Two-thirds of women MPs have witnessed sexist conduct in Parliament

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. A survey commissioned by the Fawcett Society found just 37% of women MPs believed the environment at Westminster to be “inclusive for people like me” compared to a majority of their male counterparts. In the course of the past five years, 69% of women MPs said they had witnessed sexist conduct, as against 49% of all MPs. Over nine-out-of-ten women MPs said online abuse or harassment had a negative impact on how they felt about being a parliamentarian compared to 76% of male MPs It’s just not acceptable that MPs work in an environment that is more abusive than inclusive Jemima Olchawski, Fawcett Society And three-quarters of women MPs said they did not use social media to comment on certain issues because of the abusive environment they encountered online as against just over half of men. “MPs are rightly proud of the difference they can make to our society – but without urgent action, we won’t achieve the diverse, inclusive and representative democracy that the UK needs more than ever.” Former cabinet minister Dame Maria Miller MP, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group for women in Parliament, said the report showed the pace of change at Westminster was too slow.