Parliaments should develop responsive policies and structures to protect female members from physical and psychological attacks, according to Sylvia Lucas, the deputy chairperson of the National Council of Provinces.
Lucas noted that the mechanisms to protect women MPs should cover all spheres of society where women become victims of abuse, including households and all social media platforms.
“The rules of our parliaments must be accordingly strengthened in order to make provision for the inclusion of gender-sensitive rules to govern all parliamentary proceedings, stipulating harsh sanctions against perpetrators,” she said.
“We must also urgently review our parliamentary immunity rules to ensure that our rules do not afford MPs immunity from prosecution for sexual harassment, violence against women and related matters.”
Lucas was speaking during a panel discussion at the 145th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Kigali, Rwanda.
She made reference to the IPU studies undertaken in 2016 and 2021 on sexism, harassment and violence against women parliamentarians.
The study demonstrates a pervasive nature of patriarchy which continued to undermine women’s meaningful participation in all spheres of society.
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