The backlash against women in politics
Source: The Tyee
I spent a good chunk of my academic career studying women in politics — the barriers that keep women from running for office and from winning party nominations, and the impact they might have once they are elected.
Those were optimistic times: barriers would be eliminated, women would take their rightful place in political life and public policy would be better.
What I — and others — didn’t see coming was the backlash that these women would experience. The study of women in politics now is less about understanding the intricacies of nomination contests and more about documenting and theorizing the gender-based violence women in politics experience.
This affects women across the political spectrum but is particularly intense for those who have the audacity not just to be women in positions of authority, but also to challenge the status quo.
It’s not a coincidence, I suspect, that both Catherine McKenna, the former environment minister in the Justin Trudeau government, and Shannon Phillips, the former Alberta environment minister in the Rachel Notley government, have decided to leave the political arena after years of harassment and threats of violence to them and their families.
Girls and women are socialized to play by the rules. We’re offered an implicit deal that if we do what we are supposed to do, the system will reward us, or at least look out for us.
Read here the full article published by The Tyee on 12 June 2024.
Image by The Tyee
I spent a good chunk of my academic career studying women in politics — the barriers that keep women from running for office and from winning party nominations, and the impact they might have once they are elected.
Those were optimistic times: barriers would be eliminated, women would take their rightful place in political life and public policy would be better.
What I — and others — didn’t see coming was the backlash that these women would experience. The study of women in politics now is less about understanding the intricacies of nomination contests and more about documenting and theorizing the gender-based violence women in politics experience.
This affects women across the political spectrum but is particularly intense for those who have the audacity not just to be women in positions of authority, but also to challenge the status quo.
It’s not a coincidence, I suspect, that both Catherine McKenna, the former environment minister in the Justin Trudeau government, and Shannon Phillips, the former Alberta environment minister in the Rachel Notley government, have decided to leave the political arena after years of harassment and threats of violence to them and their families.
Girls and women are socialized to play by the rules. We’re offered an implicit deal that if we do what we are supposed to do, the system will reward us, or at least look out for us.
Read here the full article published by The Tyee on 12 June 2024.
Image by The Tyee