There are very few statistics about how many women run but fail to get elected. Voter perception, however, can offer an instructive indication. On average, more than half the people surveyed in East Asia and the Pacific, South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa agreed or strongly agreed that men make better political leaders than women, with three quarters sharing that view in the Middle East and North Africa. However, in other parts of the world, the evidence is more positive.

Far fewer respondents share this view in Latin America and the Caribbean, and over 80 per cent in Thailand think that a woman could be a good prime minister.