On average, women’s representation at the local level is better than at the national level by almost 11 percentage points.
local politics towards the subnational and national levels, they begin to be replaced by more and more men.
The U.N. Women paper is based on data available from 133 countries as of January 1, 2020. Antigua and Barbuda had the highest share of women at the local level—two in every three elected officials were women. It was followed by Bolivia with parity, Tunisia , Belarus and Senegal . “Some of these disparities are explained by the use of quota at one level, but not the other level. The difference in global averages is also shaped by how the averages are calculated ,” said Ionica Berevoescu and Julie Ballington, authors of the report. The data for the local level is not as complete as that for parliaments, they added.
“If this extends to more countries, I expect that gender stereotypes typically hurt women as electoral candidates at the national level , but are more likely to benefit women in local elections where their actions align with ‘municipal housekeeping’ or intimate ‘care’-based activities, such as improving the quality of education for children in local communities,” Brulé added.
This also means that while there are barriers and enablers for women at both levels, it may be [slightly] easier for women to access local positions, as local candidacies and campaigns are less influenced by party decisions, require less resources of time or money, and can be enabled by existing local networks, report authors explain.
“Majority/plurality systems in single-member districts may lower women’s representation because male-dominated party selection committees might not select women as sole candidates,” the report noted.
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