Women often face barriers
to their effective participation in the electoral process as voters,
candidates, journalists, electoral administrators or civil society representatives,
among other capacities. Their participation rights are frequently undermined by
cultural expectations and social norms, exclusion from male-dominated
decision-making platforms, lack of financial resources, restricted access to
information and knowledge, discrimination and widespread violence. Throughout
the electoral cycle, a wide range of stakeholders can commit to promote gender
equality and women’s participation in their respective action fields, including
political parties, electoral management bodies (EMBs), civil society, election
observers, the media, international electoral assistance providers and many
others. This topic area analyzes obstacles to women’s political participation,
as well as strategies implemented by relevant stakeholders to promote gender
equality throughout the electoral process.
Despite lack of data in
many areas, evidence shows that women are under-represented at all levels in
politics and decision-making. Women’s participation in national parliaments has
increased across the globe in the last years, going from 13.8 percent in 2000
to 24.3 percent in 2019.[1]
In spite of this progress, there is still a long way to go to achieve gender
equality in political representation and effective participation of all men and
women in the electoral process.
Legal and policy
frameworks set the game rules and affect gender equality and women’s
participation in elections. The choice of the electoral system has an important
impact on this matter. Also, the adoption of Temporary Special Measures (TSM),
including quotas, has shown to be a critical factor in increasing women’s representation
in elected bodies.
Although
political parties’ traditionally male-dominated structures and power models
often create barriers for women, they can also be instrumental in facilitating
their political advancement, integrating their voices in the political process
and ensuring them a place in decision-making. Political parties can mainstream
gender within their internal organization and in their work by developing
gender-sensitive legal and policy frameworks, ensuring gender-balanced candidate
recruitment and supporting women politicians in their campaigns.
EMBs can consider a wide
range of entry points to enhance women’s participation and promote gender
equality within their internal organization. Some of these strategies include
collecting sex-disaggregated data, including gender equality provisions in
their planning and internal policies, creating gender units or committees,
seeking a balanced representation of men and women among electoral staff, and
organizing capacity building initiatives, among others. Furthermore, in their
external strategy, EMBs and other relevant stakeholders can make efforts to
promote gender equality and women’s participation at different stages of the
electoral cycle that comprise voter registration, candidate nomination, voter
outreach, electoral operations and procedures during Election Day and dispute
resolution mechanisms.
Both international and
domestic election observation can integrate a gender-sensitive approach,
looking into barriers that hinder women’s participation in elections. This
gender perspective can be either mainstreamed through comprehensive election
observation, or put into practice through specific observation efforts
targeting women’s participation. A gender-balanced composition of observation teams
is key to promote the principle of equality. Also, integrating the issue of
women’s participation in the reporting process, including final reports and
recommendations, can contribute to improve their participation in a
constructive manner.
Mass media often present
negative and minimizing images of women, contributing to their exclusion from
the political sphere. Media monitoring initiatives can help identify bias
against women in the media and assess the quality and plurality of the election
coverage. Capacity building and training for journalists and media
professionals can also improve their skills on gender-sensitive reporting.
Moreover, integrating gender equality provisions in codes of conduct for media
in elections can contribute to avoiding harmful stereotypes against women and
integrate their voices in the public debate.
Another major obstacle to
the realization of women’s political and electoral rights is Violence Against
Women in Elections (VAWE). It comprises several types of violence, including
harassment, intimidation, psychological abuse, sexual violence and physical
attacks, directed to women with different roles in the electoral process, such
as voters, candidates, party supporters, observers, electoral administrators or
public officials, among others. Electoral stakeholders can use a wide range of
strategies to prevent and mitigate VAWE throughout the electoral cycle,
including mapping and measuring VAWE, integrating this component into election
observation and violence monitoring, fostering legal and policy reform, making
specific electoral arrangements, working with political parties and raising
public awareness on this issue.
Despite existing threats
to the enjoyment of the rights to peaceful assembly and association and the
current global trend of shrinking civic space, civil society groups around the
world continue to claim for gender equality in politics and more inclusive
electoral processes. In many countries, the advocacy efforts of women’s
associations have contributed to positive social change, by increasing women’s
participation. Efforts to promote gender equality should also involve men and
engage male allies in the construction of inclusive democratic systems.
During the post-electoral
period, parliamentarians can play an important role in the promotion of gender
equality and women’s participation, by adopting relevant legislation,
conducting effective oversight of government policies and strengthening
parliamentary structures to promote equality and women’s rights.
In addition, this topic
area includes documents, strategies and examples from electoral stakeholders
who are also addressing gender equality in the electoral process from a
non-binary perspective, in order to advance the realization of political rights
of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people. The
different sections of the topic area will include an analysis of the barriers
affecting the electoral participation of LGBTI as well as strategies put in
practice by a wide range of stakeholders, including EMBs, to promote political
inclusion.
