Women in politics face a damning level of sexism, harassment and violence across the Asia-Pacific region, a new report shows, highlighting one of the most significant barriers to achieving gender equality in leadership.
The study, published on Tuesday by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), is based on interviews with 150 female MPs and parliamentary staff across 33 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia, Mongolia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Fiji and Micronesia. An equal number of women were interviewed from each country.
Results show 76 per cent of MPs and 63 per cent of staff had experienced psychological gender-based violence, with 60 per cent saying they had been targeted online by hate speech, disinformation and image-based abuse.
One in four women parliamentarians reported having experienced sexual violence, and 36 per cent of women parliamentary staff said the same.
The premises of parliament is the main environment where women experience sexual harassment and sexist behaviour. And yet, the study says these women often do not report them.
“Much remains to be done to ensure that victims feel safe, protected and supported by institutions that take an unequivocal stand against sexism and gender-based violence,” the authors write.
The report also notes that violence aimed at women in politics is often used as a tactic to “dissuade them from engaging in political activities and exercising their fundamental rights, and to control, restrict and prevent their participation in political life as individuals or as a group”.
The Asia-Pacific region accounts for around 60 per cent of the world’s population, and the report was able to draw some interesting conclusions by comparing the results of this study to other regions of the world (Europe and Africa) that have been previously analysed by the IPU and its partners.
One striking observation, the report says, is that across the three regional studies (Asia-Pacific, Europe and Africa), there was a remarkable similarity in the wording and language of the testimonies expressed by women.
“Women who have experienced sexism, harassment, or violence use the same words and phrases, despite having no prior coordination, not knowing one another, being of different ages, and coming from diverse geographical and cultural backgrounds,” the report says.
Testimony given from one female MP in the Asia-Pacific region said: “They smell our perfume, stare at us, look at our breasts, touch our bodies, behave inappropriately with interns. We have an unofficial list of ‘weird’ male parliamentarians. I didn’t realize it was sexual harassment, but it’s not right.”
Another said: “A male colleague acted in an intimidating and threatening manner. He coveted my position, which he eventually obtained, and I was transferred to another department. It took me a long time to recover from this episode. I lost my self-esteem and doubted my abilities.”
When it comes to online abuse, another respondent said: “I’m very active on social media. Colleagues and strangers have called me a bitch and used my divorce as a weapon to attack me.”
The report says “it is clear that these testimonies transcend individual experiences and reflect a structural dynamic that repeats itself regardless of the context in which the violence occurs.”
For the Asia-Pacific region, specifically, the report notes the significance of the study and testimonies given the lack of historical data surrounding the experience of sexism and violence against women in politics.
“Strict zero-tolerance policies on violence against women in parliaments must be implemented for all individuals involved in the parliamentary world,” the report says. “Victims need to know that they will be heard and that support is available.”