Female politicians fear a normalised “toxic environment” of gendered abuse is stopping women from wanting a seat at the decision-making table.
Now, National Party deputy leader and Finance Minister Nicola Willis is calling for people to join her in “belittling the trolls” as she shares a message for an online harasser: “Stuff off”.
Willis spoke at a gathering for women in local government, ahead of the LGNZ SuperLocal conference on Wednesday.
She announced the Ministry for Women was working with Netsafe on a toolkit for workplaces supporting women in leadership positions, including for local council candidates.
Willis said gendered harassment had become normalised, and provided examples of social media posts from anonymised accounts.
She had screenshots saved to a “folder of doom”.
Willis read a “particularly spicy” one: “Eff up bitch, you ruin lives, that makes you an effing rhymes-with-munt.”
Willis went on to say it was as though some believed her to be a “defective mother” for daring to be in such a public role.
“I share it with you to say it is real, we all get it.”
Stuff
Face of the Day
Willis said gendered harassment had become normalised and provided examples of social media posts from anonymised accounts.
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Doyle, who uses they/them pronouns, recognised they were “politically naive” in not deleting their private Instagram account ahead of entering parliament last year, something the Green Party advised them to do.
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On occasion, Dot Jones said she had accompanied her husband to political events at which there were protests and abuse hurled. In this instance, though, she said the couple were trying to return home and simply making their way through the airport in search of breakfast.
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Bussy of the Day
Doyle, who uses they/them pronouns, recognised they were “politically naive” in not deleting their private Instagram account ahead of entering parliament last year, something the Green Party advised them to do.
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