Women in politics describe threats and abuse

Former Stroud MP, Siobhan Baillie, said the online abuse towards her stopped as soon as she left office

“There was a Siobhan-sized coffin carried through Stroud because of a vote I took.”

Former Conservative MP for Stroud, Siobhan Baillie, said she faced all kinds of abuse and threats, which she felt was at a greater intensity than that directed at male MPs.

Ms Baillie’s experience is not unique, and several organisations have said abuse towards women is putting others off standing for office.

Elect Her director of communications Annabel Mullin said: "Women experience more visceral and more personal abuse, and there are more sexual overtones to it."

Ms Baillie also described having human faeces delivered to her office as well as effigies of bloodied babies after someone people disagreed with the way she voted on topics.

Labour's Lara Chaplin said her friends and family asked her if it was worth standing for office in the face of abuse

Last month, 12 of the 47 candidates who stood in the general election in Gloucestershire were women.

In 2019, ten women stood, and in 2017 it was just five.

Lara Chaplin was the Labour candidate for Cheltenham in this year's election, and has described the campaign as a "difficult one".

“We got lots and lots of threats and abuse in the hustings, we had people shouting and being really aggressive," she said.

“It’s definitely worse if you’re a woman, which if you’ve never stood for public office is really difficult to describe, because in 2024 there are still people who don’t feel that women should stand for public office.”

Ms Chaplin said there were personal comments made about her hair and weight online, which were difficult for her family to see.

“My daughter finds it incredibly frustrating,” she added.

“You have friends and family looking in, saying is this really worth it?”

The Elect Her organisation said women face more sexually explicit and personal attacks than men

Elect Her is a national non-partisan organisation which supports women who want to get involved in politics.

It has found there are a number of barriers which prevent women from standing, including childcare responsibilities, financial pressures and a lack of confidence.

Both online and in-person abuse is also cited as a large factor.

Ms Mullin added: “There will often be a focus on more physical violence to women which men don’t get in the same quantity.”

Dr Roz Savage said there is still work to do to make Parliament an equal place for women

Ms Baillie said she was surprised to see much of the social media abuse stop as soon as she lost her seat.

“On losing the seat, almost overnight the trolling went.

“And I am no different, as a person, I’m still doing a lot of the work I was before, and yet it went just because my title changed," she said.

Newly-elected Liberal Democrat MP for South Cotswolds, Dr Roz Savage, said she has not experienced any form of abuse, but believes there is work to be done both socially and in Parliament to make it an equal place for women.

“I think Parliament is trying to be a supportive place for women, but it is still an institution that for many centuries was created by men, predominantly for men,” she said.

“I think [the need for diversity] might be part of the reason why a significant percentage of people are a bit disillusioned with our current system of democracy.

“And for the people of this country to feel properly represented it is really important to have that diversity.”

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