Foreign Affairs. January-February 2020

Women Under Attack

January/February 2020 133

Yet as the number of women seeking political office has grown, so,

too, has the backlash. This hostility is far from unexpected. Whenever

underrepresented groups gain power and rights, they are met with

opposition—and, frequently, violence. As women enter politics, they

face a disproportionate number of attacks, many of which take on

specifically gender-based forms. To protect the progress of recent dec-

ades, governments, civil society organizations, and activists must work

together to make it easier for women to participate in politics—and

harder for others to block their rise.

TAKE COVER

Politically motivated attacks on women have been on the rise in nearly

every region of the world, reaching a record high in 2019, according to the

Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. Even women who are

merely exercising their right to vote fall victim to violence at nearly four

times the rate of men, especially in rural areas and at polling locations and

voter-registration drives. As women have shifted from voting to seeking

elected office, the violence has followed them. Surveys conducted in 2017

in Côte d’Ivoire, Honduras, Tanzania, and Tunisia found that 55 percent

of female officials were subjected to violence while carrying out political

Targeted: Marielle Franco, Jo Cox, Caroline Spelman, and Diane Rwigara

LEFT

TO
RIGHT:

ELLIS

RUA
/ AP

IMAGES;

YUI
MOK

/ AP

IMAGES;

SUZANNE

PLUNKETT

/ REUTERS;

JEAN

BIZIMANA

/ REUTERS