After a year of mega-elections, the growth of the number of women in power almost stopped

Almost half the world’s population – 3.6 billion people – went to the polls in 2024, but it was also the year when the rate of increase in female representation was the lowest in 20 years.

The 27 new parliaments now have fewer women than before the election – in countries such as the US, Portugal, Pakistan, India, Indonesia and South Africa. And, for the first time in its history, fewer women were also elected to the European Parliament.

The BBC collated figures from 46 countries where election results were confirmed and found that in almost two-thirds of them the number of elected women has decreased.

The data comes from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), a global organization of national parliaments that collects and analyzes election data.

There were gains for women in Great BritainMongolia, Jordan and the Dominican Republic, a Mexico and Namibia both elected their first female presidents.

However, losses elsewhere mean growth this year has been marginal (0.03%) – after doubling worldwide between 1995 and 2020.

Mariana Duarte Mutzenberg, who tracks gender statistics for the IPU, says progress in some democracies has been “too fragile.” For example, the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu lost its only female member of parliament and now has no women in government at all.

The Pacific Islands have the world’s lowest proportion of female members of parliament – 8%.

Worldwide, women make up 27% of the world’s parliaments, and only 13 countries are close to 50%. Latin America and some African countries currently lead the way when it comes to female representation.

Some countries, says Ms. Duarte Mutzenberg, are still making progress, largely thanks to gender quotas — Mongolia jumped from 10% to 25% female representation this year after introducing mandatory 30% of the candidate quota for women.

On average, countries without quotas elected 21% of women compared to 29% with quotas.

For example, quotas and political will helped Mexico achieve gender parity in 2018 after former president Andrés Manuel López Abrador decided that parliament should be 50% female.

Political will can also be a game-changer when it comes to ministerial positions, says Julie Ballington of UN Women, who compiles data on women who head government ministries.

Cabinets have the power to influence society, but women’s representation is still the lowest of all the policy measures UN Women looks at, she says, with women usually limited to certain ministerial roles, such as overseeing human rights, equality and social affairs. affairs, not finance or defense.

It’s a “missed opportunity,” she says.

With so many different countries, contexts and political entanglements, it’s hard to see why the dial has hardly moved this year.

But there are some universal barriers to women’s political participation.

First, research has shown that there is ambition gender gap.

“Women are less likely to wake up and think they would be good in senior management,” said political science professor Rosie Campbell at an audience at King’s College London. “They often need to be pushed: “Didn’t you think about being a deputy?”

And the slowdown could mean fewer mentors for future female politicians, says Dr Rachel George, an expert on gender and politics at Stanford University in the US. That way, young women will be “less likely to think they can or should run.”

Once they decide to run for office, women tend to find themselves at a financial disadvantage.

A wealth of research found that it is more difficult for women to access political campaign finance or gain the financial freedom to take time off work.

In most societies, women still carry more caregiving responsibilities than men, which can have a negative impact on their constituents’ attitudes, says Dr George.

This is not helped by the fact that few parliaments offer maternity leave, says Karlien Schiele of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE). “It scares women away if these policies aren’t implemented,” she says.

And then there’s the way electoral systems are designed.

Countries using proportional representation (PR) or mixed electoral systems elect a higher proportion of women than electoral systems and are also more likely to have electoral quotas for women, according to the IPU.

But these factors are not new. So what’s changing?

There is an increase in attacks on women in public lifeonline and in person, according to studies in different countries.

In Mexico, which is already experiencing violent electionsGender-based violence has been particularly high this year, says Mariana Duarte Mutzenberg of the IPU, and women politicians have also been particularly targeted by disinformation aimed at “trying to discredit them in one way or another”.

All this has a wider “chilling effect” and stops young women from wanting to run, says Dr George.

The backlash against women’s economic empowerment and feminism is also a factor.

In South Korea, despite a slight increase in the percentage of women elected, many young people felt reverse discrimination in this year’s election.

“Some parties have continued to incite or exploit anti-gender sentiment among male voters who perceive women’s rights advocates as anti-men,” says Ms. Duarte Mutzenberg.

However, she says, it could lead to even more women come to vote.

So why does any of this matter?

Basic justice aside egalitarian parliaments could improve the national economysays Karlien Schiele of EIGE, citing research showing that gender-diverse groups make better decisions and that gender-mixed boards of directors lead to higher returns.

Studies have also shown the benefits of including women in peace negotiationssuggesting that processes based on the substantial input of women are more likely to produce sustainable results.

“When women are in the room, peace deals are more likely to happen will likely last” says Dr. George.

Julie Ballington of UN Women says she would urge people to think differently about women in politics.

“It’s not about the underrepresentation of women, it’s about the overrepresentation of men.”

Additional data analysis by Rebecca Wedge-Roberts of BBC Verify

Designed by Raees Hussain