“This battle will liberate us; we want to be involved in the decision making process. Women will not continue to be used as fillers,” declared Socorro Torres, coordinator of the Honduras Interparty Women’s Network (Red de Mujeres Interpartidarias de Honduras, or the Network). Torres’s comments were in response to the historic ratification of a pact between members of Honduras’s leading political parties, affirming women’s equality in political participation.

With assistance from NDI’s “Enhancing Women’s Participation in Elections” program, Jordanian women achieved unprecedented levels of participation and success in the September 20, 2016, parliamentary elections. More than 250 women nationwide ran for office, and 20 won seats to serve as Members of Parliament. Five of those women won competitive seats, rather than one of the 15 quota seats, demonstrating women’s increasing levels of political activism and influence throughout the country.

When Vicky Zwein ran in municipal elections in 2004, she was already a young mother, aged 29, and was expecting another baby. She was nominated by her political party, the National Liberal Party, and with the support of her family and especially her husband she started canvassing her neighborhood. “People would tell me that it was not the right moment to run since I have children and that I need to take care of them. But my answer was, it’s BECAUSE I want to take care of my children that I am running.”