“Een quotum is niet genoeg” – vrouwen in de politiek in Burundi 

NIMD Burundi has been working to strengthen women’s political leadership for years. We spoke with the team about the current situation, the structural barriers that persist, and what it will take to create lasting change. 

Women’s representation in Burundi’s elected bodies has increased significantly in recent years. What does the picture look like today? 

The 2025 elections marked real progress in Burundi, where women now hold 46% of seats in the Senate, nearly 39% in the National Assembly, and 32% of seats on municipal councils. All increased since the 2020 elections.  

Burundi’s constitutional quota of 30% for elected bodies implemented in 2018 has clearly played a role in driving these gains. But the picture is uneven. Among community leaders, village chiefs, and village councils, women’s representation remains particularly low, and the same is true for non-elected political and technical positions, which fall outside the scope of the quota entirely. So while the numbers at the top are encouraging, the structural problem runs deeper. 

What are the main barriers holding women back? 

The barriers can be divided into three main blockades; cultural, economic, and political.  

Culturally, Burundian society remains deeply patriarchal. Political and economic roles are widely seen as the domain of the man, while a woman is expected to fulfil her societal role through homemaking. A woman who enters politics is therefore still often perceived as neglecting her household, a stigma that has a real deterrent effect on many women to take the leap.  

Economic barriers persist – for instance, customary law prevents women from inheriting land, which limits their financial independence and their ability to self-fund a political campaign. The Burundian man does not face the same constraint. 

And politically, even women who do get elected face pressure to follow their party line rather than advocate for their peers. Without official solidarity networks or mentoring structures, elected women can find themselves isolated and unable to push a common agenda. NIMD organizes many activities for handling this issue, notably:

• Political debates on women’s quota of 30%;
• Coffee-table discussions on women’s political leadership and inclusive democracy;
• Creation of  a women’s platform and support to this women’s platform in fulfilling its mandate.

What would make a real difference? 

Several things need to happen in parallel. Economic empowerment is foundational, as long as women depend on men or party structures to fund their political engagement, they remain vulnerable. Expanding the quota to cover local elections and technical positions would close one of the biggest remaining gaps. And there needs to be structured, ongoing political mentoring that allows experienced women leaders to pass on what they know to the next generation. 

Alongside all of this, social norms need to shift. That requires working with influential local figures to publicly challenge the idea that a woman in politics is wrong. 

What is NIMD Burundi doing to address these challenges? 

NIMD Burundi’s work targets these barriers directly, across three areas. 

On norms, we organise conference-debates that bring together political actors and community figures to make the case for women’s political leadership as a democratic good — not a concession — and we work to mobilise respected local voices to publicly normalise the presence of women in politics. 

On economic empowerment, we support women in politics to set up multiparty cooperatives — structures that build cross-party social cohesion while giving women greater financial independence. 

On advocacy and capacity building, a conference-debate in August 2025 put a spotlight on the absence of quotas in local elections and what that means for women’s representation at the grassroots level. We have also run training sessions for political parties focused on inclusive, gender-sensitive internal democracy, and most recently, in June 2026, we organised a conference on political mentoring – calling on women leaders to invest in the next generation and build cross-party coalitions that can advance a shared agenda beyond individual election cycles. 

Getting elected is one thing, but staying in politics is another. What does it take for women to remain in positions of power? 

This is where most programmes   of organizations focusing on women’s political participation fall short. There is a lot of attention on getting women elected, but not nearly enough on what happens after. Once in office, women often face pressure to conform to party positions, political and social harassment, and the risk of losing support — financial or otherwise — if they step out of line. 

What is needed to mitigate this is ongoing support:  

• Mentoring that continues after the election, not just before it.  

• Lasting mentor-mentee pairs between experienced and newly elected women. 

• Cross-party solidarity networks so that no woman has to carry an unpopular position alone.  

• Protection from harassment, both within party structures and online.  

• Genuine economic independence, so that withdrawing financial support cannot be used as a tool of control. 

The quota opened the door but keeping it open requires a more sustained approach.  

NIMD Burundi works to lay the foundation for peaceful, inclusive elections in Burundi by building the internal capacity of political parties; strengthening existing and emerging dialogue between political actors on key issues; and ensuring women and marginalized groups have the capacity and space to influence politics. Find out more about their work hier.