Violence Against Women in Politics

2020 ◽  
pp. 57-64
Author(s):  
Mona Lena Krook
Keyword(s):  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Women In Politics

scholarly journals Turning the Tide on Violence against Women in Politics: How Are We Measuring Up?

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 695-701 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Ballington
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Women In Politics ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Psychological Harm ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
The Right ◽  
Human Rights Violation

Violence against women in politics (VAWP) is a human rights violation, as it prevents the realization of political rights. Violence against women in political and public life can be understood as “any act or threat of gender-based violence, resulting in physical, sexual, psychological harm or suffering to women, that prevents them from exercising and realizing their political rights, whether in public or private spaces, including the right to vote and hold public office, to vote in secret and to freely campaign, to associate and assemble, and to enjoy freedom of opinion and expression” (UN Women/UNDP 2017, 20).

scholarly journals Intersectional Violence against Women in Politics

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 685-690 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Kuperberg
Keyword(s):  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Women In Politics ◽  
Forms Of Violence ◽  
Theoretical Conceptualization

The field of violence against women in politics (VAWIP) is so new, it seems unfair to discuss its “gaps”; rather, the study of VAWIP is defined by its uncharted territory. The bulk of existing literature, compiled by scholars as well as practitioners, emphasizes theoretical conceptualization, empirical forms of violence, and the tracking of incidents across regions (Krook 2017; Krook and Restrepo Sanín 2016). Researchers have stressed the gendered motivations and implications of VAWIP. In short, women are targets of violence because they are women and because they are in politics.

Political and Social Implications

2020 ◽  
pp. 247-255
Author(s):  
Mona Lena Krook
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Women In Politics ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Multiple Dimensions

Chapter 19 considers the political and social consequences of violence against women in politics. The implications of these acts reach far beyond their effects on individual victims, harming political institutions as well as society at large. First, attempting to exclude women as women from participating in political life undermines democracy, negating political rights and disturbing the political process. Second, tolerating mistreatment due to a person’s ascriptive characteristics infringes on their human rights, damaging their personal integrity as well as the perceived social value of their group. Third, normalizing women’s exclusion from political participation relegates women to second class citizenship, threatening principles of gender equality. The chapter concludes that naming the problem of violence against women in politics thus has important repercussions along multiple dimensions, making the defense of women’s rights integral to the protection of political and human rights for all.

Economic Violence

2020 ◽  
pp. 177-186
Author(s):  
Mona Lena Krook
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
Economic Hardship ◽  
Women In Politics ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Economic Violence ◽  
Property Destruction ◽  
Forms Of Violence

Chapter 15 provides an overview of economic forms of violence against women in politics. Economic violence employs economic hardship and deprivation as a means of control, most often by destroying a person’s property or harming their financial livelihood as a form of intimidation. Forms of economic violence include vandalism, property destruction, theft, extortion, raids to remove property, withholding of funds and resources, threats to terminate employment, withdrawal of financial support, and restrictions on access to funding. Despite direct links between economic violence and the ability of women to perform political functions, it remains a largely invisible phenomenon. Few women, indeed, appear willing to speak on the record about their experiences for fear of negative effects on their personal and professional livelihoods. Relative silence on these dynamics, in turn, means that few measures exist to address economic violence, with civil society largely filling the gap to provide emergency grants and accounting oversight.

Psychological Violence

2020 ◽  
pp. 139-153
Author(s):  
Mona Lena Krook
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Mental State ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Women In Politics ◽  
Psychological Violence ◽  
Forms Of Violence

Chapter 13 provides an overview of psychological forms of violence against women in politics. Psychological violence inflicts trauma on individuals’ mental state or emotional well-being. It seeks to disempower targets by degrading, demoralizing, or shaming them—often through efforts to instill fear, cause stress, or harm their credibility. These acts may occur inside and outside official political settings and be carried out in person, by telephone, or via digital means like email and social media. Experiencing it firsthand, targets (and their allies) have taken the lead in devising and sharing coping strategies, empowering individuals and mobilizing groups to call out psychological violence and counteract its pernicious effects.

Physical Violence

2020 ◽  
pp. 127-138
Author(s):  
Mona Lena Krook
Keyword(s):  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Physical Violence ◽  
Women In Politics ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
State Actors ◽  
Forms Of Violence ◽  
Politically Active

Chapter 12 provides an overview of physical forms of violence against women in politics. Physical violence encompasses a wide range of bodily harms involving unwanted contact and confinement resulting in death or injury. The tangible nature of these acts makes them the most widely recognized and least contested forms of violence against women. They tend to be relatively rare, however, with offenders opting for “less costly” means of violence before escalating to physical attacks. While legal redress may be a solution for at least some forms of physical violence, politically active women have developed a number of grassroots strategies to respond to and anticipate physical violence. At the same time, individual women and state actors have devised new preventive security arrangements, seeking to avert or mitigate the effects of physical attacks.

A Bias Event Approach

2020 ◽  
pp. 104-114
Author(s):  
Mona Lena Krook
Keyword(s):  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Hate Crimes ◽  
Women In Politics ◽  
Methodological Challenges ◽  
Political Roles ◽  
Motivating Factor

Chapter 10 develops an approach for identifying empirical cases of violence against women in politics. It begins by outlining methodological challenges related to under-reporting, comparisons, and intersectionality. The chapter argues that work on hate crimes offers a way forward, as this approach explicitly seeks to develop tools to ascertain whether bias against particular groups was a motivating factor behind a given crime. Because not all acts of violence against women in politics constitute crimes, the chapter proposes to focus instead on “bias events”: actions of both a criminal and non-criminal nature driven by bias against women in political roles. It then builds on existing legal guidance to propose six criteria for determining whether an incident was potentially motivated by bias.

An Expanded Vision

2020 ◽  
pp. 36-45
Author(s):  
Mona Lena Krook
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
The Political ◽  
Women In Politics ◽  
Political Field ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Female Journalists ◽  
Politically Active

Chapter 4 notes that the concept of violence against women in politics—as it has emerged—has largely been restricted to actions perpetrated against women in elections and/or within formal political institutions. During this same period, however, parallel campaigns have emerged to draw attention to violence committed against women human rights defenders and against female journalists. Observing that these efforts take up highly similar issues concerning violence as a barrier to women’s participation in the political field, the chapter advocates joining these various streams to forge a more comprehensive concept of violence against women in politics, underscoring continuities across challenges faced by politically active women of all types.

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