Women in dozens of parliaments across the Asia-Pacific are experiencing significant levels of abuse, violence and harassment, a new report has found, with online abuse a key issue.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) interviewed 150 female MPs and staff, finding that 76 per cent of MPs and 63 per cent of staff had experienced gender-based violence.
The women worked in parliaments in 33 countries in the region, including in Australia, China, Indonesia, Thailand, India and the Philippines.
[TABLE 1 MP VIOLENCE]Sixty per cent of respondents said they had been the target of hate speech, image-based abuse and disinformation online — the highest recorded by the IPU since they began studies of this kind around the world.
One in four reported having experienced sexual violence, with more than half of the incidents taking place within parliamentary grounds and committed by male MPs.
Two women reported being sexually assaulted.
IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong said violence and sexism against women in parliamentary workplaces "is a direct assault on democracy itself".
"Parliaments must be sanctuaries for healthy debate and law-making," Mr Chungong said.
"It is our responsibility to foster a political climate where women can thrive without the shadow of violence."
The report found that violence perpetrated against women was a violation of their human rights and hindered their full participation in political life.
Women under 40, who are unmarried and from minority backgrounds face higher rates of violence, the report found.
Opposition MPs also reported higher rates of psychological and sexual violence.
'Show me your underwear, I'll vote for you'
Each woman interviewed for the report was granted anonymity to discuss their experiences.
One woman said she was targeted by male parliamentarians throughout her career.
"I entered politics at the age of 26. Men would drink and try to touch me everywhere, while making propositions like, 'If you show me your underwear, I'll vote for you,'" one woman said.
Another reported being touched without consent.
"A colleague touched my back and shoulders and asked me about my breasts while we were having a drink. As I'm single, some colleagues in parliament think I'm an easy target," she said.
One woman said that a male colleague tried to force her "into his hotel room while touching my face and body."
"I was disgusted and ran away. Often he would get very drunk and touch my shoulder, whispering in my ear, 'I can touch you, can't I?'" she told the IPU.
One MP reported being spat on, another said water had been thrown in her face and a third "was hit by a projectile thrown by a senior leader of a political party".
Women also reported being abused by members of the public when attending political events.
Nearly all respondents, 96 per cent, didn't report the incidents of sexist behaviour or remarks — a rate higher than women in European and African parliaments.
Five per cent of women who were sexually harassed reported the issue to their parliamentary workplace authorities.
One of two women who was sexually assaulted reported the incident to her parliament, which then filed a complaint to the police, with no outcome.
Online abuse rife against MPs
The report's main author, Brigitte Filion, told the ABC that parliaments needed to work to better protect women in politics.
"I think they should work on legislation, on strong laws, about violence against women in politics … [and] against gender-based violence in general, because it's not just parliamentarians — it's journalists and advocates targeted online too."
Of the sixty per cent of women who had experienced online abuse, more than a third had experienced hate speech.
Nearly 20 per cent had either personal details leaked online without their consent, or had been the victim of image based abuse.
[TABLE 3 ONLINE VIOLENCE TYPE]"There's a deficit in legislation and control right now," she said, adding that much more could also be done by social media platforms to moderate content.
"Parliament also has the responsibility to provide advice to parliamentarians targeted online — male and female."
What can be done to better protect women from abuse in politics?
The report noted that several parliaments including in Australia, Fiji, India and Thailand had taken steps to prevent and respond to violence, by introducing confidential reporting mechanisms and support services.
"It is progress — 10 years ago there was nothing," Ms Filion said, before admitting there was a long way to go.
"There's very few codes of conduct for parliamentarians that mention harassment or sexual harassment [in the reporting region], so in many ways women parliamentarians are not fully protected and even the staff, who are facing harassment from MPs, there's a fear of reprisals.
"They think the mechanisms aren't safe and won't protect them."
Data from the World Bank suggests that of the 37 countries included in the study, only 16 have domestic violence laws in place and 16 have legislation governing sexual harassment in the workplace.
"No country in the region has adopted legislation specifically addressing violence against women in politics," the report stated.
Brigitte Filion said Australia had taken steps in the right direction after the Kate Jenkins review to improve reporting pathways and mechanisms to deal with abuse.
She said other countries could follow Australia's lead to try and improve the situation in parliaments elsewhere.
The IPU is an international organisation of national parliaments, made up of 181 national member parliaments and 15 regional parliamentary bodies.
