Stylist Magazine published an article last Friday investigating why women MPs are standing down ahead of the UK General Election on December 12. Exploring the reasons behind their decisions and the recent media coverage of the issue, Stylist asked Atalanta CEO, Eva Barboni, her thoughts:
Eva Barboni is the founder of Atalanta, a social enterprise dedicated to advancing women’s leadership that has conducted in-depth research on the effects of online abuse. Reporting on this topic can be “a little bit of a double-edged sword,” says Barboni.
“The underlying issue of abuse needs to be addressed, whether or not it’s always cited by women as a reason for leaving politics.” But, she adds, some media coverage of online abuse and its effect on women MPs “can have a counterproductive effect”, inadvertently reinforcing the sexist view that “women just can’t hack it” in politics and potentially deterring other women from standing for election.
Read the full article here.
