The litany of misogyny faced by female councillors across London is not just from the constituents they represent, as we have reported previously, but from the men they stand alongside, an Evening Standard investigation reveals.
A total of 14 female councillors told us they have been subjected to misogynistic abuse and in one case sexually harassed by a male colleague. We also heard evidence that the system for dealing with complaints is “broken”.
One Lib-Dem councillor said of her male colleague: “He stared at my chest constantly from my very first council meeting. People at the meeting later asked if I had noticed but no one said a word at the time. This has gone on for the length of my term. I am absolutely not standing again for re-election in May - it’s not worth it.”
Councillors said that the systems in place to regulate members’ misconduct were deficient, lacking in transparency and “make a mockery of the complaints process”.
The Committee on Standards in Public Life, which advises the government, recommended in 2019 that councils annually publish the Code of Conduct complaints they receive. But one in three of London’s boroughs do not have accessible records of these meetings.
Some boroughs ‘choose not to outline complaints’ in their written records, and we saw evidence that several internal Standards meetings have been postponed without review since 2014.
A male councillor told us he had concerns, both about sexism faced by his female colleagues from members of the group, and about his borough’s Standards Committee: “I think the major threat to local democracy isn’t from random members of the public, it’s from our colleagues.”
Some councillors added that the misogyny they face from colleagues is part of a wider toxic culture generally embedded in local government which, for some, has contributed to their decision not to stand again for election this May.
One councillor, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “There have been times when we female councillors have said to each other: “do we have the energy to bounce back and stand again?” But we stand again, so they will not win over us through gaslighting and abusive behaviour.”
Councillors are now concerned that the rising tide of misogyny, gaslighting and harassment they face in council meetings is preventing them from doing the work they had signed up for.
“If you’ve been so bullied and harassed that you can’t protect and serve the people who need their voices heard, then what’s the point?” said one Labour councillor.
Below are some examples of what female councillors have gone through.
“I tried to physically cover myself up […] to embarrass him into stopping”
Cllr Edwards*, Liberal Democrat
At Ms Edward’s first social meeting after being elected as a councillor, she sought out a male colleague to ask about some casework. Throughout their entire conversation about dropped kerbs, he kept staring at her chest, she said.
“I tried to physically cover myself up to try and embarrass him into stopping - it was so awkward.” His behaviour continued at other meetings and was so explicit that other councillors asked Ms Edwards “did you notice him looking at you like that?”
But Ms Edwards lacked faith in the systems meant to regulate councillor misconduct. In the two years that Ms Edwards sat on her borough’s Standards Committee, she told us she had not dealt with any complaints – they were all dismissed before reaching the committee.
Another councillor told us: “We’re lucky that we’ve got a female leader – she’ll fight for us, but if it ever goes to Standards, I don’t think we would get the outcome we hoped.”
“We need more women in these positions,” said Ms Edwards, who added that she will not be standing again. “It’s a shame because I’d love to be an example, but you have to put yourself first sometimes.”
“Women experience [abuse from colleagues] much worse than men - it’s more personal.”
*name has been changed
“The system is scarily dysfunctional, I’m stepping down”
Councillor Jo Rigby, Earlsfield, Wandsworth, Labour
The day after she was elected, a male councillor put up a picture of Ms Rigby and captioned it ‘cancelled’. He then began to drop hints that he was making enquiries about Ms Rigby’s personal life, such as “I know where you went to school”.
After he tweeted about her “minicab habits” when she took a taxi home after a council meeting - despite having walked a distance from the venue before hailing a cab made comments about her travel arrangements to and from council meetings - Ms Rigby put in a formal complaint about his behaviour to the Standards Committee.
As per Wandsworth council’s complaints procedure, Dame Moira Gibb, an independent investigating officer, penned a report on the complaint. This document, seen by the Standard, concludes that Ms Rigby’s treatment amounted to ‘bullying and unwanted attention’: “Does the behaviour in question represent a breach of the Wandsworth Code of Conduct? I believe that it does. I therefore recommend that councillor Rigby’s complaint of unwanted attention and bullying […] be upheld.”
But when a Standards Committee meeting was held to discuss the result of this independent investigation, Ms Rigby’s complaint was taken no further. A letter notified Ms Rigby: “the Committee voted that the complaint should not be taken forward to a Hearing Panel […] your complaint has therefore reached the end of the process and there will be no further action taken by me or the Council on this matter.”
Ms Rigby later found out that the male councillor in question had turned up to the Standards meeting ‘last minute’ and provided new evidence. Though this is not against procedure rules, and Ms Rigby does not know whether this affected the decision, she told us she wished she had been notified so that she too could have attended.
Another Wandsworth councillor told us they were “appalled by how [the complaint] was handled” and that the man in question “disproportionately bullied women”.
The councillor has been blocked by several other female councillors on Twitter. Ms Rigby is currently taking a break from Twitter due to the level of misogynistic abuse she receives daily.
Wandsworth council said that it “is satisfied that the process it took to investigate the complaint […] followed all due process.”
