Over 30 Years of Election Observation
More than 30 years after its creation, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is taking stock of progress and challenges with regard to gender equality in elections, including election observation missions. The institution, originally called the Office for Free Elections, established in 1990 by the Charter of Paris for a new Europe (Charte de Paris pour une nouvelle Europe), has over time served to provide an international benchmark for election observation.
Although ODIHR was always committed to the values of equality and non-discrimination, it was only in the early 2000s that a systematic gender approach was incorporated into its work, including in the deployment of election observation activities. ODIHR election observers are mainstreaming gender focused analysis in all aspects of the elections and, when assessed particularly necessary, deploys gender analysts.
For the first time, an expert dealing with gender issues joined the core team for the mission to observe the 2000 presidential and parliamentary elections in Romania. The expert’s tasks included looking at topics such as the gathering of statistics on the representation of women on electoral rolls, and the composition of the different levels of the electoral administration and of central and local public authorities. Among other aspects, the report analysed the attitudes of political parties in promoting women candidates (including as lead candidates) and examined barriers and obstacles to their full participation, as well as made recommendations for improvement.
In response to the OSCE’s 2004 Action Plan for the promotion of gender equality, ODIHR invested in a new methodology for observing women’s participation in elections. As such, ODIHR uses a multitude of tools to promote women’s participation in elections, in particular through its recommendations derived from observation reports. These recommendations propose that the participating States, among other things, improve their legislation to eliminate all forms of discrimination, to carry out activities targeted at national parliaments, electoral commissions and other institutions involved in elections, and encourage participating States to take account of the issue of gender in making election observers available.
The data gathered by ODIHR since 2011 and its analysis shows improvement in how the participating States deal with issues of gender equality. The ODIHR electoral recommendations regarding this aspect are concerned, as a whole, with the adoption of special measures (either legislative or directed at political parties) more effective application of legislation to safeguard the status of women, and more neutral coverage of candidates regardless of gender, among others. At the same time, the growing use of social media in elections in last few years has created both opportunities and challenges for women.
Digital campaigns are great opportunities for women politicians to gain visibility and communicate with the electorate at lower costs. However, online platforms may contribute to the spread of existing gender-based stereotypes. Women politicians suffer from cyber violence and cyber-misogyny which can take different forms such as harassment, mobbing, bullying, the use of degrading comments and even death threats. To cope with these new phenomena, ODIHR continuously improves its election observation framework in relation to media coverage of women in electoral campaigns, including on social networks.
Last year ODIHR marked the deployment of its 400th election observation activity. The Office is proud to note that the representation of women on election missions has also improved. In 2021 more than 43% of leadership positions for electoral activities were held by women.
Supporting greater participation of women in elections is a key priority for ODIHR. Women need more visibility as voters, candidates and elected representatives as well as in election administration and as observers. ODIHR will continue to assess obstacles faced by women in the realization of their political rights and further work with participating States to comply with OSCE commitments in this regard.