Violence against feminist political activist in Latin America

Scholarship on gender and politics has paid increasing attention to violence against women in politics (VAWIP). This form of violence includes murder and threats, but also more subtle and quotidian expressions of violence (semiotic violence) that seek to or have the result of pushing women out of politics. In parallel, scholars on feminist and women’s rights activism often highlight the risks they face as part of their work. Based on this work, it is clear that violence against activists has significant effects on their political work and democratic politics more broadly. However, to date, violence against activists has not been analyzed using the lens of VAWIP. In this paper, I bring these two literatures together to theorize the differences and commonalities between violence against women in formal politics (i.e., candidates and elected officials) and women activists in civil society (i.e., informal politics). I argue that there are important similarities: in both cases, violence is multidirectional, perpetrated by different state and non-state actors, including citizens, organized criminal actors, and armed forces. However, there are significant differences. The main perpetrator of violence against women activists is the state, seeking to silence dissenting voices that challenge patriarchal logics and that seek the expansion of women’s rights. In addition, individual women, but also women’s rights organizations are attacked by different means. Organizations are often targets of raids, demonized as ‘foreign agents,’ and they are criticized as not representing women. However, for women in formal politics, political spaces like parties or their workplace are unsafe, because their colleagues are also perpetrators of violence. Women’s organizations, on the contrary, remain safe spaces for women as they provide protection, validation, and solidarity. Both types of violence impact democracy. Violence against activists hinders the crystallization of women’s interests and their ability to serve as effective interlocutors with the state. Violence against women in formal politics undermines their descriptive and substantive representation and affects institutional legitimacy. The paper compares different cases from Latin America where violence against women in politics has been discussed for over twenty years.