Thread by @BehanBox

Continuing our conversation on #VAWIP here are some examples of violence and threats against women in politics from across the world.

A document signed by 17 former and current ministers in France documents widespread sexual harassment and assault, including cases where male politicians are accused of “grabbing breasts, tweaking thong underwear” and “hitting a female aide in the face” (Wang 2016).

Women politicians in Canada are taking a serious note of #VAWP through social media. One ex., among 1000s, is a Tweet directed at Alberta MLA Sandra Jansen stating: "Dead meat. Sandra should stay in the kitchen where she belongs. Fly with the crows and get shot."

#CW
22-yr old Arab-Canadian Parliamentary staffer whose experience with workplace sexual harassment & assault resulted in a post-traumatic stress syndrome diagnosis, ongoing fears of repercussions for speaking out almost a decade after the situation & led to 2 suicide attempts.

Women MPs across countries report being trolled and threatened online, especially on Twitter and Facebook. In the UK, MP Tulip Siddiq received death threats and criticism for having her baby daughter while she was in her first term in parliament.

In UK MP Jess Phillips and Stella Creasy report receiving thousands of rape and death threats in the space of mere hours in relation to their political office.

Many have reported similar explicit and intense threats of violence across SM, including Tracy Brabin, who replaced MP Jo Cox after Cox was assassinated in 2016.

MP Louise Haigh described “an individual [who] went through every one of my YouTube videos and said he would not rest until I was murdered.” (Pidd and Perraudin, 2016).

Legislation against #VAWIP - A number of countries have passed specific legislation to directly govern the issue, including Bolivia and Mexico.

After a decade-long process and activism, Bolivia passed and enacted Law 243 of 28 May 2012, the “Law against the Harassment of and Political Violence Against Women”.

+... The Law classifies acts of harassment and political violence, categorizing them as slight, serious and very serious, and establishes the sanctions for each category.

+ It recognizes that violence may be physical, psychological or sexual in nature. It establishes gender-sensitive reporting procedures and creates channels to submit administrative, criminal or constitutional reports.

Several countries have draft laws in progress at this time (Spring 2017) including Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru.
#VAWIP #GBVIP
Source: nimd.org