| [Ethiopia] A Study on Violence Against Women in Elections |
|---|
| Last updated 2023-06-09 |
|
The National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) commissioned a study on Violence Against Women in Elections (VAWE).
VAWE is a type of violence directed at women
because of their gender. It limits, hinders or otherwise influences women’s
participation in an electoral process. Bearing in mind that it has a huge
impact on the realization of women’s political rights in an electoral context,
it is a subject of interest for NEBE in its efforts to understand the magnitude
of the challenges posed by VAWE on the electoral participation of women and
find ways to address them. The study examined women’s general status and
political participation in Ethiopia and analyzed the causes, prevalence, forms
and effects of VAWE throughout the election cycle; pre-election, election, and
post-election periods. It also analyzed the effectiveness of existing legal and
policy frameworks, proclamations and directives to address VAWE. NEBE is committed to advancing the rights of women and historically marginalized groups, such as Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) and Internally Displaced People (IDPs), to exercise their democratic rights by participating in elections.
The Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Department (GESI) coordinates, with other core Departments of NEBE, e.g., such as Voter Education, on all inclusion-related interventions to progressively ensure increased electoral participation of the aforementioned groups of people, including working towards the elimination of threats, such as VAWE, to their participation in elections.
NEBE has taken several measures to ensure that
elections are inclusive at every stage of the electoral process, including
activities targeted at ensuring the inclusiveness of electoral, legal and
regulatory frameworks and the provision and facilitation of awareness-raising
training and dialogue sessions for election workers and other important
electoral stakeholders, including political parties, government bodies, CSOs,
and the media, issuing of public outreach messages to the electorate, commissioning
studies matters pertaining to inclusive and accessible political and electoral
space, ensuring that relevant working documents of the institution are
inclusive in content and form, ensuring accessibility of election-related
publications for PWDs, and institutional inclusiveness of the NEBE itself. There is still more work that needs to be done by national stakeholders to create an inclusive and accessible political and electoral environment. However, NEBE believes that the study on VAWE contributes towards realizing an inclusive electoral climate by proposing multi-faceted solutions, including outlining the potential roles of essential stakeholders, such as the NEBE, political parties, media, NGOs and CSOs, towards eliminating VAWE.
|
