Research finds rape, death threats common for female MPs

Thursday, 10 April 2025

Taieri MP Ingrid Leary says women tend to get more personalised abuse than their male colleagues.

This article references suicide

Harassment and abuse of female politicians is being put in the spotlight, with new research finding female MPs “are being assaulted with weapons, threatened with rape and subjected to death threats”.

It comes just days after Dot Jones, the wife of NZ First minister Shane Jones, was allegedly grabbed during an altercation at Auckland Airport, while The Post revealed this week potential legislative changes were being worked on amid the spate of threats, assaults and harassment in the past few years.

Psychiatry registrars Dr Rhiannon Watson and Dr Lucy Hammans, affiliated with the University of Otago, Wellington, the leads of Misogyny, racism, and threats to our families, spoke to 11 female MPs who served in 2023 about gender-based harassment.

They found threats of physical and sexual violence had become commonplace.

“One MP described receiving ‘deeply, deeply vile stuff’, including a threat to cut her throat,” Watson said.

“Two participants described being assaulted with weapons, while another reported having a fake gun (which she believed was real) aimed at her at close range.”

Hammans said misogyny was “ubiquitous in the harassment of female MPs, which also targeted their staff, and their families, and was further complicated by racism for some”.

Potential legislative changes are being worked on amid the spate of threats, assaults and harassment in the past few years. File image.

“Levels of harassment rose when women attained more senior roles, and when they were in Government rather than opposition roles.

“Many reported comments on their appearance, challenges to competence because of gender and gendered profanities including ‘slut’ and ‘bitch’,” the research stated.

“Racism was an amplifier. Minority ethnic women were felt to receive significantly more abuse than other demographics, including regular death threats.”

There were 11 female MPs between 40-70. Seven were European, two Māori/Pasifika, and two another ethnicity. Five had held leadership positions.

One MP said, “[threats of] rape just gets thrown about all the time”.

Another said, “[the experiences of harassment impacted me] profoundly … to the point of suicidal ideation”.

The research found they were harassed by men and women, “although they reported that young and middle-aged Pākehā men were overrepresented”, the report stated.

“Several participants described female abusers as particularly persistent and personal with their abuse.”

One MP said she thought “some of us probably are in serious danger … and the feeling we get is that we have to fight tooth and nail for any sort of protection“.

Taieri MP Ingrid Leary said when she was co-chair of the Council of Women Parliamentarians for the last term, they were involved in a study which had been going for a number of years.

“Through the course of that, what was really apparent … is that women tend to get more personalised abuse than their male colleagues, that the level of violent language is higher, and that there is certainly an ethnic overlay to it, so that women who are non Pakeha MPs tend to get an even greater abuse and more sustained abuse.

“Some of the stories were horrific. The other element was that often the violence or the abuse is levelled at the family members. That can happen with male politicians too, but that’s one of the hardest things as a politician.”

Leary said she had “online threats to my immediate family members, which were really concerning, because the people making the threats seemed to have information about our family that people normally wouldn't have.

“The threats were taken really seriously, to the point where I had to evacuate the electorate office but, as it transpired, that was a hoax. But I understood completely the guilt and anxiety that we feel when we feel like we’re putting our family members into a dangerous situation. It is a horrendous feeling of guilt, and it made me really think twice about whether I wanted to do this job.”

Leary emphasised in retrospect, “for many of the women MPs, including me, it just makes us more determined to ensure that we are not bullied into bowing out”.

Leary said “whatever I have experienced … pales in comparison to my understanding of what some of my non-Pakeha parliamentary women from across the House have endured on an ongoing basis”.

Wellington City Councillor Teri O’Neill says she has a 26-page document of online abuse.

“I have a huge respect for the fact that they have not let that stand in the way of them continuing their roles.”

Finance Minister Nicola Willis spoke in the past about the abuse she received, saying the impact was significant.

Local government politicians have also spoken out about the abuse they receivedwith Wellington City Councillor Teri O'Neill on Tuesday telling TVNZ she had a 26-page document of online abuse 'in case things escalate into real-life violence'.

When former Green MP Golriz Ghahraman resigned over shoplifting allegations last year, then co-leader James Shaw acknowledged that Ghahraman had been subject to continuous threats of sexual violence, physical violence, death threats 'since the day she was elected to Parliament'.

Former Labour MP Angela Roberts was also involved in an incident during the 2023 election campaign when a man grabbed her shoulders and shook her in order to emphasise the point he was making. “Then he slapped my cheeks with both hands.”

Roberts said last year that women politicians “have to cop more, and then we're told to suck that up”.

In 2022, Christchurch City Councillor Sara Templeton tracked down the IP address of an account used to target female politicians, including herself, Labour MP Megan Woods and former Labour MP Sarah Pallett.

Speaking about the abuse received as a public official, Templeton last year told The Post, “it’s awful”.

“We, as a whole, are disincentivised to not talk about it and we're basically told to not go public.”

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith confirmed he was having discussions with Speaker Gerry Brownlee about the security of MPs, particularly at their homes, and he was getting advice on the issue, with the view of potentially introducing legislation to the House.

Correction: This story previously said psychiatry registrars Dr Rhiannon Watson and Dr Lucy Hammans were from the University of Otago. While they are affiliated with the university, and the research was supervised by the university, they are not employed by Otago University. Story updated April 10, 4.20pm.