Women Are More Likely to Get Elected to Local Bodies Than to National Parliaments

In this article, Akshi discusses how women are far from gender parity in local governments globally, citing Cynthia. Read an excerpt below:

“The higher the power level (and better paid positions) the more attractive positions are becoming for men, [and]  the more difficult to disrupt the male-dominated political networks,” wrote Berevoescu and Ballington. “The advantage of male incumbency is obvious at the national level.”

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.

While the structure of local government varies significantly from country to country, there are common threads that may lead to more women running and more women getting elected at the municipal level, said Cynthia Richie Terrell, founder and executive director of RepresentWomen, which works to increase women’s representation in elected office. “Various studies, for example, suggest that women run for office to solve specific problems and not as much to satisfy their egos—solving problems at the local level may cause more women to run for local office—they may also feel unqualified to participate at the national level.”

Read the full article here.