Women with Balls Election Special: who would want to be an MP?

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🗓️ 2 December 2019

⏱️ 35 minutes

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Summary

Why would any woman want to be an MP in this general election? In recent years, parliament has been plagued by horror stories of abuse against MPs, especially female ones, with a number of them leaving the job before their time. So does parliament have a woman problem? Katy Balls speaks to a series of guests, especially a handful of the young women who are looking to join parliament this election.

With Paul Goodman, Isabel Hardman, Inaya Folarin Iman, Rebecca Smith, Danielle Rowley and Claire Coutinho.

Women With Balls is a podcast series where Katy Balls speak to women at the top of their respective games. To hear past episodes, visit spectator.co.uk/balls.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I do think it's worse for women, whether it's because an old-fashioned bully is always going to pick the perceived weaker sex.
0:07.0	We're easy to bully, maybe there's an element that we shouldn't be doing those sorts of jobs anyway.
0:12.0	I'm not sure, but certainly talking to colleagues, and when you look at the MPs that are standing down this time,
0:17.0	there does seem to be particularly young women, an over, sort of an increased
0:22.0	number on that side because clearly we've got balances in life and we've just come to the
0:26.0	conclusion that it's not worth it. This letter reads, which I received here in this office,
0:30.7	Cox was first, you were next, you treacherous, worthless, F-U-C-I-N-G, dead, slag. Every morning, obviously, you know, you turn the
0:41.5	emails on and there's more stuff that is rude, offensive. And I think actually a couple weeks ago,
0:49.0	my office referred something to me and they said, oh, I don't think this one's too bad, we
0:52.3	won't go to the police. And I thought, crack you, we wouldn't have said that three years ago if we looked at an email
0:56.1	like that.
0:57.5	Who would want to be an MP? That's a question that's been asked in Westminster and beyond as
1:01.9	this election has kicked off.
1:04.6	Female MPs from across the spectrum, across the political divide, have announced that they are not going to be seeking re-election,
1:11.4	with some specifically citing the abuse they have received and the change in environment
1:16.1	as a reason for standing down. In 2017, a study found that over half of all online abuse
1:24.0	was directed at female politicians rather than males, and it was particularly bad for
1:28.5	minority groups. Yet despite this, all the main parties are proudly pushing the fact that they have
1:33.9	lots of bright new candidates keen to enter Parliament should the election go their way. So to delve
1:39.5	into this issue a bit deeper on this election special of Women with Balls. I'm joined by Isva Hardman
1:45.3	and Conservative Holmes Paul Goodman to discuss the issue. And then I'll be speaking to a range of
1:50.3	candidates who are seeking election. Now, it's not abnormal for MPs to step down ahead of a new
	...

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