A PRACTITIONER’S GUIDE TO INCREASING WOMEN’S ACCESS TO ELECTORAL JUSTICE researchers found numerous challenges that women candidates faced in pursuing electoral justice: “In terms of resources – as legal aid was reportedly only available during the general election, not during the primaries – women did not have the resources to pursue a claim after they had spent all funds available during the primary campaign period.”78 A Carter Center observation report from the same election found that “some women who lost the primaries and believed they had credible evidence to dispute the election results were unable to challenge the results through the Political Parties Dispute Tribunal (PPDT) because of the prohibitive costs of the dispute process, including the need to travel to Nairobi to defend their case.”79 For the 2022 elections, the PPDT was decentralized to seven regions, and the e-filing system was made more accessible.80 Kenya Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha Koome noted that this change was to “ensure access to justice with respect to this category of disputes will be cost-effective, expeditious and convenient.” It is unclear what effect this change had on the ability of complainants to file cases, or whether it was implemented in a systematic way throughout the country. While the COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating consequences around the world, it also resulted in some countries increasing the availability of electronic methods to file cases and some even conducting justice proceedings virtually. While not everyone has access to the internet (it is important to know that the gender gap in access to the internet is largest in the world’s least developed countries at 32.9 percent),81 it is more likely that women could go to a nearby place to file a case or attend a hearing virtually than to travel to a capital city for the same purpose. Examining the rise of electronic filing and hearings could provide important information on whether this method provides greater access for women. Finding 4: Electoral justice institutions may not adequately or properly address women’s cases and complaints. Judicial and electoral institutions that are responsible for hearing and adjudicating electoral complaints – including electoral management bodies, courts, prosecutors, and “While the law and the justice sector may purport to be objective and impartial, they are inherently police – are often led primarily by men. Global subjective and gendered; the law is often made by comparative data on women’s representation men and the justice system is often dominated by in the justice sector are not available, but data men of a specific or privileged demographic.” that are available show an – Eleanor Gordon, “Justice and Gender” underrepresentation of women in the judiciary in many countries – and the representation is even weaker for women who also belong to other marginalized groups, such as ethnic or religious minorities.82 A 2019 study by the OSCE found that, even in countries with a gender balance in justice institutions, women are not proportionally represented in senior management positions.83 The study notes that gender balance and minority representation in justice systems are “important factors in fairer justice system outcomes,” citing the fact that public trust is greater for justice systems that are more diverse and that increased workplace diversity leads to increased understanding of issues and Ellena, K., Chirillo, G., and Shein, E., editors. (2018, June). Kenya Electoral Integrity Assessment. IFES – The International Foundation for Electoral Systems. (Not publicly available). 79 The Carter Center. (2018). Kenya 2017 General and Presidential Elections FINAL REPORT. 80 Christian, A. and Sorotina, M. K. (2022, April 25). Judiciary Decentralizes Political Parties’ Disputes Tribunal. Kenya News Agency. 81 Sanou, B. (2017). ICT Facts and Figures 2017. International Telecommunications Union. 82 Gordon, 2019. 83 Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. (2019a). Gender, Diversity and Justice Overview and Recommendations. 78 38