The Cost of Doing Politics? Analyzing Violence and Harassment against Female Politicians

Abstract

Violence against women in politics is increasingly recognized around the world as a significant barrier to women’s political participation, following a troubling rise in reports of assault, intimidation, and abuse directed at female politicians. Yet conceptual ambiguities remain as to the exact contours of this phenomenon. In this article, we seek to strengthen its theoretical, empirical, and methodological foundations. We propose that the presence of bias against women in political roles—originating in structural violence, employing cultural violence, and resulting in symbolic violence—distinguishes this phenomenon from other forms of political violence. We identify five types of violence against women in politics—physical, psychological, sexual, economic, and semiotic—and three methodological challenges related to underreporting, comparing men’s and women’s experiences, and intersectionality. Inspired by the literature on hate crimes, we develop an empirical approach for identifying cases of violence against women in politics, offering six criteria to ascertain whether an attack was potentially motivated by gender bias. We apply this framework to analyze three cases: the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, and the murder of Jo Cox. We conclude with the negative implications of violence against women in politics and point to emerging solutions around the globe.

Strategic Discrimination

“… 4 Identity-based harassment of candidates ranges from racial slurs; e.g., Itkowitz 2019, to sexualized comments and inappropriate touching, e.g., Graham 2018; Cotton 2020. See also Krook and Restrepo Sanín 2019 and Rheault, Rayment, and Musulan 2019. …”

How is Political Violence Gendered? Disentangling Motives, Forms, and Impacts

“…They further characterize VAWIP as resisting social change, noting that "acts of violence against women in politics thus embody a form of backlash to women's greater inclusion in the political sphere, resisting the gains made possible by gender quotas and other mechanisms to empower women in decision-making" (Krook and Restrepo Sanín, 2016: 137). Krook and Restrepo Sanín's (2019) recent work attempts to separate gendered hate crimes from other types of political violence that politically active women might experience. However, the tendency remains to take any manifestation of gender in the assault as evidence of VAWIP.…”

“…These assaults have deleterious consequences on women and minorities' participation in politics. Recognizing that these attacks hurt a larger community, and not just the individuals injured in the attack itself, acknowledges broader feminist claims that gendered violence occurs even when intentionality is not proven (Krook and Restrepo Sanín, 2019).…”

“…By contrast, gender and politics scholars have analyzed the resistance and backlash to women’s political participation that occurs because they are women (Sen et al, 2019). Some have labeled this phenomenon violence against women in politics, or VAWIP (Krook, 2017; Krook and Restrepo Sanín, 2016, 2019), a term that has become increasingly popular among practitioners (e.g. Ballington et al, 2017; Hubbard and DeSoi, 2016; Huber and Kammerud, 2017; Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), 2016; ParlAmericas, n.d.).…”

“…Gendered impacts capture how audiences understand the gender dimensions of political violence, even if these understandings differ from motivations and forms. Jo Cox’s assailant expressed his intention to defend white (British) supremacy, but “a substantial portion of the community perceived that the incident was motivated by gender bias” (Krook and Restrepo Sanín, 2019: 12). Cox’s colleagues and the broader public located her assassination on the spectrum of abuses that women MPs endure in person and on-line.…”