Women in high profile positions seem to be copping unprecedented levels of abuse and threats – both online and in other ways. Senior writer Mary Anne Gill asks: what is going on?
Waipa mayor Susan O’Regan at Fieldays this year with from left: Taupo MP Louise Upston, Fieldays president Jenni Vernon, Taranaki-King Country MP Barbara Kuriger and Waikato Regional Council chair Pamela Storey. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
Waipā mayor Susan O’Regan was at the Fieldays when she heard someone had put an effigy of her sitting on a toilet in a wheelbarrow at the end of Wilson Street in Cambridge.
The location was deliberate – it was at the end of the controversial cycleways portion of the Cambridge Connections transport project.
O’Regan hid her emotions well at Fieldays and continued with her civic duty – representing the district at the southern hemisphere’s largest agricultural expo.
But it clearly rattled her as did the news later someone had followed a family member home to her Kakepuku farm.
Both incidents were reported to the police who have found a car “of interest” in the second one.
Among elected officials, O’Regan is not alone.
Nicola Willis speaking at Waikato Chamber of Commerce breakfast. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
National Party deputy leader Nicola Willis spoke to women leaders at the Local Government New Zealand conference in Wellington last month and talked of the “toxic” comments she is exposed to on a regular basis.
Her mothering skills among other things have been questioned by online trolls. So bad has it got that the Ministry for Women is working with Netsafe to develop a toolkit for workplaces so they can support women in leadership positions.
Taupō MP Louise Upston told The News she had experienced the same sort of abuse for years and bemoaned the impact on families but called on the community to “call them out”.
“I do think that it has got out of hand in recent years and that is concerning,” she said.
“But you know I love Nicola’s attitude. I don’t listen to them. I don’t pay attention to them. I’ve got a job I need to do and that’s what I’m doing.
“And I do think that we have to call it out and the more people in the community who are calling it out, the better.”
Taupo MP Louise Upston at her Friendly Forum. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
Upston, a mother of three now grown-up children, said she had to prepare her family for some of the responses. Her portfolios in this government and previously have tended to be controversial – when she was Minister of Corrections, she launched mental health pilot programmes for prisoners and a new strategy to manage women offenders. This term as Social Development minister she introduced a traffic light system for the Jobseeker Support benefit and restructured the Ministry of Disabled People as Disability Issues minister.
Speaking after a “Friendly Forum” in Cambridge which at times was distinctly unfriendly, Upston said she had to prepare her family for the pressure.
“It’d be nice to say that you shouldn’t have to, but you do. I would just say to anyone who’s concerned about it, don’t be a bystander. Call it out and that’s what will help stop it.”
The abuse and trolling would prevent many women from standing for public office, she said.
“It’s a very small and unpleasant part of a job but it doesn’t take away the enormous contribution and difference you can make and that’s what I focus on.”
Katherine O’Regan
O’Regan is baffled by what is going on and suggests her mother the late Katherine O’Regan – who was a Member of Parliament and Waipā County councillor – did not experience anything approaching what her daughter has had to put up with.
“It forms a part of a broader phenomenon around New Zealand but when it’s directed at you personally and in such a nasty, and aggressive and dare I say in a misogynist kind of way, you can’t help but catch your breath a little,” O’Regan said.
“When it comes to the safety of your family, that’s the point you get your heckles up and will do everything and anything to protect them.”
The effigy was “pretty unnerving,” she said.
“Other than the obvious messaging and the symbolism that some of it displayed and conveyed, there were some issues that were a little perplexing.”
Stephanie O’Sullivan – New Waipa CEO acknowledges mayor Susan O’Regan as she enters her powhiri. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
New Waipā chief executive Stephanie O’Sullivan mentioned O’Regan’s experience in passing during her powhiri speech last month and told The News she had been a recipient of attacks in her past positions.
O’Sullivan joined Waipā from Whakatāne District Council where she had been chief executive during the Whakaari/White Island tragedy.
“They (the attacks) can become quite personal and quite direct.
“And people forget that you are a member of the community and you’re a member of a family and a loved one.
“People become very strong (in their views), and the keyboard warriors come out. What worries me is it’s a sign of elevated anxiety in our communities,” she said.
Social media had given people with “inherent biases” a platform to come out and direct comments at women and minorities as well.
How do you get women to stand for office?
The strain showed on then Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s face while attending Fieldays a month out from her resignation. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
“So, we women as leaders need to stand strongly together and support each other. And I’ve always been a strong supporter of that. Keep face to face conversations going as much as possible and encourage respect and value of diversity.
“And absolutely call it out,” said O’Sullivan.
Leading the way: Waikato mayors, from left: Jacqui Church, Adrienne Wilcock, Paula Southgate and Susan O’Regan. Photo: Moko Tepania.
Waikato women leaders have had to tread a careful line – on one hand not wanting to present themselves as overly sensitive to the sort of criticism their male counterparts experience – but point out it is women who are disproportionately targeted.
Hamilton city councillors Angela O’Leary and Louise Hutt told media earlier this year the abuse had become overwhelming and came about due to unmoderated misinformation shared on social media platforms like Facebook.
O’Sullivan said there was enough evidence of “concerted” abuse directed at women in leadership that was unique.
Upston says she loves her job but hates the politics.
“Have intense political debates and discussions on policy but don’t make it personal.”
Pamela Storey, Adrienne Wilcock, Susan O’Regan, Paula Southgate, Angela O’Leary and Liz Stolwyk lead the revival of Waikato Women in Politics. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
Before the last local body elections, potential female candidates gathered in Cambridge to talk about the challenges women face: L-r Judy Bannon, Louise Upston, Jenni Dacomb, Alana Mackay, Elise Badger, Jo Davies-Colley, Liz Stolwyk, Susan O’Regan, Norma Mackie, Sue Milner; sitting Rosemary Hill.
