Women are disproportionately affected by the severe clampdown on human rights in Belarus, where the authorities have been flagrantly disregarding the country’s human rights obligations ahead of the August 2020 presidential election. Women are subjected to gender-based stereotyping and discrimination grounded in patriarchal notions of gender roles which present them as “vulnerable” and “weak”, deny them control over their bodies and reductively frame them in caring or parental roles and responsibilities. It is also evident in the run-up to the August presidential election that women are often targeted by the authorities in gender-specific ways.
