Local Government

As a single mother, Beatrice Duran never imagined that she would get involved in politics. When she moved to Las Vegas in 1985, her focus was on keeping “a solid job” as a food server to provide for her young daughter and, later, her son.

Opportunities to become involved in public life felt out of reach.

As the United Nations is working with local and international stakeholders to draft a new Syrian constitution, Syrian women demand a seat at the table to ensure their concerns and insights are considered in a future Syrian state.

The demand for women's participation comes amid a renewed international push for intra-Syrian negotiation to end the country's seven-year-war.

Are Indian women voting at higher rates than before?

Women in India are casting their ballots more frequently, and in greater numbers. Women’s turnout has actually been higher than that of men in two-thirds of India’s state elections. This is a remarkable turn of events in a deeply patriarchal, conservative society.

Why is this so surprising?

With women making up only 20 percent of Congress, there are many types of women — especially women of color — who have never been represented on Capitol Hill. The record-breaking wave of female candidates in 2018 comes with a list of firsts among those women. Here's a list of some of those firsts, which we will keep updating as results come in.

Even before the votes are in, the numbers prove it: 2018 is the Year of the Woman.

If Democrats retake the House, the Senate, or both, it’ll be because women launched the most effective, sustained resistance in generations, thousands more women looked into running for office than ever before — and then many of them did it and did it so well, they outperformed their male peers nationwide.

Female politicians made history this week in Israel with a record of at least 11 women chosen to head cities and local councils across the country, five more than in the previous municipal elections. Six additional female candidates will contest run-off votes in other councils and towns, where no candidate managed to reach the 40 percent threshold.

Daw Saw Yee and Daw Ohn Shwe have many things in common, but until recently their paths had not crossed. Both in their 50s, their communities elected the two women as village tract administrators in January 2018 during the third local elections to take place since Myanmar started its transition to democracy.