific averaging less than 25 months

(7 months in the case of the Pacific). In sub-Saharan Africa and

Asia, women had held that position for comparatively longer

(43.2 and 50.4 months, respectively).

As at 1 January 2021, women occupied 259 out a total of

934 positions of

chairs of ﬁve types of parliamentary

committees

(foreign affairs, defence, finance, human rights

and gender equality) included on IPU’s Parline database.

This amounts to 27 per cent of committee chairs. The

proportion drops to 18.5 per cent when gender equality

committee chairs are excluded. Globally, on average, women

chair between 12 per cent and 18 per cent of foreign affairs,

defence and finance committees, 28 per cent of committees

with a mandate to address human rights issues, and 69 per

cent of committees with a mandate to address gender

equality. However, wide disparities exist across regions.

54 Data extracted from Parline (data.ipu.org) on 9 February 2021.

Proportion of women Speakers per region, 1 January 2021

29.1%

.1%

20.9%

15.9%

6.3%

Americas Europe Sub-Saharan Asia

Africa

Pacific

MENA

Figure 8

89%

74%

50%

18%

22%

21%

13%

15%

17%

25%

13%

25%

40%

33%

20%

15%

19%

13%

49%

Regional proportion of women chairs of select parliamentary committees

90.0%

80.0%

70.0%

60.0%

50.0%

40.0%

30.0%

20.0%

10.0%

0.0%

Foreign affairs

Americas

Europe

Defence

Sub-Saharan Africa

Finance

Pacific

Human rights

Asia

Gender equality

Middle East and North Africa

70%

67%

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In 2020, parliaments had to adapt to new ways of functioning, bringing new challenges and opportunities.© Toni L. Sandys/POOL/AFP

COVID-19 and Women’s

Political Representation

No region in the world was left unaffected by the health,

economic and political consequences of the COVID-19

pandemic, which infected over 87 million people and caused

1.9 million deaths in 2020. The pandemic affected virtually all

sectors of life and had wide gender-based impacts, including

on women’s political participation. While the pandemic

triggered some changes in parliamentary practice and culture

which could potentially enhance women’s representation

and roles, the Secretary-General of the United Nations

notes that overall “the pandemic is rolling back the limited

progress made in the past 25 years with regard to women’s

empowerment and gender equality, and measures to

increase women’s leadership in COVID-19 response and

recovery efforts are urgently needed.

”

The pandemic

changed the way parliaments operate.

Most parliaments continued to function through the

pandemic and many rapidly adopted special operating

measures such as regular testing, practising social

distancing, mandating mask wearing and putting in place

sanitizer stations. Others went into unscheduled recess

or quickly adopted measures for remote work, including

virtual and hybrid sittings. Voting measures to respect public

health guidelines included a range of in-person options

(queuing, shift voting, proxy voting, block voting, pairing of

members) as well as electronic voting (email voting, web-

based voting, application-based voting and video voting) and

electronically tabling oral and written questions and signing

motions. COVID-19 compelled the ascendence of virtual

constituent engagement and political party practices, such

as virtual town hall events and made-for-TV party nomination

conventions and inauguration ceremonies.

In contexts like the UK, with low gender gaps in access to

technology, the temporary use of a hybrid model had little

impact on women MPs’ participation in Question Time and

parliamentary debates.

However, in low-resource countries,

women MPs faced steeper adaptation curves than their

male counterparts. The shift to remote, technology-driven

57 https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/men-and-women-mps-in-the-

hybrid-commons/.

55 https://undocs.org/E/CN.6/2021/3.

56 https://www.ipu.org/parliaments-in-time-pandemic; https://www.wfd.

org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Covid-19-legislative-leadership-V5.pdf.

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parliamentary practices has a potentially positive long-term

impact for women in parliament. The use of new technology

for debates resulted in new forms of personal interaction,

breaking up “old boy” practices and curtailing some of the

“clubbiness” that had previously excluded full participation

by women.

Virtual voting and sittings helped promote

participation by members for whom travel is onerous,

including those with disabilities or with young children. The

pandemic contributed positively to MPs’ relationships with

their constituents “in that seeing members in their own

homes and ridings brings to life that Parliament is not just one

institution in the capital but is rather the coming together of

hundreds of constituencies.

Going forward, if legislatures

”

retain these flexible workplace practices, including allowing

remote sittings and voting, more women may be able

to combine care-taking with political career aspirations.

Likewise, peer-to-peer learning and greater engagement with

virtual networks of women parliamentarians internationally

can contribute positively to the resilience and empowerment

of women MPs through the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted MPs to respond to

profoundly

gendered needs among their constituents.

to dealing with the pandemic, over 70 per cent of frontline

healthcare workers worldwide are women.

Women’s

disproportionately higher employment in the informal sector

(up to 92 per cent of women’s employment in developing

countries) often left them more difficult to reach through public

relief policies and without having any protection through labour

laws and social benefits, such as health insurance or paid sick

leave.

Differences in cellphone ownership, internet access

and educational attainment meant that women were less likely

than men to receive potentially lifesaving information about

COVID-19, in Southeast Asia

for example. The increased

burden of unpaid care, domestic work and home-schooling/

supervision overwhelmingly fell upon women during the

pandemic. According to multiple country-level reports, the

frequency and severity of domestic violence against women

and girls surged during the pandemic, driven by isolation,

restricted movement and stay-at-home measures to contain

the spread of the infection. Intensified household stress

related to health fears, childcare and potential economic or job

loss fueled domestic violence against women.

In response, parliaments engaged gender-sensitive responses,

including those identified by the IPU and by UN Women:

58 See comments by Rt. Hon. Harriet Harman, M.P https://www.

ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/431/PROC/Reports/RP10833363/

procrp07/procrp07-e.pdf.

59 See comments by Ms. Harman. https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/

Committee/431/PROC/Reports/RP10833363/procrp07/procrp07-e.pdf.

60 https://www.who.int/hrh/events/2018/women-in-health-workforce/en/.

61 https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/-

--travail/documents/publication/wcms_711798.pdf; https://www.

unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/csw61/women-in-informal-

economy#notes.

62 https://data.unwomen.org/resources/surveys-show-covid-19-has-

gendered-effects-asia-and-pacific.

63 http://www.emro.who.int/violence-injuries-disabilities/violence-news/

levels-of-domestic-violence-increase-as-covid-19-pandemic-escalates.html.

64 https://www.ipu.org/gender-and-covid-19-guidance-note-parliaments

and https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/

sections/library/publications/2020/a-primer-for-parliamentary-action-

gender-sensitive-responses-to-covid-19-en.pdf?la=en&vs=3610.

• Gender mainstreaming parliamentary decision-making

on COVID-19 by ensuring balanced representation in key

decision-making committees, units and/or task forces and

ensuring that these units have a gender mandate.

• Gender-sensitive COVID-19 legislation for emergency

assistance measures to ensure that gendered analysis

and sex-disaggregated data is used to inform policy for the

health and economy sectors, hospitals, doctors, workers,

small businesses, the self-employed, families and the

socially disadvantaged.

• Government oversight of COVID-19 responses from a

gender perspective including use of gender budgeting tools

to assess the effectiveness, efficiency, relevance and impact

of COVID-19-related policy measures for women and girls.

• Communicating and raising awareness on COVID 19 and

its effects.

Looking forward, some jurisdictions, including Canada and

the US State of Hawaii have recognized the need for an

inclusive, gender-equitable recovery from the pandemic.

They have put forward feminist economic recovery plans that

examine and confront the root causes of inequality.

The gendered implications of the pandemic on

governance

were much debated in 2020. Pre-COVID-19 research shows

that women governing during crisis face shorter tenures,

harsher exits and disproportionate blame, compared with

similarly situated men.

In terms of pandemic management

by women political leaders, media attention during the year

focused on essentialized assertions claiming that women

were more effective political leaders through the pandemic,

a message that was absorbed by many public audiences.

However, emerging scientific research is more nuanced.

Both women and men leaders were better able to respond to

the pandemic in wealthy, liberal democracies with high state

capacity and good governance.

The gender of executive

leaders and legislators was not a factor in determining

gender-sensitive issues, such as how rapidly stay-at-home

orders or school closures were implemented or their

duration, according to a study of 132 countries.

However,

greater gender equality in legislatures and female-headed

health agencies were connected to earlier adoption of stay-

at-home orders,

reflecting sensitivity to the perceived risk

of transmission in schools.

Furthermore, the global pandemic also offered some

opportunities to enhance women’s political participation.

During the pandemic, traditionally female attributes, such

as competency/dedication in health care, honesty and

65 Solomon, A., Hawkins, K., and Morgan, R. (2020). Hawaii and

Canada: Providing lessons for feminist pandemic recovery plans to

COVID-19. The Gender and COVID-19 Working Group.

66 O’Neill, Pruysers, and Stewart 2019; Reyes-Housholder 2019; Thomas

2018, in Piscopo, 2020.

67 Piscopo, Jennifer M. “Women Leaders and Pandemic Performance:

A Spurious Correlation.

Politics & Gender

(2020): 1-9.

”

68 Aldrich, A., & Lotito, N. (2020). Pandemic Performance: Women

Leaders in the COVID-19 Crisis.

Politics & Gender,

16(4), 960-967

doi:10.1017/S1743923X20000549

69 Ibd; Shay, L. (2020). Closing Time! Examining the Impact of Gender

and Executive Branch Policy Makers on the Timing of Stay-at-

Home Orders.

Politics & Gender,

16(4), 935-942. doi:10.1017/

S1743923X20000264.

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trustworthiness, were on greater display in the media

and in greater demand by the public worldwide, which

may generate increased public support for female political

candidates down the road.

Elections and campaigns

were equally impacted.

Parliamentary elections were postponed in nearly 20

countries, mostly as a result of COVID-19. The pandemic

negatively impacted women’s ability to campaign for office

and to access campaign funding.

The economic precarity

caused by the pandemic exacerbated existing gendered

socio-economic inequalities. Women lost their jobs at higher

rates than men, and more women left (or considered leaving)

the workforce entirely due to pandemic-related stress.

This

curtailed access to campaign resources and compelled many

women to interrupt or abandon professional career paths and

return to traditional roles as primary caregivers. Interrupted

career paths and diminished professional achievement might

possibly deepen existing gaps and negatively impact the

future supply of women’s candidacies post-pandemic.

Inequalities in access to online platforms impacted women

candidates, as well as MPs. The shift from in-person to virtual

campaigning drove a deeper wedge between elite and non-

elite women in politics, favouring those men and women

with existing networks, resources and name recognition.

It also increased women candidates’ exposure to online

harassment and violence, as campaigns shifted much of

their outreach to online spaces and as entire populations

were required to stay indoors, increasing home internet time

exponentially.

Although cross-national baseline data is still

limited, reports from all regions indicate that women faced

intense online abuse and incivility during campaigns or, more

generally, in public life in 2020. Online sexual harassment of

women has doubled in the US over the past three years

, and

attacks on women politicians were extensive (especially women

of ethnic minorities).

In Quebec, Canada, police reported a 450

per cent increase in reported online threats against politicians

between March and September 2020.

Reports from Kenya

70 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7467657/; Johnson,

C., & Williams, B. (2020). Gender and Political Leadership in a

Time of COVID.

Politics & Gender,

16(4), 943-950. doi:10.1017/

S1743923X2000029X.

71 https://www.idea.int/news-media/news/elections-and-covid-19-how-

election-campaigns-took-place-2020?fbclid=IwAR1HCwwsVniMw1h

d2eyiiId5kShRcZqq_QUDyIFOk4ZiwLS7q4KfNjEO2Og.

72 Gatto, M., & Thome, D. (2020). Resilient Aspirants: Women’s

Candidacies and Election in Times of COVID-19.

Politics & Gender,

16(4), 1001-1008. doi:10.1017/S1743923X20000537; also Carter

Center – Myanmar, forthcoming.

73 https://voxeu.org/article/shecession-she-recession-2020-causes-and-

consequences; https://thoughtleadership.rbc.com/canadian-women-

continue-to-exit-the-labour-force/.

74 https://www.queensu.ca/gazette/stories/will-coronavirus-help-or-hinder-

women-s-candidacies.

75 See https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/11/17/how-coronavirus-risks-

exacerbating-women-s-political-exclusion-pub-83213.

76 https://www.forbes.com/sites/markbeech/2020/03/25/covid-19-

pushes-up-internet-use-70-streaming-more-than-12-first-figures-

reveal/?sh=288b1223104e.

77 https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/01/13/qa-what-weve-

learned-about-online-harassment/.

78 https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Public-Figures-

Public-Rage-4.pdf.

79 https://democracy2017

.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2020/10/Trolled_Oct-28.pdf.

indicate increased online violence and attacks against women

in relation to the pandemic

. In a 2020 survey of Australian

women in politics, 65 per cent of 1,000 respondents reported

being exposed to internet abuse, and one in five feared for their

physical safety.

Reports of online violence against women

in politics continued to surge worldwide, despite increasing

awareness and response on social media platforms.

Other COVID-19 impacts on women candidates are

inconclusive. Some researchers suggest that the pandemic

has “made [political] women less publicly visible and pushed

debates over women’s rights off the political agenda.

”

Others argue that the greater amount of time spent in

home constituencies and the intimacy of seeing MPs in

their homes via Zoom events has strengthened the bonds

between representatives and voters. Likewise, the popular

feminist street protests in many countries, such as Belarus,

Chile and Mali and others, and the successful introduction or

strengthening of quotas in Egypt, Mali and Kazakhstan indicate

that women’s rights and advocacy continue to move ahead.

Similarly, the pandemic-related disruption of formal political

processes and norms in favour of ad hoc, informal practices

has mixed interpretations. Crisis-driven informal rules and

institutions tend to favour dominant groups.

This occurs

when political gatekeepers take short-cuts by reverting to

past, exclusive practices and to breaking down procedures

and protections to ensure women’s representation (for

example, oversight for quota implementation or inclusive party

primary procedures). Yet the disruption of in-person

status

quo

politicking has also contributed to weakening common

“old boy” practices. COVID-19 also upended historic labour

patterns that have isolated men from their children in the

past. Although women overwhelmingly bore the increased

burden of childcare during the pandemic, when schools and

care centres closed, “the COVID-19 crisis may have put

some men into primary caretaker roles if they’ve been laid

off and their partners have not, which may accelerate the

erosion of gendered norms about the household division of

labour.

Finally, the pandemic has raised the world’s attention

”

to the fact that women represent 70 per cent of the global

healthcare and social care workforce, but only 30 per cent of

the leaders.

This has prompted more women to capitalize on

women’s crucial roles as first responders during the pandemic

and further motivated them to stand for office so as to

address the unfolding social and economic crises.

80 https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/7/take-five-cecilia-

mwende-maundu-online-violence.

81 https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/oct/05/online-violence-

against-women-flourishing-and-most-common-on-facebook-survey-finds.

82 https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/11/17/how-coronavirus-risks-

exacerbating-women-s-political-exclusion-pub-83213.

83 https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/11/17/how-coronavirus-risks-

exacerbating-women-s-political-exclusion-pub-83213.

84 https://theconversation.com/the-coronavirus-could-either-help-or-

hinder-womens-candidacies-136166?utm_source=halifaxtoday.

ca&utm_campaign=halifaxtoday.ca&utm_medium=referral.

85 https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/in-focus-gender-equality-in-

covid-19-response?gclid=CjwKCAiAouD_BRBIEiwALhJH6LuQ_MxORvn2VC

NlhZsA5GfC99SVjnEuVwXZMVh14zGU1p3HW0L_2xoCol4QAvD_BwE

86 https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/11/17/how-coronavirus-risks-

exacerbating-women-s-political-exclusion-pub-83213; https://www.

nytimes.com/2020/05/09/us/politics/doctor-politicians-coronavirus.html;

https://doctorsinpolitics.org/whoweare.

LIU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 59: Aktuelt materiale modtaget fra Inter-Parlamentarisk Unions sekretariat i anledning af kvindernes internationale kampdag den 8. marts 2021

Lastly but most importantly, COVID-19

posed a direct

health threat

to parliamentarians worldwide, many of whom

were exposed in the course of duty while meeting with

constituents and foreign dignitaries, travelling or attending

public events. It was responsible for the deaths of many

women political leaders, including Burkina Faso’s first vice

president of the National Assembly, Rose Marie Compaoré;

Iraqi MP Ghaida Kambash; Pakistani MP Shaheen Reza

Cheema; South Africa’s Permanent delegate to the National

Council of Provinces, Martha Mmola; Ugandan MP Faith

Alupo; and Venezuelan MP Bolivia Suárez.

Many national and local male and female politicians around

the world announced they were infected with the virus. Little

consistent, sex-disaggregated national or comparative data is

available on exposure, infection or death rates among MPs.

Push-pull factors and other

trends

In 2020, women played critical roles during reform processes,

including in Syria and Chile, laying the groundwork for future

political participation. Burkina Faso’s disappointing experience

in 2020 is a reminder that when women are absent during

such foundational moments, their future participation can

be compromised. As recognized by the Women, Peace

and Security Agenda set out in United Nations Security

Council resolution 1325 (2000), women’s participation at

key transitional moments is essential to determining the

future course of their participation. Common perceptions

that gender equality is secondary to political concerns during

pivotal moments such as these is a major risk.

Women’s participation in local government is significant

as it impacts the outcomes of indirect elections at the

national level. Where women are poorly represented in

local government, outcomes for women in some indirectly

elected national chambers tend to reflect that, as is the case

in Madagascar and Namibia, where local government is the

pool from which membership in those chambers is drawn.

The status of political parties in the political configuration

of certain countries is visibly important. Women running for

office in countries with dominant parties, such as Burundi,

Cameroon, Tanzania, and in regions such as Central Asia,

obtained strong outcomes. Likewise, where dominant

parties that have been championing gender parity experience

setbacks or major change, as is the case in Namibia and

Bolivia, women’s representation is similarly impacted.

Overall, states with dominant parties elected on average

30.7 per cent women to parliament in 2020, as compared to

20.8 per cent elsewhere.

LIU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 59: Aktuelt materiale modtaget fra Inter-Parlamentarisk Unions sekretariat i anledning af kvindernes internationale kampdag den 8. marts 2021

The IPU is the global organization of national parliaments. It works to safeguard peace and drives positive

democratic change through political dialogue and concrete action.

IPU gratefully acknowledges the contribution of Gabrielle Bardall who drafted the text of this report. Our

thanks also go to Irish Aid and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency for their financial

support for the IPU’s work on gender equality, including this publication.

This publication may be reproduced, partially or in full, for strictly personal and non-commercial purposes,

provided that the copyright and source are cited and no changes are made. The IPU should nevertheless be

informed of any use of the content of this publication.

Layout by Philippe Boisson, printed by Courand.

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