It’s not just that the new top team only represents western states. Several of them seem rather unprepared to lead the union.
Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who won her bid for a seat in the House of Representatives in New York’s 14th Congressional District, asks 2014 Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai a question at the Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. on Dec. 6, 2018.
(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (known as AOC), the youngest woman to be elected to the U.S. Congress, has an authentic voice that is rising in popularity.
Controversial BJP candidate Pragya Singh Thakur (L) with BJP senior leader Uma Bharti (R).
EPA/Sanjeev Gupta
Women of color in public office often face great scrutiny and hostility. New research shows how France’s first black female senators used their experience fighting Nazis to pass landmark legislation.
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern wore a headscarf to comfort mourning family members after the Christchurch mosque shootings.
AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File
After the Christchurch mosque shootings, New Zealand’s prime minister didn’t start a war on terror. She covered her head, cried, paid for funerals and passed gun control. Is it because she’s a woman?
Japan’s Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako at their residence Togu Palace in Tokyo, Feb. 17, 2019.
Imperial Household Agency of Japan/Handout via Reuters
Japan’s 86-year-old Emperor Akihito abdicates on April 30 — an exceedingly rare event for this ancient monarchy. Can his son, Prince Naruhito, give Japan’s royal family a modern makeover?
Worldwide, 1 in 10 presidents and prime ministers has relatives who were already in politics. Europe and Latin America, both democratic regions, have the highest proportion of leaders who come from political families.
Shutterstock
Research shows that women work more collaboratively than men in groups and create more inclusive solutions to thorny problems. More women in Washington could bridge America’s yawning partisan divide.
Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde (left) and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
EPA-EFE/STR
Women in Ethiopia are shaking the foundations of the country’s political framework by taking on powerful positions.
California’s Katie Porter, seen here with Democratic candidates and former president Barack Obama, is one of just three first-time female congressional candidates in California.
AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu
A record number of women are poised to win public office in 2018. But don’t look to California for help shifting the gender balance in Congress during the ‘year of the woman.’
Obiageli Katryn Ezekwesili is a candidate in Nigeria’s upcoming 2019 elections.
Flickr
Sharkdam Wapmuk, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs
Can Obiageli Katryn Ezekwesili become the next Nigerian president?
Black women in Brazil protest presidential frontrunner Jair Bolsonaro, who is known for his disparaging remarks about women, on Sept. 29, 2018.
AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo
In Brazil, a record 1,237 black women will stand for office in Sunday’s general election. As in the US, their campaigns reflect deep personal concern about rising racism and sexism in politics.
Public outrage followed the 2012 gang rape of a 23-year-old woman on a bus in Delhi, India. Here, demonstrators call for justice at the one-year anniversary of the incident.
Reuters/Anindito Mukherjee
India is the most dangerous country for women in 2018, according to a new survey. Putting more women in government is a necessary first step in preventing rape and better protecting abuse survivors.
One of the voting booths in Makassar, South Sulawesi, during the June 27 regional elections.
Herwin Bahar/shutterstock.com
Once women gain access to the highest political ranks, their numbers continue to grow, a new study shows. Their presence lays a ‘concrete floor’ of inclusion for future governments to build on.
Fighter? Taiwan’s first female president, Tsai Ing-wen.
EPA/Ritchie B. Tongo
The measure of women’s political advancement isn’t the number of female leaders, but the changes they make to everyday women’s lives.
Some 200,000 Argentinean women marched on March 8 for International Women’s Day. Many proclaimed their support for legalizing abortion.
AP Photo/Tomas F. Cuesta
A new bill that would legalize abortion in Argentina has spurred surprise debate on the gender pay gap, parental leave and political representation. Will Argentinean women finally get their due?
Oprah’s ‘Time’s up!’ speech at the Golden Globes got people talking about her candidacy in 2020.
NBC
Getting to the White House would mean overcoming issues of race and gender.
Women face myriad barriers running for office and it’s time to knock down those obstacles starting at the municipal level.
In this November 2017 photo, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland sits between Maryam Monsef, Minister of Status of Women, right, and Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie.
(The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)
Canadian women are under-represented in politics and are hesitant to run for office for myriad reasons. Here’s what needs to be done, especially at the municipal level, to get more women in office.