Three-quarters of young women surveyed believe it’s harder for women to become politicians and 77% also think female politicians are treated unfairly by the media and by their male counterparts. Here in Australia, a new survey released by Plan International Australia found 90% of girls and young women polled say female politicians are not treated fairly compared with their male counterparts. And what does that mean for our democracy: “ Two thirds of women MPs say that progress on tackling violence against women in politics impacts their willingness to stand for re-election.” One third have experienced economic abuse, a quarter some type of physical abuse and a fifth some form of sexual violence. Globally, nearly all female MP’s have experienced psychological violence in the course of their parliamentary work. This should not be part of the calculation for taking part in political life.Īs Rushanara Ali, the Labour MP for Bethnal Green, put it, “You do have to ask yourself what the hell is going on.” Quite.įor an answer to that, I give you these statistics from a 2016 study by the Inter Parliamentary Union. There is a lot of talk of “being a lot more careful now”. Now, as Britain heads to the polls, female MPs in the UK are clearly living in the shadow of Jo Cox’ murder and going into the next election the spectre of violence looms large. Internationally, a number of high-profile instances of violence against women in politics have reached extremes, most notably the murder of UK Parliamentarian Jo Cox in 2016. They all talked about having to take additional steps to ensure their safety. If that sounds like hyperbole, consider this: all the women in the Guardian article talked about receiving a growing number of threats and intimidation. Is it any wonder a significant number of women opted not to pursue re-election in the UK citing abuse as their reason? This is the world women in politics now inhabit.
The quote from British MP Jess Phillips in which she stated that she is not worried about Labour winning the upcoming election (as anyone with a passing interest in the Brexit saga will know, Brits go to the polls before Christmas), she is worried she will get killed, literally stopped me in my tracks.
I was reminded of this recently when I read this article in The Guardian featuring four women in UK politics speaking out about the “constant” abuse they face and the tole it is taking on them.