Women in politics in Africa are likely to experience violence at some point in their careers. While women can be offered anti-violence preparedness training, they should not have to adapt to the reality of violence, according to political scientist Amanda Gouws. “We must think about long-term solutions and change the norms in society which inform violent behaviour”, she says.

The two-day conference Making Politics Safer: Gendered Violence and Electoral Temporalities in Africa External link. brought together more than 25 gender scholars and practitioners in Stellenbosch, South Africa.

“While the topic of gendered election violence increasingly draws interest, not so much research has been based on African realities. By bringing together researchers and practitioners at the conference, we can have concrete discussions on challenges for women in politics, but also about how to prevent or at least reduce gendered electoral violence”, says gender researcher Diana Højlund Madsen from the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI), who organised the conference together with Professor Amanda Gouws, SARChI Chair in Gender Politics at Stellenbosch University.

Media can make or break
Ruth Bolo, chair of Young Women Leaders Connect, confirms that Kenyan women in politics face various challenges simply because they are women, one being equal media attention ‒ too often, TV debates consists of all-men panels.

“If l run against a man and he is always in the media, then he definitely has an advantage. But women also need training on how to use the media. Because media is a tool than can make you or break you overnight”, Bolo remarks.

Disciplining party members
Women’s rights groups in Kenya are working with political parties to ensure they have rules to discipline party members who violate women. According to Njoki Wamai, a researcher at United States International University-Africa in Nairobi, parties must take responsibility for their members ‒ and if they do not, there should be state sanctions.

Politics of insult
In Ghana, where Højlund Madsen conducts most of her work, many women politicians have to deal with insults that focus on their appearance or sexuality. “It has also become more expensive to fund political campaigns, which sometimes leads to a transactional affair for women when they reach out for funding ‒ with expectations of sexual favours”, Højlund Madsen observes.

Don't have to conform
The Gender Centre for Empowering Development (GenCED) is an organisation in Ghana that aims to empower women and young people through training them in communication skills and community engagement, leadership qualities and political branding.

“We also offer a training called ‘The Personal Me’. It is a session for them to understand who they are – about their potential, but also about their weaknesses that could undermine them in the process”, GenCED Director Esther Tawiah explains. “It is important that women understand that they don’t have to conform – they can be themselves, and still make a change and have an influence in their communities“, she adds

Women continue to run for office
Similar to GenCED is Zimbabwean organisation the Women’s Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence, which works to increase the number of women who want to take up leadership roles and improve their leadership skills – at national level, as well as at grassroots level. Despite the many challenges women in politics face in Zimbabwe, they continue to run for office, according to Programmes Manager Jessie Chihota.

At one point, Chihota was concerned with service delivery and wanted to get into politics herself. When she talked about it with her family having, her mother opposed the idea and said it would be more suitable for her brother.

“I feel it deserves a deeper look. There is a lot of unpacking to do, because you would think they’d be pushing me and saying ‘Jessie, go for it!’ But instead, it´s like we don’t think women can manage that kind of political space”, Chihota notes.

"Women should boycott elections"
The number of women in politics in Uganda has increased over the past three decades as a result of affirmative action. According to gender researcher and NAI associate Josephine Ahikire, this was not handed to them but came about through women’s efforts. “However, women arrive late and they have to beg and plead with male godfathers”, Ahikire says. “And the space is already modelled on a male template and is already violent”, she adds.

Electoral laws should explicitly condemn violence, Ahikire points out, because there must be a price to pay for it. “I think women should boycott an election if it is violent. Why play along in a game that you are losing and when you are continuously becoming a victim?”

Online voting reduce tension
South Africa-based Elections Management and Consulting Agency of Africa (EMCA) runs elections of various types for both public and private clients; for instance, board elections or student representative elections at universities and elections for boards of private companies, as well as public local elections.

EMCA handles the election from start to finish, taking care of nomination processes; providing election materials; making sure the voting environment is free and fair during elections; then taking charge of counting votes and announcing the results. Recently, EMCA has developed a mobile phone app for online voting. According to founder and CEO Lulu White, digital voting reduces tension around elections and much violence can be prevented.

“It is particularly helpful for women candidates. They can do all of their campaigning online without going to a rally where they likely will be heckled and insulted”, White says.

Norms that inform violence
Prof. Amanda Gouws of Stellenbosch University in South Africa has investigated the norms that inform violent behaviour and, specifically, stereotypes that are often perpetuated by both men and women. For example, that if women overstep a line, men are allowed to discipline them.

“In South Africa, we are getting concerned that the violence is getting more brutal. Women’s bodies are not only getting beaten but also maimed, and five times more women get killed here than the global average. We lose on average two women a week. It is a very serious problem”, Gouws stresses.

NAI Policy Note
Women in politics also suffer from the violence in South Africa. For instance, a 2019 report External link. showed that 66 percent of women councillors in KwaZulu-Natal province has experienced some kind of violence. A recent NAI Policy Note by Gouws and Højlund Madsen on South Africa’s new political landscape since the May 2024 general election considers what it means for women in politics.

Read Big man politics and multi-party rule call for new gender plans.

Learn more in the project: Making Politics Safer – Gendered Violence and Electoral Temporalities in Africa