Understanding Sexism and Sexual Harassment in Politics: A Comparison of Westminster Parliaments in Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada

Politicians, Social Media, and Digital Publics: Old Rights, New Terrain

“…xenophobia directed at politicians of color (Joseph, 2011;Parks & Heard, 2009;Rogers & Fandos, 2019), and sexual harassment of women in politics (Dalton 2017;Collier & Raney 2018), political leaders from underrepresented groups are burdened with a disproportionate amount of this vitriol. This fits the well-documented patterns of gendered and racialized harassment and hostility in other arenas such as journalism, academia, gaming, and sports (Chen et al, 2018;Citron, 2014;Daniels, 2009;Ferber, 2018;Fox & Tang, 2017;Gardiner, 2018;Gray, 2012;Herring, 1999;Nakamura, 2002;Sian, 2018Veletsianos et al, 2018.…”

“…It is of little surprise, then, that politicians face tremendous hostility and harassment on social media (James et al, 2016; McLoughlin & Ward, 2017; Nadim & Fladmoe, 2019; Sobieraj & Merchant, in press; Southern & Harmer, 2019a, 2019b). Given the global increase of violence against politically active women (Krook, 2017, 2018), the continued racism and xenophobia directed at politicians of color (Joseph, 2011; Parks & Heard, 2009; Rogers & Fandos, 2019), and sexual harassment of women in politics (Collier & Raney, 2018; Dalton, 2017), political leaders from underrepresented groups are burdened with a disproportionate amount of this vitriol. This fits the well-documented patterns of gendered and racialized harassment and hostility in other arenas such as journalism, academia, gaming, and sports (Chen et al, 2018; Citron, 2014; Daniels, 2009; Ferber, 2018; Fox & Tang, 2017; Gardiner, 2018; Gray, 2012; Herring, 1999; Nakamura, 2002; Sian, 2018; Veletsianos et al, 2018).…”

Canada's Member-to-Member Code of Conduct on Sexual Harassment in the House of Commons: Progress or Regress?

“…Previous FI research has examined gender within Westminster institutional settings in particular (Chappell, 2006;Childs, 2004;Collier and Raney, 2016;Crewe, 2014;Lovenduski, 2014aLovenduski, , 2014b. Lovenduski argues that sexism is itself an institutionalized feature of Westminster parliaments, and women "may or may not face hostile men, but they do face institutions that are constructed to exclude women" (2014a:16-17).…”

“…Lovenduski argues that sexism is itself an institutionalized feature of Westminster parliaments, and women “may or may not face hostile men, but they do face institutions that are constructed to exclude women” (2014a:16–17). Arguably, Westminster parliamentary systems are even more prone to an orientation of social dominance that facilitates sexual harassment through their unwritten conventions, including the myth of neutrality, a foundation built on adversarial political debate and the embrace of parliamentary privilege (Collier and Raney, 2016).…”

“…Similar to many legislatures around the world, sexism and sexual harassment are not new phenomena in the Canadian House of Commons. Female MPs have been taunted, ridiculed, teased, shamed and harassed on numerous occasions (Collier and Raney, 2016). This heightened sexist culture reached such a level in 1990 that several female MPs created a cross-party organization, the Association of Women Parliamentarians (AWP), to attempt to curb the use of derogatory names and sexist insults against women 5 .…”