The Cost of Doing Politics: gendered political violence in comparative perspective

Abstract

The apparent global rise in violence against politicians – in established democracies, new democracies, and hybrid regimes – constitutes a challenge for practitioner organisations and academics as they seek to document the phenomenon, understand its causes, and propose solutions. The scholarship on the gender aspects of the phenomenon continues to develop, but existing research demonstrates that women in politics are disproportionately impacted by particular forms of abuse, intimidation and harassment, and that they are often frequently likely than their male counterparts to be subjected to such violence in general. Political violence constitutes both a violation of the individuals targeted and a threat to democracy. However, for groups that are already underrepresented in political life, violence, intimidation and harassment can have a disproportionate impact. Women are one such group. Constituting just 27.2 percent of MPs worldwide (Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2025), women are already less likely to access, participate in, and influence political decision-making. For women who do participate, harassment, abuse and intimidation may be seen as a cost of doing politics – one which may serve to silence political women, drive them out of office, and deter new entrants from putting themselves forward. Political violence therefore has the potential to constitute another barrier to achieving full political equality for women and other underrepresented groups. The panel comprises papers associated with The Cost of Doing Politics: Gender Aspects of Political Violence (Research Council of Norway Project No. 300618) project. This research project studies gender aspects of political violence in countries in two regions - Africa (Ghana and Uganda) and Europe (Ireland and Norway) thus allowing for cross-country comparisons. This panel includes research that aims to better understand how gender shapes the scope, form, and consequences of violence against politicians, and how political actors respond to such violence when it takes place.

Title	Details
Who Gets Targeted and How? Intersectional Dimensions of Election Violence Against Local Candidates in Colombia	View Paper Details
Politicians’ gendered participation in online political hostility	View Paper Details
Violence against politicians in the Republic of Ireland: exploring variation over time and between local and general elections	View Paper Details
Violence as Routine: Gendered Political Agency in Uganda’s Electoral Arena	View Paper Details
What Explains Variation in Gendered Political Violence? A Cross-Regional Comparison	View Paper Details