A joint study by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) reveals that acts of sexism, abuse and violence against women are commonplace in parliaments throughout Europe.
Published on Tuesday 16 October, this study is based on interviews with 123 women from 45 of the 47 Council of Europe member states, Slovakia and Malta not having participated in the survey. Also requested, the European Parliament provided the information gathered by its own control mechanism, but did not conduct individual interviews.
Among the women interviewed (81 parliamentarians and 42 parliamentary staff), 47% reported receiving death threats, rape or physical violence, 68% were the target of gender-based comments about their physical appearance and role stereotypes, and 25% reported having experienced sexual violence.
Civil servants are more exposed than parliamentarians - 40.5% versus 25% - but women elected representatives active in the fight against gender inequality and violence against women are privileged targets, especially if they are under 40 years of age.
76% of them were insulted in the media and social networks (18% more than all parliamentarians surveyed) and 36% were victims of sexual harassment (12% more than the total panel).
The perpetrators of these acts were either political opponents, colleagues of their own party or ordinary citizens.
The law of silence prevails
In the face of these attacks, the law of silence prevails, in the absence of effective action for victims. Only 23.5% of parliamentarians and 6% of staff reported the facts, according to the report, which calls for a confidential complaints mechanism in each parliament and the definition of disciplinary sanctions.
"This study reflects a sad reality", commented Liliane Maury Pasquier, PACE President. And to add: "#MeToo does not spare the political world. As long as inequality between women and men persists, no woman is safe from violence and harassment. But we have a lever that can make us - women and men politicians - actors of change: the Istanbul Convention.”
Adopted by the Council of Europe in 2011, signed by the European Union (see EUROPE 11786) and 45 member states (Azerbaijan and Russia have not done so), ratified by 33 of them, this Convention on preventing and combating violence against women has been in force since 2014 and constitutes "a legal instrument to prevent, protect, prosecute and above all break gender stereotypes", the PACE President stressed.
See the study: https://bit.ly/2yg8CKQ. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)