Praying for Peace and Justice on June 14, 2026
Dear Holy One,
Help us become aware of the obstacles that women throughout the world face, especially women from groups that have been treated as inferior or pushed to the margins — including women of color in the United States and women from historically excluded communities everywhere.
Help us recognize and transform the biases, norms, and prejudices that contribute to inequality and violence.
Illuminate the hearts and minds of leaders — men, women, and non-binary people — so they may propose and implement effective ways to address violence against women in politics.
May these harmful actions be prevented.
May women from all ideologies and across the political spectrum be protected.
May justice be done.
May perpetrators be held accountable.
May women’s voices, leadership, dignity, and safety be honored in every space of public life.
Amen.
Background
Violence against women in politics is any gender-based act or threat of violence intended to obstruct women’s political participation because they are women.
It is not simply a physical attack on political or electoral rivals, whether women or men, for the purpose of political gain. Rather, it is a specific phenomenon involving a range of harms intended to attack and undermine women as political actors and exclude them, as a group, from public life.
It is committed against women because they are women.
This violence can take many forms, including physical, sexual, psychological, and economic violence, all experienced by women in the political sphere.
Violence against women in politics also has a symbolic effect. It can portray women as incompetent or irrelevant in politics, and it can deter other women from entering public life for fear of becoming targets.
A 2018 study by the IPU and the Council of Europe, based on responses from women in 45 European countries, found that 85% of women parliamentarians surveyed had suffered psychological violence during their time in office; 47% had received death threats or threats of rape or beating; 58% had been the target of online sexist attacks on social networks; and 25% had suffered sexual violence.
Other multi-region and regional studies show that this is not limited to Europe; violence against women in politics is a widespread global problem.
Younger women, women from minority groups, and women working on gender equality issues were often singled out.