Do I Step Forward? Deciding to Run for Office
Across political systems, women rarely come casually to the decision to run for office. Women weigh more variables, face higher structural barriers, and require stronger external encouragement than men before entering a race. These patterns appear consistently across established democracies, emerging democracies, and hybrid systems.
Internal Readiness
The first threshold women must cross is internal readiness. Across OECD countries, Latin America, Sub‑Saharan Africa, and South Asia, women still underestimate their qualifications relative to men with similar experience. This confidence gap is reinforced by persistent double standards: women candidates continue to be judged more harshly on their experience, communication style, and personal life. In regions where women’s political participation is newer, the perceived qualification bar is even higher. Women know they must meet both formal requirements and informal expectations from voters, parties, and the media, a combination that continues to discourage political participation.
Unpaid Care Work
Family responsibilities likewise remain a major factor shaping a woman’s decision to run. Women perform significantly more unpaid care work than men, often several times more, depending on the region. Campaigning demands long hours, travel, and public visibility, all of which collide with caregiving. In Latin America and South Asia, women frequently cite child care and elder care as primary reasons for delaying or declining a run. Even in Nordic countries, where state-supported care systems are stronger, this barrier is reduced but not eliminated. Across regions, women ask themselves whether assuming a leadership role justifies the disruption to their home life, especially when reliable alternative support systems are not guaranteed.
Abuse
Personal safety has become a more urgent concern in the last few years. In recent years, there has been a documented rise in online abuse, harassment, and threats targeting women in politics across Europe, Africa, the Americas, and Asia. In some contexts, these threats extend to physical violence or community-level intimidation. The expansion of digital campaigning has intensified exposure, forcing women to consider not only their own risk tolerance but also the potential impact on their families.
Money
Financial viability remains a structural barrier to entry, as well, with significant regional variation. Studies show that women still have less access to donor networks, party financing, and political gatekeepers. In many OECD countries, women raise comparable amounts to men once they are in the race, but early-stage fundraising gaps continue to deter entry. In Sub‑Saharan Africa and South Asia, where campaigns often rely heavily on personal funds or patronage networks, women face even steeper financial hurdles.
Service Rather Than Self-Promotion
When women do decide to run, they often do so for mission-driven reasons. Women across regions are more likely than men to cite a specific policy failure, community need, or injustice as the catalyst for their candidacy. Their “Why now?” moment is typically tied to a concrete issue they feel compelled to address, and their political ambition is more often rooted in service than in self-promotion.
Stepping Forward
A woman’s decision to run for office is not a simple career choice, it is a negotiation of personal readiness, structural barriers, safety risks, and financial realities. Recognizing this complexity is essential to building systems that allow more women, in every region, to step forward.
Sources: Inter-Parliamentary Union: Violence Against Women in Politics; Inter-Parliamentary Union: Women in Parliament; National Democratic Institute (NDI); #NotTheCostCampaign; OECD: Gender Equality in Public Life; OECD: Unpaid Care Work (2021–23); OECD: Unpaid Care Work (2024); UN Development Programme: Women’s Political Empowerment in Africa; UN Development Programme: Unpaid Care Work; UN Women
