Are the Democratic Implications of Political Harassment Gendered?

• In Event: Gender, Violence, and Political Crises

Abstract

Democracy rests on the premise that elected representatives stand, and act for the represented. When candidates and officeholders are inhibited from fulfilling their representative duties electoral integrity and legitimacy are harmed. Harassment clearly limits and undermines representation by restricting the engagement, efficacy and effectiveness of (cohorts within) representatives. This paper first, explains the degree of physical, psychological and sexual harassment in local politics, who the harassers are and where harassment takes place. Women are more likely than men to experience sexual and psykological harssment, but no gender gap is found in physical harassment. Harassment is conducted by both fellow elected represenatives, citizens, journalists and to a smaller extent town hall staff. This also implies that elected representatives, who work in various arenas, experience the harassment both online, offline, in the town hall, among fellow representatives and in public. Secondly, the democratic implications are analysed, ie. whether harassment experience is associated with the need to do ‘safety work’, decreased freedom of speech and movement as a representative, and decreased vertical and horizontal ambitions, and in particular, whether these implications are gendered. Empirically, the paper is based on a survey across ten parties and 98 municipalities in Denmark, a least likely case of gender gaps due to a high level of women in politics.

Author

• Karina Kosiara-Pedersen, University of Copenhagen