A PRACTITIONER’S GUIDE TO INCREASING WOMEN’S ACCESS TO ELECTORAL JUSTICE completed for this guide (included in Annex A) examined literature on women’s access to justice, country-specific assessments of EDR and ADR processes, election observers’ reports, and publications that review current electoral justice mechanisms. Key findings from the desk review are summarized below. Finding 1: There is a lack of research on women’s access to electoral justice and a dearth of gender-disaggregated data related to electoral dispute resolution. Most countries do not collect gender-disaggregated information on electoral dispute issues, including who files cases or complaints. Gender-disaggregated data related to electoral complaints could be used to determine whether women and men file different types of complaints and whether cases filed by women or men complainants are equally likely to be successful, and to better understand women’s experiences of electoral justice. In addition, centralized, updated data are lacking on the number of women who are part of electoral justice institutions, particularly at the local and regional levels. As noted above, a 2022 survey found that only 22 percent of EMBs globally are chaired by women, and while the judiciary overall is an area where women are closer to parity – approximately 40 percent of judges globally are women – they remain particularly underrepresented in more senior judicial positions. 11 While insufficient to ensure gender-sensitive electoral justice processes, descriptive representation remains important. The electoral justice sector will be more likely to garner the trust of the public if these institutions look like the population they represent. Finding 2: Many countries have national legal frameworks that prohibit gender discrimination and guarantee women’s political participation, but enforcement of these laws remains a challenge. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is a legally binding international treaty that guarantees women a set of universal rights, including the right to participate meaningfully and equally in public life (Article 7) and to equality before the law (Article 15). Almost every country has ratified the treaty.12 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that all people are entitled to equal protection under the law and that “everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.”13 In addition to commitments in multilateral fora, governments around the world have enshrined many of these rights as parts of their domestic legal frameworks, including their national constitutions. Some countries even have specific laws that focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment, and many have national institutions or ministries that are specifically meant to guarantee gender equality. Although these laws, policies, and regulations exist, they often are not implemented in a robust or meaningful way. 14 11 United Nations. (n.d.). International Day of Women Judges. United Nations. United Nations. (n.d.). Ratification Status for CEDAW - Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. UN Treaty Body Database. 13 United Nations. (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 14 Orozco-Henríquez, J., Ayoub, A., and Ellis, A. (2010, November 24). Electoral Justice: The International IDEA Handbook. International IDEA. Idea.int. 12 11