•HRES 1151 IH 
Whereas despite this disproportionate underrepresentation, 
the presence of women in political institutions, including 
women officeholders and staff with diverse racial, ethnic, 
religious, sexual, and class identities, has increased sig-
nificantly in the United States in recent years; 
Whereas violence against women is a systemic problem em-
bedded in many aspects of our society, including our 
most esteemed political institutions; 
Whereas violence against women in politics is a specific, gen-
dered phenomenon stemming from a resistance to wom-
en’s increased political participation and intending to un-
dermine women as political actors; 
Whereas violence against women in politics occurs at both in-
dividual and institutional levels and takes many forms, in 
person and online, including misogynistic verbal attacks, 
sexual harassment, death threats, and economic, psycho-
logical, or physical violence meant to discourage women 
from participating fully in the political arena; 
Whereas research shows that violence against women in poli-
tics is a global phenomenon; 
Whereas a 2016 United States Agency for International De-
velopment (USAID) report revealed the prevalence of vio-
lence against women in politics in 40 developing countries 
and outlined steps to combat it; 
Whereas a 2016 Inter-Parliamentary Union survey of women 
parliamentarians from 39 countries found that 81.8 per-
cent of respondents were subjected to psychological vio-
lence, 44.4 percent of whom received threats of death, 
rape, beatings, or abduction during their parliamentary 
terms, including threats to kidnap or kill their children; 
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•HRES 1151 IH 
Whereas research, including a 2019 report from the National 
Democratic Institute for International Affairs, has shown 
that women candidates and other politically involved 
women are more likely than men to experience abuse and 
harassment on social media platforms; 
Whereas a 2018 Amnesty International report revealed the 
intersectional nature of online, gender-based violence by 
highlighting the experiences of women of color, women 
from ethnic and religious minorities, women with disabil-
ities, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women, and non-
binary individuals; 
Whereas a 2018 report from an expert group meeting con-
vened by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality 
and the Empowerment of Women indicated that women 
of color and women of marginalized communities are dis-
proportionately affected by violence against women in 
politics worldwide; 
Whereas findings from a 2017 survey of United States may-
ors conducted by 6 political scientists revealed that 
women are more likely than their male counterparts to 
experience physical and psychological abuse; 
Whereas there have been documented instances of violence 
against women in the United States Congress, including 
shootings, assault, sexual harassment, nonconsensual dis-
tribution of intimate visual depictions, death threats, and 
sexist verbal attacks; 
Whereas violence against women in politics has been found to 
limit women’s civic engagement as well as discourage and 
discredit women’s political participation; 
Whereas a 2017 USAID report called for increased attention 
to the issue of violence against women in politics as well 
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•HRES 1151 IH 
as further research on its manifestation within various 
political contexts, including protests, polling places, cam-
paigns, political parties, and government institutions; and 
Whereas a 2019 report by the Center for American Women 
and Politics noted the presence of violence against women 
in politics during the 2018 midterm elections and called 
for more research to fully understand the prevalence of 
such violence across all levels of government, how other 
identities like race and ethnicity shape experiences of 
gendered abuse and harassment, and how these experi-
ences affect the emergence of female political candidates 
in the United States: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) supports women’s full and meaningful par-
ticipation in political life; 
(2) recognizes violence against women in poli-
tics as a form of gender-based violence that is spe-
cific to women’s experiences in the political arena; 
(3) recognizes that violence against women in 
politics is a global phenomenon and that more re-
search should be conducted to examine the extent 
and effects of such violence in the United States; 
and 
(4) urges the United States Government to 
adopt policies that promote women’s political partici-
pation and mitigate violence against women in poli-
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tics, in person and online, in the United States and 
abroad. 
Æ 
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