Abuse of NZ female MPs commonplace, researchers find

Female Members of Parliament in New Zealand are being assaulted with weapons, threatened with rape and subjected to death threats in the course of their work, a study led by the University of Otago, Wellington – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, Pōneke has found.

Eleven MPs from different political parties who were serving in Parliament in 2023 talked to researchers from the University’s Department of Psychological Medicine about their experiences of harassment, misogyny, racism and online trolling. All had experienced gender-based harassment, and several had received death threats.

The research was led by psychiatry registrars Dr Rhiannon Watson and Dr Lucy Hammans, and is published in Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online. It builds on a previous survey conducted by the University of both male and female parliamentarians published last year.

Dr Watson says threats of physical and sexual violence had become commonplace for female parliamentarians, with MPs reporting being threatened in person, over the phone, and online on social media and in emails.

One MP described receiving ‘deeply, deeply vile stuff’, including a threat to cut her throat.

Another told researchers ‘[threats of] rape just get thrown about all the time’.

Two participants described being assaulted with weapons, while another reported having a fake gun (which she believed was real) aimed at her at close range.

Dr Hammans says misogyny was ubiquitous in the harassment of female MPs, which also targeted their staff, and their families, and was further complicated by racism for some. Levels of harassment rose when women attained more senior roles, and when they were in Government rather than opposition roles.

One MP commented: ‘There is no doubt in my mind that it is absolutely aimed at impeding us from doing our jobs and from being MPs .. it is absolutely aimed at driving us out.’

Many reported comments on their appearance, challenges to their competence because they were female, and being called ‘slut’ and ‘bitch’.

One MP told researchers, ‘… it’s relentless – there’s not a break from it. There’s not a single post that I’ve [posted] that doesn’t have misogynistic comments or racist comments on it … and then you add to that, death threats … no one, no one prepares you for that’.

The senior author on the research paper, Professor Susanna Every-Palmer from the University’s Department of Psychological Medicine, says the psychosocial impact of harassment on female parliamentarians is considerable, and at worst is associated with flashbacks and thoughts of suicide.

MPs told researchers their concerns were not taken seriously by authorities even when they felt at risk of serious harm.

One said, ‘I think some of us probably are in serious danger … and the feeling we get is that we have to fight tooth and nail for any sort of protection.’

Several said that when they reported the abuse, they felt their concerns were minimised and that the response focused only on the risk of violence, rather than being sensitive to the wider emotional and psychological harms caused by the abuse.

One parliamentarian reported her concerns to the parliamentary Security Group and was later informed they had concluded there was no threat to the MP. She told researchers: ‘I’m sobbing in a heap on my sofa and I’m unable to work. And [they are] telling me there’s no harm … the harm has happened’.

Female MPs noticed a dramatic reduction in the severity and volume of harassment when women in senior leadership roles were replaced by male colleagues, such as following the resignation of former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, highlighting the risk of harm to female representation in Parliament.

One MP recalled, ‘The minute the Prime Minister stepped down, there was a whole lowering of the temperature, vitriol and nastiness …’

Among the long-serving MPs, two said the abuse had contributed to their decision to retire, while others thought they would have reconsidered taking up the role if they had known then what they knew now.

Professor Every-Palmer says gender-based harassment is having a profound impact on female parliamentarians, challenging representation in politics and the fabric of democracy.

She believes a multi-faceted response is needed, and that New Zealand should take on board recommendations from the Jo Cox Foundation in the UK, set up after the British politician’s murder in 2016.

This would include establishing a central body to monitor and coordinate the response to abuse, as well as developing guidelines on abuse for police and parliamentarians.

She says the New Zealand legislation on online violence, the Harmful Digital Communications Act, needs to be updated, as it specifies individual comments must cause serious emotional distress and requires the police to demonstrate the abuser has the intent to cause harm.

“This ignores the cumulative harm to women MPs from the large volume of abuse they are being subjected to.”

New legislation requiring social media providers to address and prevent online abuse, backed up by a robust enforcement regime, is also needed, she says.

The research paper, ‘Misogyny, racism, and threats to our families: a qualitative study of harassment of female politicians’ is published in Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online.