'You're almost afraid to say what you think': Harassment contributing to women in Cork leaving politics

AN ELECTED member of Cork County Council, who has announced her intention not to run again, has said she received a death threat and online abuse during her two terms as a councillor.

During an investigation by The Echo into the harassment of local female councillors and candidates, Midleton-based Fine Gael councillor Susan McCarthy said her decision not to run again was not because of the hand-written death threat she received or the online abuse, but to regain a proper work/life balance.

“Abuse would be a certain part of it, I did receive a death threat once, it wasn’t on social media, it was a hand-written letter — it was frightening,” said Ms McCarthy.

She referenced the murder in Britain of Westminster MP Jo Cox in 2017 when the Labour politician was attacked by a man with far-right views near her constituency office.

“For all that to be going on in the UK and then to get a death threat, I did not take it lightly, I can tell you. It affected me, it affected my husband, it affected our family, it affected my extended family, my parents, everybody.”

Fine Gael councillor for East Cork, Susan McCarthy, recently announced her intention to step back, and the move means her name will not be on the ballot paper for the first time since 2014.

“I think public representatives become public representatives because they want to be a voice for their area, they think it’s going to give them more of a voice for what’s right and wrong in the world,” she said.

“But it nearly gags you, it nearly stops you having a voice because you’re almost afraid to say what you think because there will be a pile on.”

While online abuse wasn’t the key factor in her decision not to go forward once again, she said it definitely contributed to the decision.

She said that she had also received a handwritten death threat while a councillor, a situation which had impacted not alone herself but her family and wider circle of relatives.

Abuse targeted at women

“All public representatives get abuse, but what’s very very interesting is that, according to a report which came out last year, women get eight times the abuse men get,” said Ms McCarthy, referring to a report published by the National Women’s Council which looked at the period between September 2020 and September 2021.

“It’s quite staggering,” she said. “It’s not double, it’s not treble, it’s eight times more abuse.

“They seem to be perceived as an easier target by the type of people who are keyboard warriors who seem to be freer in what they will say to a woman online.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re perceived to be a strong woman or quiet, it doesn’t matter.”

Ms McCarthy said sometimes she had received abuse in direct messages, which aren’t viewable by the public, because the writers know what they put in these messages are so vile they would prompt other online users to pile on themselves.

“The real shocker is these people are protecting themselves against an onslaught, but they’re quite willing to be part of an onslaught,” she said.

Withdrawl from social media 

The councillor said she had been very prominent on social media after being first elected, but had gradually withdrawn during her second term of office.

“I found it was a good thing because my time was better spent — I worked really hard and it freed up time as I didn’t have to curate posts, make it look a certain way, try to think of what you’re going to say and how you’re going to look,” she said.

If fewer female candidates go forward for election next year, it will mean the councils will finish up even more male, more pale, and more stale, and this is something which is of concern to all the parties.

“Politics is one of the areas which heavily male-dominated — the environment needs to change to be more conducive to females coming up,” she said, adding that the quotas were certainly helping as it means that each party must have 40% female and 40% male candidates at least.

She acknowledged that she had noticed an improvement, that there was more acceptance to seeing female politicians than when she started out.

“Even before I was ever elected as a councillor, and I had just declared that I was going to run for Fine Gael and I remember the day of my public launch, I put something up on Twitter defending a Fine Gael councillor over something, and next thing there was a group of people, affiliated to a certain party structure different to my own, and it got very nasty, and it kept on coming in and coming in,” she said.

“It was coming in to such an extent that I really was not used to it and it really upset me, and when I went up to give my launch speech that evening, it was with red eyes because I had literally been so upset all day, it was relentless — that was really a good example of how bad it was.”

She said there was a difference now as “you don’t get the organised pile-on” as much.

“The exposure on social media contributed to my decision, 100%, but the key thing really with our job is that it’s time and energy, your work/life balance, you give up so much of your life to politics, you really have to give it everything,” she said.

“Is it worth it — is it fair to my party to go if I’m not going to give it 100%?

“And that’s where I found myself, I have to be honest about that.

“Abuse would be a certain part of it, I did receive a death threat once, it wasn’t on social media, it was a handwritten letter — it was frightening,” she said, referring to the murder in the UK of Westminster MP Jo Cox which happened in 2017 when the Labour Party politician was attacked near her constituency office by a man with far-right views.

“For all that to be going on in the UK and then to get a death threat, I did not take it lightly I can tell you — it affected me, it affected my husband, it affected our family, it affected my extended family, my parents, everybody.

“People don’t realise the effect these things have, you should be very, very careful of what you commit to paper or online, what you say to people, you really do need to have a strong look at yourself — what effect are you going to have on people?”

Relief 

Now that she has decided that she will not run again, she feels relief and looks back on her time in local politics with mixed feelings. There’s also a tinge of regret as she had thought she might go further in politics, perhaps stand for the Dáil.

“You have to have a fire in your belly — someone told me that and it really is true,” she said.

“It’s not about money, it’s not about thanks, it’s about wanting to see the betterment of your area, really.”

Pressure to be always on call 

Sinn Féin councillor Danielle Twomey announced her intention to step down in the wake of the recent floods and described the week and a half when the Storm Babet floods hit Cork as the “worst of her professional career and personal life”.

“The last year I’ve experienced issues relating to my position that has made me question whether this is the right career for me, from online harassment that still continues, to undermining and backhanded moves from certain members of my own party against me,” she wrote in her statement announcing her decision on social media.

“And, honestly, it’s affected me mentally and has tarnished the whole experience for me.”

She outlined her thinking about how to deal with the incessant abuse and it did offer some relief.

“If you’re going to go online and make derogatory nasty comments about people you don’t know, that’s not normal behaviour, and because I switched my thinking on it and thought: ‘Well, we’re not dealing with somebody who’s not acting in a normal capacity’, that kind of took the sting out of it for me.

“That being said, it still doesn’t make it right.

“The job as a councillor is quite intense and it’s not a 9-5 job like it was, maybe, a long time ago — now there’s additional pressures on you because of social media, you’re expected to be on call all the time and if you don’t answer people, you could get a comment on social media — ‘she didn’t answer me on time’.

“The pressure is always on you to be always on call. The social media platforms have given people the capacity to give you abuse when you don’t live up to their expectations — and they can do it anonymously, which is so frustrating.

“For me, personally, it was definitely the start of me losing the love for the job because I kind of felt: ‘Why am I doing this, spending all this time away from my children?’. I love the job, it’s very rewarding, but when you’re getting this toxicity about the things you’re trying to do, it takes the shine off it a little bit.”

Rewards 

When Ms Twomey says the job is rewarding, she is not referring to the increased stipend paid to councillors.

“It’s rewarding because you can make a difference in your own community, you can help people and that’s the only reason I ever wanted to get involved in politics, because I wanted to help people, I wanted to make our little community a better place for my children, for everybody else’s children, that was something that was a huge driver for me,” she said.

“I found a way of navigating a way through the political system and getting things done to the best way I could — and I think I was probably good at that, but did I make myself a target.

“If I was on TV, I’d have comments made about the way I looked, my looks, and I just don’t think that a male politician... there’s definitely an element of being an easy target because you’re a female.”

Impact for new candidates 

Online harassment is a factor for new candidates as well as sitting councillors. Laura Harmon has recently been announced as the Labour candidate in Cork City South West.

She told The Echo that she felt social media harassment had “gotten worse in recent years”. “It’s less of a safe space now,” the former Union of Students in Ireland president and a leading campaigner in the Repeal the Eighth and Equal Marriage Referendum campaigns.

“For me, the worst abuse I got was when I was protesting against the far right in Cork city last summer when they were trying to close the library. It’s usually cowards behind fake accounts but they are often co-ordinated and some of the images they send and names they called me would make you sick.

“I block and mute abusive people online frequently.”

She still maintains that social media can be a fantastic way to get a message across.

“It’s very much part of political campaigning,” she said. “But I believe that social media companies need to do more to protect users on their platforms, including women and minority groups of men too. If women are being pushed out of politics because of abuse online, that’s a threat to democracy.”

Reduced interest from candidates

Fine Gael councillor for the Macroom/Millstreet municipal area, Eileen Lynch, said her party was finding less interest among prospective candidates in putting their names forward.

“It’s incredibly difficult, and I was only elected in 2019, it’s getting even more difficult,” said the councillor who has spoken previously of getting abuse, both online and in person.

“I think it’s why you’re seeing people drop off, why you’re seeing a large amount of councillors not contesting the next locals.

“It’s good to speak out about it, but it’s not necessarily changing what’s happening — still the narrative is out there and it’s probably deterring people from going into it.”

Ms Lynch said she had no experience of getting face-to-face abuse, adding: “It’s online, it’s by phone, it’s by email — the worst thing is that sometimes people can send you really abusive messages or slate you on Facebook and you bump into them in your local town the next week and they’re like: ‘Hi, how are you?’.

“It’s easier to do it through those mediums, even to give out to somebody over the phone, it’s a lot easier than to do it to their face.”

According to Ms Lynch, the challenge in finding new candidates means the political world will find it difficult to renew itself. She added that, having seen the recent Public Accounts Committee hearings about RTÉ, she felt that politics needed renewal and an infusion of quality.

“Anybody who has a modicum of sense is, like: ‘Nah, why would I do that, you’re putting yourself up in full view, you’re on call 24/7’, and, from a councillor’s point of view as well, finance has to come into it.

“Any councillor that I know that are that bit younger and have a family are working as well, at a minimum part-time.

“Some are working up to four days a week on top of being a councillor, and it’s very difficult to do all of that.”

Appeal for kindness

The Storm Babet floods had a devastating impact on Fianna Fáil councillor Ann Marie Ahern whose home and business in Midleton was impacted when the river burst its banks. Such was the abuse she suffered, even though her auctioneer business was badly hit, that she issued an appeal for kindness in the wake of disaster.

“It’s just a bit of nastiness and hurtfulness,” she said. “I would ask that people would just be kind to each other at this stage when we are coming out the other end, the adrenaline is gone and people are just tired.

“For people who have lost their homes and businesses, myself included, the stark reality of that is only hitting home these days.

“If we could just respect each other and be kind to each other.”

Cork’s two local authorities, the County and City Councils, have 86 elected members between them at present, and this includes a total of 26 female councillors, 21 on the county council and five on the city council.

Whether the group picture following next year’s elections includes as many or fewer female politicians will tell its own story.