Informative cards “Violence against women in politics”

Women and girls constitute more than half of Moldova’s population, yet they are under-represented in the bodies that make key decisions affecting their lives. Although Moldova committed to supporting the increase of women’s political participation by adopting in 2016 the 40% gender quota and by the nationalization of SDGs on gender equality, women remain under-represented in political and public leadership. Specifically, 2019 local elections contributed less to 22% women as mayors, 28.73% women district councilors and 36.5% women local councilors.

However, as the participation of women in politics has slightly increased, so has the violence against them. Violence against women in politics (VAWP) is violence that occurs within the political sphere but that specifically targets women. Also, as VAWP manifests physically, psychologically and sexually, both in person and online, it restricts women’s mobility and capacity to participate within the political sphere.

In this regard, UN Women Moldova developed a set of informative cards that explain key concepts about the phenomenon of violence against women in politics. Specifically, the set details the forms of violence against women in politics, who are the targets of this phenomenon, and what are the long-term effects of violence against women in politics. The set also includes actions that the authorities, the media, political parties, but also each of us can do to prevent violence against women in politics and a legal supplement on protection mechanisms for women facing violence in politics and during elections in the Republic of Moldova.

This set of informative cards was developed by UN Women Moldova in cooperation with UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia and financially supported by Sweden.