After a huge election year, the growth of women in power is almost at a standstill

Nearly half of the world's population – 3.6 billion people – held major elections in 2024, but it was also the year with the slowest growth rate in women's representation in 20 years.

Now there are fewer women in twenty-seven new parliaments than before the elections – in countries such as the United States, Portugal, Pakistan, India, Indonesia and South Africa. For the first time in its history, fewer women have been elected to the European Parliament.

The BBC analyzed figures from 46 countries where election results were confirmed, and found that nearly two-thirds of them The number of elected women decreased.

The data is from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) – a global organization of national parliaments that collects and analyzes electoral data.

There were gains for women in UKMongolia, Jordan and the Dominican Republic, while Mexico and Namibia Both elected their first female president.

However, losses elsewhere meant that growth this year was minimal (0.03%) – having more than doubled. Worldwide between 1995 and 2020.

Mariana Duarte Mutzenberg, who tracks gender statistics for the Inter-Parliamentary Union, says progress has been “very fragile” in some democracies. For example, Tuvalu, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, lost its only female member of parliament, and now there are no women in government at all.

The Pacific Islands have the lowest proportion of female members of parliament in the world at 8%.

Globally, women make up 27% of parliaments worldwide, and only 13 countries are close to 50%. Latin America and parts of Africa currently lead when it comes to female representation.

Ms Duarte-Mutzenberg says some countries are still making gains, thanks in large part to gender quotas – Mongolia jumped from 10% to 25% female representation this year, after introducing gender quotas. Mandatory filter 30% Share 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 equality in 2018, after former President Andres Manuel López Obrador decided that parliament would be 50% women.

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

Governments have the power to influence society, yet they still have the lowest female representation of all the policy measures considered by UN Women, she says, with women typically restricted to certain ministerial roles such as overseeing human rights, equality and social affairs – rather than Finance or defence.

She says this is a “missed opportunity.”

With so many different countries, contexts and political complexities, it is difficult to pinpoint why connectivity has not changed this year.

But there are some global barriers to women's participation in politics.

First, research has shown that there is The ambition gap between the genders.

“Women are less likely to wake up and think they would be good in senior leadership,” said politics professor Rosie Campbell. Audience at King's College, London. “They often need to be prompted: Have you thought about becoming an MP?”

Dr Rachel George, an expert on gender and politics at Stanford University in the US, says the slowdown could mean fewer mentors for future female politicians. So young women “will probably not think they can, or should, run.”

Once women decide to run for office, women tend to be at a financial disadvantage.

A A wealth of research She found it difficult for women to obtain funding for a political campaign or have the financial freedom to take time off work.

In most societies, women still have more caring responsibilities than men – which can negatively impact voters' perception of them, says Dr George.

This is not helped by the fact that few parliaments offer maternity leave, says Carlene Schell from the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE). “It alienates women if these policies are not implemented,” she says.

Then there is the way electoral systems are designed.

Countries that use proportional representation (PR) or mixed electoral systems elect a larger proportion of women than first-past-the-post systems, and are also more likely to have electoral quotas for women, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

But these factors are not new. So what changes?

There has been an increase in attacks on Women in public lifeonline and in person, according to studies in many different countries.

In Mexico, which is already suffering Violent electionsGender-based violence has been particularly high this year, and female politicians have been particularly targeted by disinformation aimed at “trying to destroy their reputation in one way or another,” says Mariana Duarte Mutzenberg of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Dr George says all of this has a “chilling effect” on a wider scale and prevents younger women from wanting to run.

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

In South Korea – despite a slight increase in the proportion of women elected – a feeling of reverse discrimination was evident among many young people in this year's elections.

“Some parties have continued to inflame or exploit anti-gender sentiments among male voters who view feminists as anti-men,” says Ms. Duarte Mutzenberg.

However, she says, this might have resulted in a draw More women are coming out to vote.

So why does all this matter?

Aside from basic justice, Equal parliaments can improve national economiessays Carlene Schell of EIGE, citing research showing that gender-diverse groups make better decisions, and that mixed-gender boards lead to higher profits.

As studies have shown Benefits of including women in peace negotiationsThis suggests that operations that rely on substantive contributions from women are more likely to achieve sustainable results.

“When women are in the room, peace agreements are more likely to be reached It is likely to continue“, says Dr. George.

Julie Ballington of UN Women says it will encourage people to think about women in politics differently.

“It's not about the underrepresentation of women. It's the overrepresentation of men.”

Additional data analysis was conducted by Rebecca Wedge-Roberts from BBC Verify

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