Political campaigns are extremely expensive - both in terms of money and time. In societies where gender norms place the burden of unpaid care and domestic work on women, the impacts are far reaching. Women who take on these unpaid roles not only sacrifice their time; they sacrifice opportunities for more income generating activities, professional development and networking, and education and growth. In many countries, women also lack rights and legislated protections such as land ownership and inheritance, and the gender pay gap results in women earning disproportionately lower incomes, with or without domestic duties. Compared to men, women start at a considerable disadvantage when it comes to breaking these norms to enter the political sphere; in some cases, even modest registration fees can preclude women from entering political races at all. 

While in some cases, measures have been taken to assist women political candidates with fundraising, provide subsidies, and reduce registration fees to women candidates, including in the United States, Japan, Ghana, and Cambodia, for the most part lack of funding remains a major barrier for women with political aspirations. As women are, in most countries, often new to the political scene, having been traditionally excluded from establishments dominated by men, incumbency - especially for young women who must prove themselves as both women and youth - presents a challenge in building trust with donors and constituents as capable leaders and diplomats.

Especially for women who do not come from traditionally well connected or wealthy family backgrounds that they can use to access campaign financing, women must often look to a wider pool of donors, taking additional time and effort. Some research also shows that men are more likely to donate to other men, and women to women, but that men form the majority of political donors and contribute larger amounts to campaigns. This gender gap in campaign donations, accordingly, furthers the gender gap in political participation, as women - especially black women and women from lower socioeconomic backgrounds - struggle to access the same levels of funding that men candidates can raise.

For women who are able to raise enough financial resources to enter politics, they are often still expected to maintain their domestic duties, and still face harsh criticism and double standards. In a study conducted across Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, it was found that 35.5 percent of respondents did not think that women with young children should work. Such views can also be seen at the highest levels of government, such as in the case of former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand, who was just the second Head of State to give birth while in office, and who stepped down after five years, having navigated multiple major national crises, the COVID-19 pandemic, and continued commentary on and criticism of her approach to motherhood. 

While women in the UNDP ECA region are gaining ground in political participation, another of the major barriers they face is a lack of support and mentorship. The introduction of gender quotas has contributed to increasing the number of women in politics, but they are still vastly outnumbered by men. Additionally, as for many countries, women have only recently begun to see considerable increases in political participation, the networks of support and mentorship that exist for young women entering politics are often nonexistent or largely inaccessible to young women on the same path. 

Political parties, in some cases, actively support men over women in advancing as candidates beyond achieving mandated gender quotas, reflecting party biases that may stem from an assumption that voters prefer men as leaders. 

There are a number of organizations aimed at building women’s networks, mentorship connections, and leadership skills, both inside of political parties and external groups, at local, national, and international levels. These organizations provide trainings, platforms and communities for exchange, and opportunities for funding, such as programmes implemented by UNDP, UN Women and OSCE. 

(For more information on UNDP’s programmes and initiatives to support women in politics, see our dedicated section)

However, mentorship opportunities often remain scarce due to the limited numbers of women with extensive political experience, and initiatives to increase women’s political participation often face backlash. Furthermore, a recent study shows that as women’s decision-making power remains limited at the household level, internalized biases also prevent women themselves from believing in their own capacities and their peers’ ability to lead at the political level, which in some cases can lead to diminished strength of support networks. 

As legislation changes and gender social norms continue to be addressed and tackled, and as more and more women are empowered to participate in politics, opportunities for networking, mentorship, and leadership will grow. However, there remains much work to be done in order to reach the same levels of support that men in politics currently enjoy.