It goes without saying that the social and economic status of women in society has a direct influence on their participation in political institutions and elected bodies. For example, researchers point to the correlation between women's legislative recruitment and the proportion of women working outside the home, as well as the percentage of women college graduates. According to some researchers, socio-economic conditions take second place to electoral systems in women's legislative recruitment within established democracies. The two most overwhelming obstacles for women in entering parliament are lack of constituents and lack of financial resources.
Women move from their father s home to their husband s home to their in-laws home.
They are like refugees. They have no base from which to develop contacts with the people or to build knowledge and experience about the issues. Given the rising cost of running an effective campaign, this poses another serious hurdle for women in the developing world. For the first time in more than 25 years, the 1990s witnessed a drop in women s labour force participation rates. Women comprise 31 per cent of the total official labour force in industrially developed countries and 46.7 per cent world-wide.