Violence against women in politics: A pervasive issue that hinders the political participation of women

Around the world, women frequently experience harassment and violence when they decide to exercise their civil and political rights.

In 2016, the Inter-Parliamentary Union published a global study on Violence Against Women in Politics (VAWP), based on interviews with women MPs from around the world.

The study showed, strikingly, that more than 80% of the women interviewed had experienced some form of psychological violence in the course of their work in parliament.

One in three had experienced some form of economic violence, one in four some form of physical violence, and one in five some form of sexual violence.

This phenomenon was extensively discussed during an event dubbed Women’s Economic Empowerment: Focus on Gender Equality, Violence Against Women in Politics (VAWP) and the Promotion of Political Participation of Women in Elections hosted by UN Women East and Southern Africa Office (ESARO), Women’s Political Participation (WPP) Unit and SADC Lawyers Association as part of the SADC Lawyers’ Association (SADC LA) general meeting and conference, held from the 28th to 2nd August 2024 at the Avani Victoria Falls Resort in Livingstone Zambia.

This meeting provided a platform to raise awareness of women’s political participation issues in the SADC region with parliamentarians from the region reiterating that violence against women in politics is a serious issue impacting the realization of women’s political rights and a human rights violation.

“Violence against women in politics is not a distant and abstract issue. It is in fact a harsh daily reality for countless women striving to contribute to the SADC and African political landscape’, said Yvonne Dausab, Member of Parliament and Minister of Justice of the Republic of Namibia. “It’s a pervasive issue that undermines democracy and hinders the political participation of half of our population”, she added.

Participants reflected on the fact that much remains to be done in affirming women in politics in the SADC region as they also took note of the strides and progress made in the region as pertains women’s political participation.

“Political and electoral violence have been viewed as gender-neutral concepts. However, these forms of violence are, in fact, highly gendered in their motives, forms, and impact on women. Violence against women in politics and in elections is a violation of civil, political, and human rights. VAWP affects women’s civic and political right to participate as voters, candidates, election officials, activists, and political party leaders. It undermines free, fair, and inclusive democratic processes,” explained Women’s Political Participation specialist, UN Women ESARO, Maureen Shonge.

The discussion aimed at increasing knowledge and analytical capacity on VAWP among SADC Lawyers, facilitate cross-learning and exchange of experiences, deliberate broader policy and legal reforms, encourage lawyers to contribute to efforts to prevent and respond to VAWP in their work based on internationally agreed norms, laws, and standards and to identify areas of collaboration and coordination with lawyers in SADC and the Africa region.

A presentation by the Justice Sector Actors concluded that women’s access to justice in electoral judicial processes was vital but depended on several factors such as the affordability of judicial processes, availability of gender-sensitive judicial personnel and accommodating methods of women’s participation. They also noted that the justice system was lacking in facilitating women’s access to justice, the courts are not available, accessible, gender sensitive and women lack access to legal information with some practices in the judicial system inhibiting representation of women.

They outlined key elements of women’s access to justice for women as ensuring law enforcement organs are equipped to interpret and enforce gender equality rights; Ensuring women are represented equally in the judiciary and law enforcement organs and reforming discriminatory laws and practices.

Violence against women in politics is a very serious issue and it’s high on the agenda of UN Women’s work.

UN Women has been working on it for several years to advance the issue in setting standards, in supporting governments with concrete programmes, and in terms of making a change on the ground that makes a difference for women.