Fishnets and Tinder: Women MPs reveal toxic sexism in Westminster

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Seven out of ten women parliamentarians have witnessed sexist behavior in parliament in the past five years, according to a study that highlights a culture of exclusion” and “toxic” in Westminster.

Gender equality charity The Fawcett Society spoke to MPs about their experiences of misogyny in parliament and found that if only around half of male MPs said they had witnessed sexism, the figure for female politicians was 69%.

The report follows a storm of bullying and sexual harassment allegations that rocked Westminster, prompting a number of MPs to be investigated, suspended or resign from office.

Around three-quarters of female MPs said they chose not to not express their point of view on certain n subjects on social media because of their fears of being harassed online, compared to around half of male parliamentarians.

Researchers found that only four in 10 female parliamentarians believed that parliament the work culture was 'inclusive for people like me' as they warned that the issues uncovered in the study would worsen the shortage of women in Westminster - black, minority and disabled women being the hardest hit. p>

One MP, who did not want to be named, said: 'My child came home and said 'Mom, why do so many people hate you'. And you have to put on a really, really brave face on the outside, and a fighting face, and on the inside it breaks you. The Independent about their experiences. Labour's Dawn Butler said she endured sexualized comments for wearing fishnet tights while the Conservative Party's Caroline Nokes said she was touched inappropriately and told by a minister she didn't 'd only been named because she had "t**s".

Dawn Butler

"There was an incident where I wore plain fishnets to parliament. I received so many overly sexual and misogynistic comments that I took the pantyhose off and threw them in the trash and never wore fishnets again.