February 2017
Featured in this insight: Central government & non-department public bodies, Local & regional government
Survey finds women MPs are treated badly by the public: A recent central government survey by BBC Radio 5 Live has revealed that the vast majority of female Members of Parliament have experienced verbal and online abuse at the hands of the public and a further one in three have consequently considered resigning.
Of the 195 female Members of Parliament who took part in the market research, a few of the said that they had received death threats and a further 50 per cent said that they had experience death threats.
Following the tragic murder of Labour MP, Jo Cox, last year, two in three respondents said that they now feel less safe, with one survey respondent saying that "the level of violence and abuse has significantly increased in the last years. At times I have been very frightened."
The survey findings illustrated how the abuse which politicians face can affect their personal and family lives.
Another respondent said that she had "worries for the safety of my parents in the constituency",while another said she was "more protective of my family and info on where they live and go to school".
The BBC survey also asked female politicians for their opinions about how to more women into Parliament. Of the respondents, more than 50 per cent said that they would support all-female shortlists, whereas approximately 50 per cent wanted a clamp-down on sexist and unprofessional language in the House of Commons.
A further two in tree respondents said that Parliament would make better decisions if more females were elected.
The female Members of Parliament were also questioned about whether or not they would still stand for Parliament if they were just starting out in their political career and knew what they knew now. One in six respondents said that they would not, whereas the remaining majority said that they would.
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