When women are driven from public life, democracy pays the price
Source: SMH
It is not news to me that women in politics are targeted differently to men. But the frightening and specific stories I heard at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York last month left me with tears rolling down my cheeks.
An MP in Uganda has men regularly visit her kids’ school, warning their mum to “shut her mouth”. A Thai candidate was targeted by 926 fake Twitter accounts established to attack her character and undermine her anti-corruption campaign. A woman councillor in Brazil was murdered as a warning to others not to speak up against police and militia violence in Rio de Janeiro. A UK MP, Jo Cox, was shot and stabbed outside a library by a man yelling “this is for Britain”.
It is not news to me that women in politics are targeted differently to men. But the frightening and specific stories I heard at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York last month left me with tears rolling down my cheeks.
An MP in Uganda has men regularly visit her kids’ school, warning their mum to “shut her mouth”. A Thai candidate was targeted by 926 fake Twitter accounts established to attack her character and undermine her anti-corruption campaign. A woman councillor in Brazil was murdered as a warning to others not to speak up against police and militia violence in Rio de Janeiro. A UK MP, Jo Cox, was shot and stabbed outside a library by a man yelling “this is for Britain”.