Neve Gordon-Farleigh
Women have been elected as members of Parliament since 1918, yet the inequalities between them and their male counterparts are still prevalent. Misogyny and abuse is an element of politics that former Wales Education Minister Kirsty Williams says is “particularly difficult for women”.
Kirsty Williams was first elected into the Assembly in 1999 before ending her 22-year-long career in May 2021. During this time, she became the first woman to lead a political party out of the four main parties in Wales in 2008, before going on to become Wales’ Education Minister.
“When my children were small they weren’t on social media, they didn’t have access to those things, but now it’s pretty difficult to keep them away from that.”
Stepping Down, and Stepping Away
After over two decades it was time for Ms Williams to step down, with Covid being a time that “made us all re-evaluate our lives”. However, the pandemic wasn’t the only factor that made her step away from politics.
“When my children were small they weren’t on social media, they didn’t have access to those things, but now it’s pretty difficult to keep them away from that. So trying to protect my family – or failing to succeed in protecting my family from some of the fallout from having a mother in political life was definitely a factor in me standing down.”
“There is a particularly nasty misogynistic, really horrible element to some of the social media stuff.”
In an interview with the BBC for BBC Walescast she recounted how, although she felt “proud” of her career, it also came with responsibilities, “You’ve got a responsibility, haven’t you, not to duck those issues and to pass it on to someone else to do the hard yards.”
She opened up on the effects of being a woman in politics, “I think it’s particularly difficult for women because there is a particularly nasty misogynistic, really horrible element to some of the social media stuff.”
In 2016 this was amplified when newly elected UKIP leader Neil Hamilton referred to Ms Williams and Leanne Wood as “political concubines”. This comment led to many questions from Ms Williams children. She told Walescast, “I don’t want to have to explain to my prepubescent daughters that’s how a male colleague treats a female colleague in the workplace.”
However, it’s all too common for female politicians to face abuse both on and offline.
Tracy Brabin
At the start of 2020, Labour MP Tracy Brabin faced criticism for an off the shoulder dress worn in the House of Commons.
“There are women around the world that are putting up with this day in, day out where they’re being demeaned because of what they wear.”
After attending a music event earlier in the day, she was unexpectedly called to the dispatch box to comment on the removal of journalists from a Downing Street press briefing. At the time, she addressed comments on Twitter which referred to her dress as “inappropriate” for a place like Parliament.
In an interview with BBC Breakfast, she recalled how it was her “responsibility to call it out for those women,” explaining, “there are women around the world that are putting up with this day in, day out, where they’re being demeaned because of what they wear.”
Brabin used this as an opportunity to point out the differences between herself and her male counterpart’s behaviour in Parliament. In an interview with BBC Radio Leeds, she referred to the conduct of Jacob Rees-Mogg, who was “asleep on the front benches with his legs up.”
The now famous dress, originally from ASOS, was auctioned off for charity raising money for Girlguiding UK. The auction received a final bid of £20,200 with over 180 bids in total. Brabin told PA Media, “I want to encourage them to be really proud of who they are, to support each other as girls and to not make any criticism from anyone – particularly boys – as I have found in my experiences from Twitter.”
Rise of social media has undoubtedly made trolling and abuse worse. However, it also has the opportunity to expose discussions of misogyny.
Julia Gillard
Voted the most memorable moment of Australian TV by The Guardian, in 2012 Julia Gillard delivered the infamous ‘misogyny speech‘ to Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbot.
“If he wants to know what misogyny looks like in modern Australia, he doesn’t need a motion in the House of Representatives, he needs a mirror.”
She opened the speech by clarifying, “I will not be lectured about misogyny and sexism by this man.” She went on to say, “I hope the Leader of the Opposition has got a piece of paper and he is writing out his resignation. Because if he wants to know what misogyny looks like in modern Australia, he doesn’t need a motion in the House of Representatives, he needs a mirror.”
During her speech she spoke about how the Leader of the Opposition hadn’t just disrespected and offended the women of Australia but her personally, picking up on how she had been catcalled “across this table”. She pointed out that this was “something that would never have been said to any man sitting in this chair.”
“Capable of double standards, but incapable of change.”
Later she commented on how “Sexism should always be unacceptable”. Stating that, if the Leader of the Opposition wished to deal with sexism in Parliament, “He could change his behaviour, he could apologise for his past statements, he could apologise for standing next to signs describing me as a witch”. However, she followed this by commenting on how he is “incapable of change. Capable of double standards, but incapable of change.”
The Past, The Present and The Future
Even after 9 years and with Gillard retiring from politics in 2013, the speech still remains famous. It depicts how women have been treated, and still are treated to this day. What it continues to show, though, is that these three women weren’t the first and they won’t be the last in receiving this kind of unacceptable abuse and behaviour.
It’s clear that overcoming the adversity of misogyny, sexism and abuse isn’t in the job description when women sign up to become politicians. However, their continued work to fight this inequality and make politics a better place remains inspirational for generations of young women.
Featured image courtesy of ian kelsall on Unsplash. No changes or alterations were made to this image. Image license can be found here.
Neve Gordon-Farleigh
Neve is a 21 year old freelance journalist, and our Head Current Affairs and Instagram Editor for Empoword Journalism. She specialises in social media journalism and runs the Journo Resources Tik Tok page. You can find her on Twitter @Neve_GF.