A story in the Mail on Sunday reporting claims by Conservative MPs about Angela Rayner has been widely criticized as misogynist. But is that the exception rather than the rule when it comes to culture in parliament?
It would be hard to argue that historically Westminster was an easy place to be a woman.
A 2004 report entitled Whose Secretary Are You? – heard from women MPs, including Labour’s Barbara Follett, who recalled Conservatives pretending to juggle imaginary breasts when a woman spoke in the House of Commons.
Ex-education secretary Gillian Shephard said one of her colleagues called all women Betty because “you’re all the same”.
And Harriet Harman – who went on to become Labor Deputy Leader – said when asked about a promotion: “Who did you sleep with?”
This report was written almost two decades ago – do MPs think much has changed since then?
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Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves says the problem is “still massive”, adding: “There is not a single female MP or staff member in the House of Commons who does not have their own stories of sexism and misogyny.”
Speaking to the BBC about her own experience, she said that in 2015, when she was pregnant with her second child, someone suggested she wouldn’t be able to be in government because “I’m not focused on that could have a baby and have a great job”.
“Nobody says that about male MPs – that they can’t be high-ranking politicians and have children.”
Caroline Nokes – the Conservative Chair of the Women and Equality Committee – told BBC 5 Live that she had not experienced overt sexism, adding: “It would take a very brave man.”
However, she added that she had heard of comments being made “behind my back”.
“I can imagine a minister in the current government speaking openly about my sex life, as if one should be ashamed when his own is much more colorful and diverse.
“He calls me horrid names in the tea room… Westminster is a very garrulous place, I remember.”
She said she couldn’t use the term on the radio but said it was “awkward, demeaning, offensive”.
Ms Nokes also argued that women MPs were treated “unfairly” not only by their peers but also in the media.
“They focus on their looks, what they wear, their hair, as opposed to the substance of what they say – you rarely see any type of coverage of the looks of male MPs.”
Her comments were echoed by her Tory colleague Alicia Kearns – MP for Rutland and Melton – who said “some journalists are unable to write about women MPs without vilifying their looks rather than their politics”.
But journalist Isabel Oakeshott said Westminster was not full of “marauding sexists” and that things “have gotten a lot better”.
She suggested the problem was “as much with newspapers as it is with Westminster culture”, adding that newspapers may be lagging behind on this issue.
“That’s how papers work,” she told the BBC’s World at One program. “You’re going to be looking for a story that has a central female character, who is what the papers privately call a ‘presentable woman.’
“I don’t think we should automatically assume that because of the celebrity [Angela Rayner] The Mail on Sunday reported that there was a huge problem in Westminster.
“That’s not to say there isn’t a problem in Westminster, there is in almost every workplace.”
With depressing regularity we are reminded that Westminster can be a very uncomfortable place to work for women.
In this case, an insulting comment about how a senior politician dresses rather than what she says, with a dose of snobbery.
But perhaps we should take heart from the reaction to this uncomfortable story. MPs from all parties, the Prime Minister and the Speaker of the House of Commons publicly condemn misogyny.
The rise of women MPs and political journalists has dramatically changed and improved the atmosphere in the House of Commons over the past 30 years, but there is still much room for improvement.
Regulating what male MPs say privately to journalists or to each other will not be easy. But a loud chorus of disapproval when these comments come to light should help get the message across that times have changed.
Those looking for signs of progress could point to recent changes in the way complaints of harassment are handled.
The #MeToo campaign, which saw women telling their own stories of sexual harassment, raised questions about culture in Westminster – particularly the way young staff members were treated by MPs.
Former employees complained not only about the behavior of MPs, but also about how their complaints were dealt with.
A report by a Supreme Court judge found that aggressive, lewd and intimidating behavior by MPs had been “tolerated and concealed” for years.
A new independent complaints mechanism has been set up, excluding MPs from the process of assessing whether one of their colleagues has breached rules of conduct.
Conservative Andrea Leadsom, who helped set up the new system, has acknowledged it needs improvement, telling the BBC last year that investigating complaints is taking too long.
“And that is not the malicious intent of anyone, but justice delayed is justice denied. If the solution takes a year or more, it will undermine the credibility of the plan,” she said.
Ms Harman – the longest-serving female MP in the House of Commons – is hoping the new procedures will stop what is “widespread”.
However, when asked if things had improved since her early days in the 1980s, she said no.
“The things I was exposed to when I was a young MP… that’s what happens to Angela Rayner.
“Sexist briefing is an age-old way of silencing people… it’s rooted in the idea that women should just shut up and stay at home and have no right to be in Parliament.
“Well, it won’t work. Because women won’t be silenced.”
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