As the prominence of women in politics increases, so does the incidence of violence against women in politics. This section highlights news, interviews, resources and events on violence against women in politics
Gender Focused Civil Society Organisations have called on government to act on recent acts of violence against politically active women.
Non-Governmental Organization’s Gender Coordination Network chair, Barbara Banda, told Malawi News Agency (MANA...
Election violence is an important issue from a number of perspectives. Understanding the causes and consequences of violations of personal integrity is always relevant, but election violence adds a different dimension to this already serious issue:...
Member of New Zealand’s opposition made comment about prime minister in parliament
A male MP from New Zealand’s opposition party who called the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, a “stupid little girl” remains unidentified more than a week after making...
Rio de Janeiro councilwoman Marielle Franco was on her way home Wednesday evening when she and her driver were shot and killed on the road.
The 38-year-old left-leaning politician was an outspoken critic of police brutality, according to The...
Campaigners warn it could be months before proposals are finalised, which could leave party whips with too much power.
Proposals to tackle sexual harassment and assault in Westminster have been criticised by campaigners and MPs for being “too vague...
Making laws work to end violence against women and girls
Preventing violence against women and girls (VAWG) requires more than adopting laws—they need to be effectively implemented. Parliamentarians, NGOs and legal officers met to discuss the issue at a regional conference for Eastern and Central Europe...
Meet the women shifting the political landscape in Japan
As a society bound by tradition, change comes slowly to Japan. That includes opportunities for women in politics and government.
But lately there's been a shake-up of the old order, with women reaching new heights that could hardly be imagined just...
An overwhelming majority of women MPs have received online and verbal abuse from the public and a third have considered quitting as a result, a BBC Radio 5 live survey suggests.
Some reported death threats, with more than half of those questioned...
MP posts letter attacking her for wearing clothes that make her 'bare neck' visible
Michelle Rempel, the Conservative MP for Calgary Nose Hill, is again speaking out about the harassment and abuse Canada’s female politicians endure.
On Tuesday, she tweeted a picture of an anonymous and deeply unsettling letter she received...
Madeleine Albright op-ed on CNN: A hidden reality: Violence against women in politics.
Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State from 1997 to 2001, has published an Op-Ed on CNN on the occasion of the International Women’s Day 2016. Ms. Albright is chairwoman of the Albright Stonebridge Group, and of the National Democratic...
Mean Streets: Identifying and Responding to Urban Refugees' Risks of Gender-Based Violence
The Women’s Refugee Commission improves the lives and protects the rights of women, children and youth displaced by conflict and crisis. We research their needs, identify solutions and advocate for programs and policies to strengthen their...
Me and my country, 5 years into the Arab uprisings: Zahra' Langhi from Libya
Libyan scholar and activist Zahra Langhi, whom iKNOW Politics interviewed in 2015, lives in exile in Egypt. She was among those who called for a "Day of Anger" against Muammar Gaddafi in February 2011. Five years later, she looks back at the Libyan...
Mexican women politicians agree to a special protocol against political violence
In the state of Morelos (Mexico), it met last January 28 a group of women holding public office occupied or to arrange a special protocol for women who suffer political violence. The meeting is being held to coincide with the centenary of the first...
Ms. Margot Wallström, Swedish Foreign Minister, Defines as 'Medieval' Saudi Arabia's Treatment of Women
The Swedish Foreign Minister, Margot Wallström, declared that Saudi Arabia’s measures against women are ‘medieval’. The declarations followed the decision by the Saudi courts of ordering that Raif Badawi, who had created a webpage encouraging free...
The 16 December Peshawar school attack was the deadliest of its kind in Pakistan’s history. Pakistan, a protector, incubator and financier of terrorism lost 145 of its citizens, 132 of them children, in a mere 15 minutes of carnage perpetrated by...
Justin Trudeau’s ejection of two Liberal MPs from his caucus—over allegations of sexual harassment of two anonymous NDP MPs—has unnerved Ottawa. If you need proof, you need look no further than MP Peter Goldring’s now-retracted comments about...
Mervat Tallawy: Challenging those who cite "culture" to oppress
Egyptian diplomat and politician Mervat Tallawy is the former Minister for Insurance and Social Affairs of Egypt and former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). She spent six years...
When Marcelina Bautista Bautista left her indigenous Mixtec community in Nochtixtlan, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, at the age of 14 with only a primary school education and no knowledge of Spanish, she didn’t dream that one day she would end up...
