A PRACTITIONER’S GUIDE TO INCREASING WOMEN’S ACCESS TO ELECTORAL JUSTICE indeed reported challenges raising and accessing campaign funds.159 This line of thinking limits the number of positions for which women can run. Candidates who win proportional representation seats are considered “less valid” or less respected because they won their seats based on the closed list rather than having “earned” them in firstpast-the-post contests.160 In one example of this dynamic from the 2022 local elections, a current member of Parliament who is a Dalit woman and had served two terms wanted to run for a first-past-the-post seat rather than on a party list. Her own party told her it would not run her for that seat despite her years of experience. When such issues arise, there is nowhere for women to go outside their party structures to dispute how candidates are chosen to run in different races. In addition, when the ECN communicates with political parties, election officials most often deal with party leaders. The ECN sometimes provides information to party leaders to share with candidates rather than delivering the information directly. But one interviewee mentioned a woman candidate who missed a financial information filing deadline with the ECN. The leaders of her party had intentionally withheld the information so she would miss the deadline and be deemed ineligible. Because party leaders control nominations and information, it is easy for them to control who represents the party. While there aren’t necessarily legal barriers that keep women from filing electoral complaints, there is pressure – from parties, male family members, and others – for women not to file. One reason that women in Nepal choose not to file grievances is because doing so would draw the attention of party leaders, their opponents, and the media. Media coverage of prominent women focuses on their appearance, asks what their male relatives think, and calls their morality into question. Women may not want the additional media attention that comes with pursuing an electoral complaint. This is a culture that blames women for reporting rather than blaming those who commit electoral violations. 161 One interlocuter gave an example of a woman who was competing for a ward chair position in a close election. She believed there was an error in the result tabulation but missed the deadline to challenge the results before the relevant court. She had asked how to challenge the elections results, but many people told her she should accept the results and move on. One interviewee commented that, even when women file cases, they face pressure not to substantiate their claims in their testimony. Women with disabilities have an even more challenging time filing claims; not only is it more difficult for them to gain access to electoral justice processes, but they are even more susceptible to pressure as they may need support from family members to file complaints. Parties also may pressure women not to file complaints because of potential negative attention on the party and the need to invest time in an issue that the party does not think is important. Without support from families or parties – and with increased media attention – women are deterred from filing electoral complaints. Women have fewer resources (especially time and money) to pursue electoral complaints. For an extensive discussion on the gendered aspects of political finance in Nepal, see: The Cost of Representation: A Study of Women’s Representation and Political Finance in Nepal. (2020, January 27). IFES – The International Foundation for Electoral Systems. 160 A recent study confirmed this phenomenon: “Proportional representation has enhanced parliamentary diversity, but members who have been elected as a result of proportional representation (including most female members) are often looked down on, while members who have been directly elected tend to control parliamentary resources.” See: Subden, E. Women and Gender Norms in Nepal's Parliament. (2021, July 12). Align. 161 Online Khabar. (2022, April 1). Social media are full of misogynistic content against women in politics in Nepal: Report; THT Online. (2023, March 10). The Himalayan Times; Dahal, Joshi, and Swahnberg. (2022). National Institutes of Health. 159 62