All of the data collected through the Votes Without Violence program can be viewed as visualizations on this website. We invite you to view it on each country and election page, or by clicking through the specific charts and questions below. The data may also be downloaded as CSV files, in a summarized form to protect sensitive information.
There is a clear need for more and better data collection on the issue of violence against women in elections — a need that the Votes Without Violence project and website were conceived of in order to help fill.
Violence against women in elections is a separate issue from general electoral violence, because it is specifically aimed at preventing women from exercising their right to participate in politics and elections. However, it has not been tracked or measured separately from general violence during elections — a major concern, for as long as the majority of data on electoral violence remains gender-blind, it is impossible to properly address the problem and bridge the gender gap in political participation.
Through the development of the Votes Without Violence methodology, NDI has identified and outlined the key variables necessary to organize and analyze data collected by election observers on violence against women. We encourage all election observation groups to use this methodology and these categories to collect data on violence against women in elections in their own countries. And, once the observation is finished, we invite them to submit that data to this website, allowing it to continue to grow and expand as a resource for all those interested in this serious issue.
Interested in submitting your own data, or have a question about ours? Contact us.