Issue no.: 7 | June 2010

Outlook

Violence against Women in Politics on a South Asian scale

Violence Against Women in Politics (VAWIP) occurs frequently in different contexts and manifests itself in numerous ways. This write up aims to highlight particular examples of VAWIP in different countries of South Asia. Thus it highlights the importance of ensuring the universality and urgency of addressing this particular issue.

Afghanistan

In the second presidential election held in Afghanistan in 2009, widespread cultural opposition to women in public life, further compounded by the lack of security, made campaigning by women candidates very difficult or impossible in many parts of the country. Topics concerning women's rights were virtually never featured in news coverage of the electoral campaign, and women received almost no coverage in news reporting during the election, according to a European Union observation mission report. The monitoring group found that in many places people was being issued multiple voting cards, which voting cards were often issued for children, and that stacks of voting cards were given to men who falsely claimed that they were for women in their households.

Bangladesh

The various manifestations of violence against women in politics in Bangladesh range from psychological to physical aspects. At the national level it is mostly psychological violence. When women attempt to speak in Parliament their opinions are rejected as they have not been elected, rendering their concerns and issues as less valuable than if they had been elected. At the local level, when women attempted to contest and have their names registered with the electoral commission, the men took away their clothes and had them locked way. Due to a lack of clean clothes the women would be discouraged from registering their names. After election, many women are routinely pressured to comply with the wishes of the male chairperson and the committee. There have been incidents of politically active women being raped.

India

This is a fact finding report on the case of Uma Devi of Islamnagar, Jamui Distirct, India whose 3 children were murdered on 19th March 2006 after she declared that she would contest the Panchayat election for Mukhia.

Nepali Yadav, along with his wife Uma Devi, two sons and daughter Kajal were sleeping at home in Islamnagar when Surender Yadav, a local Police dfadar knocked on the door. When the door was opened, a mob of around 14 people including the present village Mukhiya – Krishanand Yadav, forcefully picked up Nepali Yadav and Uma Devi’s children. Hearing the commotion, Nepali Yadav's brothers Devi and Raghu Yadav came to the scene. They too were seized along with Nepali Yadav and dragged to the outskirts of the village. Nepali's daughter Kajal was brutally murdered. Hearing the screams of Nepali Yadav and his brothers, the criminals took the two young boys further away, strangled them and tore open their bellies.

Nepal

During the Constituent Assembly election in Nepal, a woman candidate was pressurized by her party during the selection of a constituency. Despite being a resident of constituency 2 of Parsa, one of the party leaders forced her to get a nomination from constituency 1. Due to her poor economic situation she was not able to pay for her nomination at the Election Commission. Her party didn’t give her any support and she had to take loans from her neighbors and relatives. Her nomination was made with the intention of only fulfilling the quota rather than recognizing her political contribution to her party. Due to the lack of financial resources and the lack of support from her party she was not able to campaign for the election.

Pakistan

During 2008 parliamentary elections were postponed multiple times, the last of which was due to the assassination of PPP leader Benazir Bhutto in December 2007. On election day, some voters were disenfranchised or were subject to intimidation. Women were barred from voting in four polling stations in NWFP and FATA and one in Sindh Province and were discouraged in others. The turnout of women was depressed throughout the country, even at female polling stations.

In some districts, social and religious conservatives prevented women from becoming candidates; however, in several districts, female candidates were elected unopposed. Women participate in large numbers in elections, although some are dissuaded from voting by family, religious, and social customs. In districts of the NWFP and southern Punjab's tribal areas, conservative religious leaders lobbied successfully to prevent women from contesting elections or casting ballots. According to press reports, female voters were threatened and their families intimidated from voting and running for office. In October 2008 the MMA coalition of religious parties declared that the families of women who voted in NWFP would be fined.

On 20 February 2007 the Minister for Social Welfare in Pakistan’s Punjab province was about to address an open court when a man claiming to fight ‘jihad against anti-Muslim forces’ shot and killed her. He is reported to have stated that “Women can’t become rulers in Islam”. “He killed her because she was not observing the Islamic code of dress,” local police officer Nazir Ahmad said.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has recorded 44 cases of election violence during the 2005 Presidential Election. The incidence of violence includes bomb blast assaults, arrests, shooting and injury, murders, chasing of voters, acts of threats and intimidation, snatching of poll cards and other election offences.

According to the US Department of State Human Rights Report for 2008 there were 14 women in the 225‑member parliament, five female ministers, and two women out of 11 justices on the Supreme Court. There was no provision for or allocation of a set number or percentage of political party positions for women or minorities.