A PRACTITIONER’S GUIDE TO INCREASING WOMEN’S ACCESS TO ELECTORAL JUSTICE Finding 6: Women do not have equal access to information about how to pursue electoral complaints and about what is needed to bring forward a successful case. Women around the world often have different needs related to accessing civic education and voter information. A lack of targeted voter information often disproportionately affects women compared to other marginalized groups, such as older women, women from rural areas, or women with low or no literacy. Information on EDR is no exception to this problem; women often do not know how to file and pursue electoral complaints, and they may not know what evidence or resources are needed to bring forward a successful case. For example, women interviewed for an IFES assessment in Papua New Guinea were unclear as to where they should report electoral crimes: “[T]his lack of clarity on the process to report electoral violations … represents a large gap in protection for women in the electoral process.”26 Finding 7: Societal stigma and harmful cultural attitudes keep women from reporting certain electoral justice violations. In many countries, when women report crimes or when they face gender-based violence in the context of stepping outside of their traditionally prescribed gender roles (as is often the case when they run for office), they face social stigma due to harmful cultural attitudes and restrictive gender roles.27 Because of the way judicial actors and electoral institutions handle gender-based violence cases, women can be re-traumatized by how these institutions handle their claims. In Zimbabwe, a survivor of violence “was told by a local chief council that she deserved what happened to her because she did not behave according to social norms for women.”28 Cultural attitudes in Papua New Guinea mean that election-related violence that occurs in the home is often not reported “as it is seen as a family affair, and if it does get reported, it is typically handled within the community rather than through the formal legal system.”29 In Iraq, women candidates were hesitant to report violations related to gender-based violence and hate speech online because of “lack of social progress toward women’s issues, lack of accountability mechanisms, and also citing a fear of retaliation if they reported attacks to Iraqi authorities.”30 The CEDAW Committee found in Haiti that “lack of awareness and reticence to file complaints because of fear of social stigma and prejudice” held women back from reporting gender-based violence crimes.31 Judicial institutions play key roles in ending impunity for electoral crimes experienced by women. However, without widespread institutional and cultural changes that more broadly shift harmful societal gender norms and, more specifically, normalize women’s equal and meaningful participation in politics, the legal system can only do so much to prevent and mitigate these crimes. Dyer, A., Bardall, G., and Rogers, T. A. (2019b). Violence Against Women in Elections in Papua New Guinea: An IFES Assessment. IFES – The International Foundation for Electoral Systems. 27 For example, in Pakistan, “Society perceives women who seek to fight for their rights as being of ‘lesser moral character.’” See: Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives. (2022). Violence Against Women in Elections in Pakistan. 28 Bardall, G., Murombo, G., Hussain, T., and Greg-Obi, O. (2018, July 24). New Assessment of Violence Against Women in Elections in Zimbabwe. IFES - The International Foundation for Electoral Systems. 29 Dyer, A., Bardall, G., and Rogers, T. A. (2019). 30 Iraq Foundation. (2022, January). ELECTION WATCH: ASSISTING WOMEN CANDIDATES TO COUNTER GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH DURING THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN. United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI). 31 United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. (2016, March 9). CEDAW/C/HTI/CO/8-9: Concluding observations on the combined eighth and ninth periodic reports of Haiti. 26 14