Maybe you were surprised when New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon stepped down earlier this year.
However, if you are a woman in politics, it’s very likely you were not.
I am a minority female MP for Bradford West in the United Kingdom and I certainly was not. Because every day I face a torrent of abuse. Just a couple days ago, police investigated yet another credible death threat made against me.
This out-of-control hate epidemic is unquestionably changing the landscape of Western politics, forcing women out of positions of influence.
During the UK’s 2019 general election, a slew of women withdrew because of the nearly constant rage directed against them.
But can we blame them?
Being a women in politics means falling victim to rampant double standards. Ardern and Sturgeon were frequently harangued over hairsplitting trivialities, from kids to hair colour. Even Kamala Harris, the vice-president of the United States faces abuse from fellow politicians in egregiously misogynistic ways.
And it is only getting worse.
Twice every minute, a woman in public office is abused online. Female politicians receive nearly 30 times more online abuse than men. Nearly nine out of 10 female European Union MP’s have said they’ve been psychologically abused while one out of two have received rape or death threats.
In the UK, female MPs who belong to visible minorities including Black, Asian, or Middle Eastern populations receive nearly half the hateful messages even though there are eight times more white MPs overall. In just a short period in late 2022, I received 5,000 discriminatory messages on Twitter, making me the most besieged politician in the region.
This is a global predicamentthat affects female leaders in Canada, too. Jenny Kwan, NDP MP for Vancouver East installed a panic button in her office. Green Party leader Elizabeth May hired a private security consultant following death threats.
If you think young women
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