Summary
Election management bodies should ensure that women and marginalized groups participate in the electoral process.
Obligations
Issues
Criteria
Quotes
- State Parties shall take the following measures to promote active youth participation in society: They shall: a) Guarantee the participation of youth in parliament and other decision-making bodies in accordance with the prescribed laws; b) Facilitate that creation or strengthening of platforms for youth participation in decision-making at local, national, regional, and continental levels of governance; c) Ensure equal access of young men and young women to participate in decision-making and in fulfilling civil duties.
- The States Parties undertake to adopt the special policies and affirmative actions needed to ensure the enjoyment or exercise of rights and fundamental freedoms of persons or groups that are subject to discrimination or intolerance for the purpose of promoting equitable conditions for equal opportunity, inclusion, and progress for such persons or groups.
- Every woman has the right to the recognition, enjoyment, exercise and protection of all human rights and freedoms embodied in regional and international human rights instruments. These rights include, among others: ...j. The right to have equal access to the public service of her country and to take part in the conduct of public affairs, including decision-making.
- The Committee recommends that States parties: (e) Ensure the registration and voting of women voters, such as by allowing postal balloting, where appropriate, and removing all barriers, including by ensuring an adequate and accessible number of polling stations.
- The Committee recommends that States parties: (d) Ensure that electoral reforms incorporate the principle of gender equality, and guarantee women’s equal representation through the adoption of temporary special measures such as quotas, including for disadvantaged groups of women; adopt a proportional representation electoral system; regulate political parties; and mandate electoral management bodies to ensure compliance through sanctions.
- Decisions on the choice of electoral systems are important to overcome the traditional gender bias that undermines women’s participation. Substantive progress towards the equal participation of women as candidates and voters as well as the holding of free and fair elections will not be possible unless a number of appropriate measures are taken, including a gender-responsive electoral system and the adoption of temporary special measures to enhance women’s participation as candidates, ensure a proper voter’s registration system and ensure that women voters and female political candidates are not subject to violence either by State or private actors.
- States should foster citizen participation in the electoral process by] introducing in their electoral legislation mechanisms to promote the balanced representation of women and men in elected bodies at all levels as well as encouraging political parties to introduce internal regulations, policies and affirmative action so as to promote the participation and representation of women in politics.
- Violence against women in elections is an increasingly apparent trend that requires a concerted response from EMBs, often in partnership with other stakeholders, including the security sector, political parties and CSOs. (...) EMBs can act to mitigate VAWE [violence against women in elections] on election day itself. Operational decisions, including the location, staffing and layout of polling stations, impact the perception of VAWE risks. Women voters are significantly more likely to be victims of polling day violence than men and violence against women voters occurs most frequently in rural settings.
- The body or mechanism created to manage legislative elections impartially and in a balanced fashion will be assigned many specific functions, which could typically include the following:...(vi) ensuring that women and minorities are able to participate fully in the electoral process;
- As many incidents of violence against women in politics occur during electoral processes, electoral stakeholders are encouraged to: (a) Electoral management bodies: monitor and report violence against women in elections, analyse voter and candidate registration procedures to prevent the erection of barriers to women’s participation; ensure that voting arrangements guarantee women’s safety in registration centres and polling stations; integrate information about violence against women in politics and elections and respective mitigation measures into training programmes for electoral administrators; and ensure that early warning systems for election violence and electoral security assessment address gender-based forms of violence.
- Ensuring that gender is part of all strategic and action plans means that statements in the vision are incorporated into the work of the EMB. A specific gender policy is a good way to outline all work related to gender in one place. In other cases, including gender considerations into the strategic plan and all other policies could ensure that gender equality is considered in all areas of the organization and that everyone sees it as part of their work.
- EMBs may consider implementing different actions to combat any practices or obstacles that impede voting, such as setting up polling stations in a way that enables all citizens to cast their votes independently and in secret, ensuring that voting centres are in locations that women can access and establishing, where necessary, women-only polling centres or queues.
- By definition, well-being policies require all citizens, and particularly vulnerable groups such as women, youth, indigenous peoples and the poor, to participate in decision-making.