A PRACTITIONER’S GUIDE TO INCREASING WOMEN’S ACCESS TO ELECTORAL JUSTICE “[The fate of these victims should not be left to the offchance that the individual Judges hearing their cases will be attuned to the sensitivities. There should be a formalization and standardization of these norms so that it is incumbent on the Courts to pay particular attention to the treatment of victims in these cases.” - Justice Mandisa Maya, Deputy Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa marginalized groups, such as ethnic or religious minorities, and at more senior levels of judicial administration. 19 Because gender inequality is a widespread global phenomenon, and because many men and women around the world still hold regressive, harmful beliefs and attitudes about how women should think and act, these negative perceptions can influence how the people who dominate these institutions – the majority of them men – handle women’s cases and complaints around the electoral 20 process. In particular, judicial institutions do not always handle cases of gender-based violence and gender-related hate speech and harassment in safe, effective ways. 21 Violence against women in elections and politics is a persistent, serious barrier to women’s equal and meaningful access to the electoral and political process, not to mention a human rights violation and a crime that causes lasting physical and mental harm.22 In every part of the world, violence against women in elections suppresses their participation as voters, candidates, election officials, and community leaders. And, at the same time, commissioners, judges, lawyers, and police officers are not always trained in how to handle cases that have particular gender dimensions, reducing the likelihood that women complainants have equal access to just proceedings.23 Finding 5: Political parties often act as barriers for women accessing electoral justice. Political parties play critical roles in connecting people to the state via elections and, in doing so, should serve as the main bulwarks of vertical accountability. Parties play important roles in promoting women’s participation in elections, but they can also create additional barriers for women in the electoral process. Political parties often do not take women’s cases and complaints seriously, particularly with respect to electoral law or party regulation violations that occur during the candidate nomination process. In many systems, party leadership – which tends to be dominated by men – make candidate nomination decisions in non-transparent, closed-door sessions where women are often not invited or permitted.24 If potential women candidates have issues with how certain candidates were selected, the options for recourse are either non-existent, or processes exist but are conducted in a way that is unfair and biased toward the preferences of male party leadership. 25 19 Gordon, 2019. “[J]udges come to the bench with their built-in and often strongly-held set of values and therefore have a duty to ensure that possible prejudices and harmful gender stereotypes do not influence proceedings or undermine gender-based violence victims’ credibility.” United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. See: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2019). Handbook for the Judiciary on Effective Criminal Justice Responses to Gender-based Violence against Women and Girls. 21 Ibid. 22 Huber, J., and Kammerud, L. (2016, September). Violence Against Women in Elections: A Framework for Assessment, Monitoring, and Response. IFES – The International Foundation for Electoral Systems. 23 Gordon, 2019; United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (n.d.). “Many countries have reformed their criminal laws by introducing offences, revising criminal procedures and evidentiary rules to reflect the realities faced by women and girl victims of gender-based violence and to reduce secondary victimization by criminal justice institutions and processes. Despite these positive efforts, the criminal justice sector’s response to [gender-based violence against women and girls] is often deficient and does not function at the level required to address the severity, nature and extent of the problem.” 24 Hubbard, C. and Grieg, A. (2020). MEN, POWER AND POLITICS PROGRAM GUIDANCE. National Democratic Institute. Www.ndi.org. 25 Brechenmacher, S., and Hubbard, C. (2020). Breaking the Cycle of Gender Exclusion in Political Party Development. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Brechenmacher and Hubbard note that men’s dominance in political party leadership and opaque nomination processes remain significant barriers to women’s involvement in political party processes. See: 20 13