3.1 Promoting safe and inclusive political environments for women parliamentarians

Women’s equal participation and leadership in political and public life are essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. However, data show that women are underrepresented at all levels of decision-making worldwide and that achieving gender parity in political life is far off.

According to 2023 data:¹

If parliamentarians want to change the current landscape, they should do more to engage with all relevant stakeholders, including vulnerable communities, women organizations, and civil society representatives, to be informed on what measures would best support the goal of increased participation.

A more proactive response to the changing landscape in politics is necessary. The recognition of gender-based challenges and rising threats to the psychological and physical well-being of women legislators is an essential piece of the diagnostic. In December 2021, PGA launched a worldwide campaign to S.T.O.P. Violence Against Women in Parliament with detailed actions that Members of Parliament can undertake. The Senate of Argentina fully endorsed this initiative, and other parliaments around the world may emulate such support to ensure that it remains a priority in legislative work.

Some reports contend that the prevalence of sexism, misogyny, democratic backsliding, and authoritarianism have created fertile ground for the institutionalization of violence against women in politics and human rights defenders. Violence against women in politics can take many forms: physical, verbal, sexual, and/or economic. The fight for full participation in political decision-making processes and the promotion of comprehensive women’s rights has come at a significant cost to women, particularly to those mobilizing in parliaments and taking the necessary actions to eliminate all forms of violence against them. In some cases, the pandemic has also served as an excuse for restricting women’s ability to exercise their human right to assemble, especially when they protest against unfair state-led policies that violate fundamental rights. The consequences are still present today.

Case studies

United Kingdom, United States, Ecuador, El Salvador, Belarus, Zimbabwe, Senegal, The Netherlands, and Australia

There are many examples worldwide to illustrate the level of violence against women parliamentarians. In a declaration made by United Kingdom legislator Maria Miller, she admitted that as an MP, she “had to become accustomed to a regular bombardment of online verbal abuse, including threats of rape and murder.” She noted that hers was not an isolated case, as “[f]emale colleagues across the House are routinely targeted online with abusive, sexist, threatening comments. As Amnesty has shown, black female MPs are most likely to be subjected to unacceptable and even unlawful abuse.” In July 2020, United States congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was on the receiving end of a sexist slur by her colleague, Republican Congressman Ted Yoho, and publicly admitted that she was a survivor of sexual assault. Soledad Buendía, former chairwoman of PGA’s National Group in Ecuador and human rights defender, went into exile after receiving death threats, attacks in the media, political persecution, and serious violations of her physical and psychological integrity. On 9 March 2021, Roberto Carlos Silva, a well-known “YouTuber” in El Salvador and a Nuevas Ideas political party activist, was detained after harassing and threatening to harm former PGA Board Member Karina Sosa physically.

In Belarus, the primary opposition presidential campaign held by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya in July 2020 was one of the most significant challenges to the election of Alexander Lukashenko. On this occasion, President Lukashenko deliberately targeted women activists, politicians, and their female family members while threatening them with gender-specific reprisals, including threats to subject them to acts of sexual violence. According to the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), “Violence against women in elections is a threat to the integrity of the electoral process – it can affect women’s participation as voters, candidates, election officials, activists, and political party leaders, and it undermines the free, fair, and inclusive democratic process.”

On 26 April 2021, PGA’s Parliamentary Rapid Response Team (PARRT) received an urgent referral concerning torture, sexual abuse, and other serious human rights violations against MDC-Alliance women parliamentarians and activists in Zimbabwe. The case relates to Member of Parliament Hon. Joana Mamombe and opposition activists Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova, who were abducted by the security forces after attending a protest during a Covid-19 lockdown. According to their testimony, the police tortured, sexually assaulted, forced them to drink each other’s urine, and dumped them into a rural area where they were found heavily injured and traumatized.

In December 2022, a violent fight occurred in the Parliament of Senegal after a male opposition lawmaker slapped and kicked a pregnant female colleague, Amy Ndiaye Gniby. Women already in leadership positions are also driven to quit or not seek reelection because of threats to themselves and their families. In the Netherlands, Dilan Yesilgöz wanted to succeed her colleague Mark Rutte as head of government, while the female Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag was abandoning politics. The threats against her frightened her daughters, who feared for her life, and consequently, she decided to withdraw from politics. More recently, on 6 October 2023, during a historic referendum in Australia concerning indigenous rights, indigenous independent Federal Senator Ms. Lidia Thorpe was subjected to online racism and death threats, something that, according to her, has happened since she entered politics in 2020.

As some of these examples showcase, being a woman parliamentarian has often come at great personal risk for many, impacting both their physical and mental health. In an innovative approach, PGA supported efforts by the Apolitical Foundation to map the mental well-being of politicians globally - including human rights defenders - considering their impact on their performance and the kind of representation they provide to their constituencies. Such a study will give critical insights into how parliaments can best care for their members so that they may perform their constitutional mandate.

PGA’s Campaign on Democratic Renewal and Human Rights has sought to address technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TGBV) partially. Its inception came about after the various complaints of women legislators whose physical and psychological integrity were jeopardized by individuals on social media and even by parliamentary colleagues. The COVID-19 pandemic has notably exacerbated TGBV trends, and PGA has attempted to address them through:

• The Parliamentary Rapid Response Team (PARRT): a referral mechanism to a nimble group of MPs whenever an MP or human rights defender needs support in a specific situation;
• The Global Parliamentary Code of Democratic Conduct: intended to be a self-regulating pledge by signatories to refrain from harassing, using abusive language, including hate speech, misinformation, and disinformation, and to use “parliamentary prerogatives to strengthen democratic values and principles; promote universal human rights; combat racism, homophobia, misogyny and any other form of discrimination […]”; and
• The initiative to “Support Women Parliamentarians facing violence around the world,” which includes key recommendations for parliamentarians such as:
  • Implementing provisions of international legal instruments that aim to stop violence against women and girls in the domestic legal order.
  • Establishing national policies to encourage the participation of women in politics and policy-making processes.
  • Achieving gender parity in politics.
  • Increasing public awareness by launching or supporting national, regional, and international campaigns.
  • Organizing workshops and/or training to help equip male leaders with the necessary knowledge to promote women’s participation in politics, especially those from marginalized groups.
  • Protecting women legislators from any form of violence.
  • Creating accountability mechanisms in parliament where women and parliamentarians at large can denounce all forms of violence.
  • Holding perpetrators accountable and applying penal legislation as necessary.
  • Understanding, identifying, and tackling different risks that women face to develop new strategies to protect them from any threat that may affect their physical and psychological well-being.

Additionally, PGA has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Organization of American States, which includes addressing democratic backsliding in a digital era. PGA collaborates with the OAS Legislative Unit within this space to address online discrimination issues. We also strategize on solutions that engage the government on policy reforms and intersectional robust legislation on TGBV.

Not one person or institution alone can promote safe and inclusive political environments for women parliamentarians. It is a collective endeavor of all relevant stakeholders and concerted action. Increasing the participation of women in political and public decision-making will yield positive results in the long term by bringing about more inclusion and representation. This will help bridge the gap between the political leaders, including parliamentarians, and the populations they serve.

Political parties have an important role in actively promoting women’s participation in politics by ensuring a safe and inclusive environment. Political parties should consider:⁸

• The introduction of voluntary quotas;
• Rules for the selection of candidates for elections at local, regional, and national levels to ensure gender equality and diversity;
• Analysis of the internal composition to address how to increase participation of women and men from diverse backgrounds;
• Use of a gender-sensitive and intersectional approach in supporting candidates for election;
• Organization of training on inclusiveness, intersectionality, and gender equality for all their members, irrespective of their gender, and ensure their accessibility;
• Organization of specific capacity- and confidence-building training in accessible formats to enhance their political skills; and
• Increase the visibility of role models in political and public life, including in the media.

An important tool political parties may wish to consider is the Charter of European Political Parties for a non-racist and inclusive society. In this document, democratic political parties of Europe adhere to fundamental principles such as “[d]efending basic human rights and democratic principles and reject all forms of racism and intolerance, hate speech, incitement to racial hatred and harassment; […]”⁹ In its preamble, the Charter reminds us all “[…] that Europe derives from its history a duty of remembrance, vigilance and opposition to all forms of racism and intolerance, including Afrophobia/anti-Black racism, antigypsyism, antisemitism, Islamophobia/anti-Muslim racism, LGBTI-phobia, sexism, xenophobia, as well as crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes and the public denial, trivialization, justification or condoning of such crimes; […]”¹⁰

3.2 Parliamentary Sanctions: Codes of Ethics (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe)

Ideally, parliamentarians would be eager to promote safe and inclusive environments for women parliamentarians. Unfortunately, the reality is very different. An essential tool to mitigate this is establishing accountability procedures or mechanisms for wrongful behaviors within parliament. There should also be rules of procedure or conduct, which include sanctions. A good tool is the Rules of Procedure of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE),¹¹ which incorporates sanctions for non-compliance with the Code of Conduct.

Additionally, parliamentarians should adopt legislation tackling the issue of violence against women in politics. The OAS has a vital tool on the topic: the Inter-American Model Law On the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence Against Women in Political Life. This reference law can be tailored to each country in Latin America and provide a uniform standard for the region that could also be replicated in other parts of the world.

Tolerating harassment against female parliamentarians or workers in parliament prevents female candidates from entering the political arena and running for elected office. This lack of support for inclusion stymies goals for better representation of people and respect for their rights. Additionally, digital micro-aggressions are harmful to democratic participation.

3.3 The Budapest Convention: Protecting women parliamentarians from cyber violence, harassment, and intimidation

The Internet is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it is a valuable tool for communication, research, and investigation, and on the other, it can be used to incite violence and hate toward individuals, especially those who are most vulnerable, like women, children, LGBTQI+ people, public figures, etc.

Like anyone in public office, women parliamentarians are a target of choice. From anonymous online harassment through social media platforms to aggressive behavior that can be physical, women MPs have become the target of unprecedented levels of cyber abuse and crimes that are detrimental to their personal and professional lives. The future of women in politics is thus affected by the current climate. While online abuse of parliamentarians is not new, the rapid evolution of social media and other information and communication technologies has provided a path for exponential growth. Cyber abuse is prevalent and, to a certain extent, normalized. The scale of online abuse has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic, given that individuals had more time to spend online.

The patriarchal structure in society and parliaments dominated by men account for the fact that cyber-bullying and trolling and, more generally, the online abuse of women parliamentarians are underpinned by misogynistic attitudes. Female political leaders, already vulnerable to other types of gender-based violence, are particularly vulnerable in cyberspace. Sexist, derogatory comments and hate speech have become common, while different types of behaviors have induced cyber-stalking, death threats, and rape. According to the European Institute for Gender Equality, the global pandemic increased cyber violence against women and girls (CVAWG).

Measuring the consequences of online violence against women parliamentarians is difficult because of a scarcity of data, which leads to underestimating the problem. Despite these gaps, there are some key indicators:

The Economist Intelligence Unit has provided some statistics on the prevalence of online violence against women. 38 percent of women have experienced online violence, 65 percent know other women who have been targeted, and 85 percent have witnessed online violence against other women. Online violence is more prevalent in some regions, especially in countries with institutionalized gender inequality. The below shows the percentages of the regions most affected, organized by prevalence rates:

Most efforts carried out by countries to address online or offline gender-based violence – strategies, policies, and legislation – have been focused on addressing the aftermath of the experience and not enough on prevention. If countries do not do anything to address the topic holistically, including with a focus on prevention, the situation will worsen. Parliamentarians should focus on prevention and propose evidence-based and data-driven legislation to understand national, regional, and global tendencies.

The most prevalent threat tactics in percentages are:

Online gender-based violence is, in reality, more prevalent, but underreporting prevents measuring the full extent of the issue with greater certainty. Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women, said during the Commission on the Status of Women 67 that “the gender digital divide is the new face of gender inequality.” Women and girls do not have equal access to technology and the internet, have less access to devices, online education, information, and careers in the tech sector and other employment, and experience more threats to freedom of expression and online safety.

Patriarchal structures and socio-cultural norms have been reproduced in the development, design, and use of new technologies. There is a continuum between the inequalities and discrimination that women and girls experience offline and online. And the tech inequality gap is even greater for Indigenous women, women of color, women in rural areas, and older women.¹²

These rates of gendered online abuse are consistent with those for female politicians. The Inter-Parliamentary Union surveyed women parliamentarians, and the results are concerning: “81.8 percent of those surveyed in 39 countries had been subjected to various forms of psychological violence, including 65.5 percent targeted with “humiliating sexual or sexist remarks,” 41.8 percent having “Extremely humiliating or sexually charged images” of themselves spread through social media, and 44.4 percent being threatened with “death, rape, beatings or abduction.”

The report further indicated that “[a]mong the respondents, 65.5 percent said they had been subjected several times, or often, to humiliating sexist remarks during their parliamentary term. In most cases, such remarks were made in parliament by male colleagues - from opposing parties as well as their own. Respondents said they had also been subjected to remarks of this kind on social media and, to a lesser extent, by telephone, e-mail, or during political meetings.”

The exclusionary culture within parliament has contributed to the evermore deleterious environment for women parliamentarians.¹³

Case studies

3.4 Recommendations to protect women parliamentarians from cyber violence, harassment, and intimidation

In 2021, PGA launched an initiative to S.T.O.P Violence against Women Parliamentarians. The Senate of Argentina endorsed this effort, and other countries can replicate such endorsement. The fight for full participation in political decision-making processes and the promotion of comprehensive women’s rights has come at a significant cost to women, particularly to those mobilizing in parliaments and taking the necessary actions to eliminate all forms of violence against them. In some cases, the pandemic has also served as an excuse for restricting women’s ability to exercise their human right to assemble, especially when they protest against unfair state-led policies that violate fundamental rights. This is why, besides the recommendations mentioned in section 3.1, parliamentarians are encouraged to take note of the recommendations included in the 2021 UN Women Guidance Note on Preventing Violence against Women in Politics, including:

The note also outlines (Annex B) different examples of potential collaboration between different stakeholders. The recommendation for Male Leaders (including political, religious, and traditional leaders) is to “[p]artner with individuals and organizations to sensitize male leaders and encourage them to incorporate acceptance of women in public life, and zero tolerance for VAWP, into their community messaging; training and sensitization on women’s political participation; and advocacy and awareness-raising through campaigns like HeForShe.”²⁰

Sensitizing parliamentarians and parliaments is fundamental to ensure the protection of women in politics against cybercrimes, harassment, and other gender-based violence crimes. To achieve such a goal, individuals and institutions alike must work toward building gender-sensitive institutions, including parliaments. International instruments such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979), regional instruments such as the Inter-American Convention to Prevent, Punish and Eradicate Violence Against Women (The Convention of Belém do Pará of 1994), and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (The Maputo Protocol of 2003), provide examples of normative frameworks. On policy, although it is not a binding framework, the examples below offer definitions, principles, and guidelines to the international community:

Parliaments are in a privileged position to address violence against women parliamentarians. Addressing legislation in a comprehensive and integrated manner, repealing direct or indirect discriminatory laws and policies, and resolving conflicts between sexual and gender-based violence laws and customary religious laws are fundamental pieces on which parliamentarians should work to make protecting women in politics a reality. Additionally, removing the barriers during elections for female representatives or candidates would contribute to ensuring new political leaders. Legislative and policy work must be evidence-based to be efficient, and indicators are an important tool to that effect.

Sources: UN Women, the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) and the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN POLITICS, Expert Group Meeting Report & Recommendations | 8-9 March 2018 | New York, NY.

UN Women, DATA AND VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN POLITICS, Expert Group Meeting Report & Recommendations, 4-5 December 2019 | New York, NY.

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