Labour MP Ingrid Leary said threats and abuse are commonplace. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
A Labour MP says a new report about harassment of female parliamentarians is not a big surprise.
The research, conducted by the University of Otago's Department of Psychological Medicine and based on interviews with 11 women from both sides of the aisle, has accounts of assaults with weapons, threats of rape and death threats.
MP Ingrid Leary told Morning Report harassment is seen across the political spectrum.
"It's not surprising and it's very concerning," she said. "Given this is a longitudinal study, the trajectory is that it's getting from bad to worse.
"When you read some of the accounts of what some of the women have endured or certainly hear them, there is absolutely no question in my mind that this is hate speech, violent language, threatening language, we have women who have been threatened with rape and so on.
"This is no question that this is not about free speech - this is about hate speech, absolutely, in many cases."
The report covered both online and personal abuse.
"What is clear from the findings is the disinhibiting effect that social media abuse gives those who do it, which means people have kind of normalised behaviour, and women - and all MPs, but particularly women - are more likely to experience that person to person," Leary said.
"Also it's more likely to be personalised, so about women's appearance or things not to do with political issues and the language tends to be more violent."
Leary said she had experienced abuse.
"Certainly I've had a bomb threat at my office and I've had my office graffitied, and staff regularly actually suffer abuse."
"One of the findings in that report is that families and staff members tend to be targeted more frequently and are often overlooked."
The report came only a few days after New Zealand First MP Shane Jones and his wife were reportedly involved in an airport altercation with a man.
"It's particularly happening to women that are visible ethnically different from Pākeha women, and for them it seems to be sustained, deliberate, ongoing and almost designed to try to get them to lose their confidence."
Leary said social media did not help.
"We're in a backdrop of social media algorithms that reward polarising views and histrionic kind of language, and even hate speech.
"We're seeing imported politics come in, and in my personal view, I think some of this is attached to far-right ideology and imported populist kind of agendas that have come in from the States that we are seeing play out in New Zealand, which is worrying."
The paper found misogyny and racism were pervasive in the harassment of female politicians, their staff and their families.
It came as the justice minister was getting advice on law changes to better protect publicly elected officials, particularly at their homes.
One MP said she received "deeply, deeply vile" abuse, including a threat to cut her throat, while another told researchers "[threats of] rape just get thrown about all the time".
Two MPs said they had been assaulted with weapons, while another reported having a fake gun - that she believed was real - aimed at her at close range.
The research, led by psychiatry registrars Dr Rhiannon Watson and Dr Lucy Hammans, builds on a previous survey of both male and female parliamentarians published last year.
Watson said threats of physical and sexual violence had become commonplace for female parliamentarians, with MPs reporting being threatened in person, over the phone, online on social media and in emails.
Hammans said misogyny was ubiquitous in the harassment of female MPs, which also targeted their staff, and their families, and was further complicated by racism for some.
Levels of harassment rose when women attained more senior roles, and when they were in government rather than opposition roles, the research found.
One MP commented: "There is no doubt in my mind that it is absolutely aimed at impeding us from doing our jobs and from being MPs ... it is absolutely aimed at driving us out."
The research paper said many MPs reported comments on their appearance, challenges to their competence because they were female, and being called 'slut' and 'bitch'.
Among the long-serving MPs, two said the abuse had contributed to their decision to retire, while others thought they would have reconsidered taking up the role if they had known then what they knew now.
The senior author on the research paper, Professor Susanna Every-Palmer, said the psychosocial impact of harassment on female parliamentarians was considerable and at worst associated with flashbacks and thoughts of suicide.
Gender-based harassment was having a profound impact on female parliamentarians, challenging representation in politics and the fabric of democracy, she said.
Every-Palmer said a "multi-faceted response" was needed that included establishing a central body to monitor and coordinate the response to abuse, as well as developing guidelines on abuse for police and parliamentarians.
She also recommended New Zealand legislation on online violence, the Harmful Digital Communications Act, needed to be updated, as it specified individual comments must cause serious emotional distress and required the police to demonstrate the abuser has the intent to cause harm.
New legislation requiring social media providers to address and prevent online abuse, backed up by a robust enforcement regime, was also needed, she said.
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