So far, reports the Nation Cymru website, two men have declared themselves as candidates for the leadership of Welsh Labour, but no women.
Despite rumours of Eluned Morgan and Hannah Blythyn joining the race for the First Minister job, both have since ruled themselves out and there are currently no women expected to stand.
On Sunday, Mark Drakeford told Politics Wales that despite there being “hugely talented” women in the Labour group, people know they will be the target for “deeply unpleasant” attacks on social media.
Jane Dodds, the leader of the Welsh Lib Dems, agrees with Drakeford. She told Nation Cymru:
“I welcome the First Minister’s condemnation of vile personal online attacks on female politicians, speaking from my own personal experience I know first hand how exhausting it can be to receive horrific abuse online.
“As the only female leader of a political party in Wales, I know all too well the perils of social media when it comes to abuse from cowards hiding behind their screens.
“The reaction that female politicians receive from certain sections of social media can be both emotionally and mentally draining.
“These so-called keyboard warriors represent the very worst of our society, faceless brutes with nothing better to do with their lives than spread their misery and hatred to others.
“More action must be taken to curb these trolls, whilst many of their comments are nothing but empty threats, the mental impact they have can be severe.
“We must do more to protect female politicians from harmful online abuse, whilst also at the same time encourage more women to get involved in politics.”
I don't know the precise measures Jane Dodds has in mind, but it's clear that online threats of violence must be taken as seriously as threats of violence anywhere else. And it would be good to see more men challenging online sexism.
Britain already suffers because it draws upon such a small (and often shallow) pool of talent to fill many important roles. We mustn't allow sexist trolls to make things even worse.
This has been a hobbyhorse of mine lately - but Britain's political elite is usually entered via a narrow pathway that involves being educated at a top public school. A lot of those schools - Eton, Harrow, Merchant Taylor's, St Pauls, Dulwich College, Tonbridge and Bedford are all male, with a few such as Westminster and Winchester have a co-educational Sixth form.
ReplyDeleteThis alone makes it hard for women to enter politics and progress to the top level. We need to be mindful of this if we want Parliaments/Assemblies to be more gender balanced in the future.