Tory MPs shout sexist abuse at Luciana Berger MP

Today, when the Daily Mail is covered with sexist pictures of and comments about female Conservative politicians’ and in the wake of David  Cameron’s reshuffle that did little to champion gender equality, yet another example of the sexism in British politics has shown itself.

Luciana Berger  the Shadow Minister for Public Healthy has done an interview the Evening Standard where she everything from mental health to how to reduce obesity. But it wasn’t  her knowledge of these subjects that got the attention of the Tory MPs around her. The Standard reported that when she was being photographed for the piece, Conservative MPs started shouted sexist comments, like “hey gorgeous”, at her. 

This kind of behaviour isn’t necessarily uncommon in Westminster – think of all the other number stories of sexism and abuse that have emerged over the past couple of years. Or even last week, when Harriet Harman revealed that she’d been told that to survive as a woman in politics she should either be ‘clubbable’ or stay quiet.

Berger she said that the only way to change this kind of sexism is to get more women in Parliament. And she said, the same goes for –  more minority ethnic people and disabled people. She explained:  “If you happen to stumble across channel 81 [BBC Parliament], you don’t see something that reflects British society. That’s not just the male/female split, it’s different ages, backgrounds, ethnicities, disability…As long as we’re still something rare to look at, people will focus on us.”

We think she’s right. It’s a shame Cameron and some other male Conservatives don’t seem to be listening, maybe that’s because they’re so used to hurling sexist abuse at women or telling them to ‘calm down, dear’.