Women This Week: Female Candidates Targeted Online in the United Kingdom

Majority of Women Running for Office Experience Harassment 

The United Kingdom’s Electoral Commission revealed that female candidates have been disproportionately targeted in online harassment attacks. The results were taken from 430 respondents who ran in May’s local elections. They found that 43 percent of the candidates experienced some type of abuse, with 55 percent of experiences involving intimidation, harassment, and online threats. Fearing attacks, 56 percent of female candidates responded that they avoided campaigning alone, compared to 19 percent of men. “Sadly, abuse is now an inevitable part of public life, especially for women. We’re just two weeks into the general election and already we’ve been made aware of candidates’ offices graffitied, candidates’ families targeted, and endless misogynist and often racist abuse online,” said Claire Reynolds, the director of Labour Women’s Network.  

New Hampshire Outlaws Child Marriage 

New Hampshire has become the thirteenth U.S. state to ban child marriage under the age of eighteen. Governor Chris Sununu recently signed the bill, which states, “No person below the age of 18 years shall be capable of contracting a valid marriage, and all marriages contracted by such persons shall be null and void.” Unchained at Last, a non-profit dedicated to ending child marriage, estimates that more than two hundred minors have been married in New Hampshire since 2000, with nine marriages taking place since the legal age was raised to sixteen in 2019. “Marriage is more than a love story; it’s a legal contract,” said Senator Debra Altschiller, a prime sponsor of the law. “If you’re not legally able to get out of a contract, you shouldn’t be able to get into one.” 

U.N. Mission for Sudan Investigates Sexual Slavery 

The United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan is examining crimes against humanity, including reports of sexual slavery. The mission was established shortly after the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began in April 2023 but was not appointed until December. The three-member mission, which presented its first report this week, is investigating a series of violations and abuses, including reports “of sexual slavery and sexualized torture in detention facilities, including against men and boys.” The mission chief Mohammed Chande Othman commented, “Women and girls have been, and continue to be, subjected to rape and gang rape, abduction and forced marriage.”