Political parties must come together to make politics a safe space for women, Scotland’s Deputy First Minister has said after the “wake-up call” delivered by Mhairi Black’s decision to step down at the general election.
Shona Robison urged young women not to be deterred from standing for public office despite the abuse often targeted at female politicians on social media.
She was speaking after seven SNP MPs confirmed they would not seek re-election at the upcoming general election, including Ms Black, the SNP depute leader at Westminster, who described the UK Parliament’s working environment as “toxic” earlier this month.
Ms Black, who was first elected in 2015, said she would not contest her Paisley and Renfrewshire South MP seat and described Westminster as “one of the most unhealthy workplaces that you can ever be in”.
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However, Ms Robison appealed to likeminded and opposition parties to work together to “make politics a better place” in the wake of Ms Black’s decision to resign.
Speaking to the PA news agency during a visit to the Inverclyde Royal Hospital, where she met volunteers from Compassionate Inverclyde, who offer end of life support for patients, said: “This is a challenge for all political parties, and I think for politics generally, that we really need to listen to what Mhairi Black was saying.
“It’s something that we all need to address as politicians because if we’re going to get the future generation, particularly young women, into politics, it has to be a better place.
“We’ve all got a vested interest in doing that, and I’m keen that we try to work across parties to make politics a better place. I think it’s a bit of a wake-up call to be honest.”
Ms Robison, who is also Finance Secretary, was first elected to Holyrood in 1999 and said women in politics are often judged more harshly on their appearance than their male counterparts.
‘Women get a particularly hard time’
She said: “As a woman in politics, it can be hard. I think women get a particularly hard time. It’s more about what they are wearing, their appearance, everything is questioned, I think to a higher degree than perhaps our male counterparts and that is something that should be of concern to all of us.
“However, I would still say despite all of that we have a job as existing politicians to make it better for the next generation of politicians coming through.
“We need to look at ways of how we can do that and how we can make it better but my message to any young women thinking of coming into politics is do it.”
Falkirk MP John McNally, 72, became the latest SNP MP to rule himself out of re-election, following Ms Black; former Westminster SNP leader Ian Blackford; and ex-party deputy leader Stewart Hosie.
Peter Grant, Angela Crawley and Douglas Chapman will also not contest their seats.
Wellbeing Economy Secretary Neil Gray, who left Westminster to become an MSP at the Scottish Parliament, told the PA news agency on Thursday he can “understand why some are choosing to stand down”.
He added: “I pay tribute to all of those who have given the service that they have – each of them who has chosen to stand down has done incredible service there.
“I know them all well and respect them all, having served with them for varying lengths of time when I was at Westminster.”
