The Short Read
- 9 in 10 women councillors surveyed in Scotland said they had experienced sexism, misogyny or gender-based violence in the course of their work.
- The findings come from Engender’s new report, Part of the Job?, based on survey responses from 59 current and former women councillors and interviews with 16 participants.
- Abuse included microaggressions, cyberviolence, psychological violence, sexual harassment and physical violence.
- Nearly half of the respondents said their experiences had made them less vocal.
- The findings place Scottish local politics inside a wider global pattern: women in public-facing roles continue to face abuse that affects participation, safety and leadership.
Scottish women councillors report widespread abuse at work
Nine in ten women councillors surveyed in Scotland have reported sexism, misogyny or gender-based violence in the course of their work, according to new research by Engender.
The report, titled Part of the Job? Women councillors’ experiences of sexism, misogyny and gender-based violence in Scottish Councils draws on responses from 59 current and former women councillors and in-depth interviews with 16 participants.
The findings are stark. Among respondents who had experienced sexism, misogyny or violence, 98% reported microaggressions, 77% reported cyberviolence, 64% reported psychological violence, 40% reported sexual harassment, and 11% reported physical violence.
Almost three-quarters had experienced at least three forms of violence.
For a workplace, that is a serious institutional warning. For democracy, it is a representation risk.
Councillors sit close to everyday public life. They deal with housing, schools, public transport, social care, waste, planning, community safety and local budgets. Their work is public, local and often personal. When women in these roles face abuse, the impact travels beyond the individual. It can change who speaks, who stays, who stands for office and whose voice reaches the table.
The abuse came from inside and outside the system
The Engender research found that fellow councillors were identified as the most common perpetrators, ahead of members of the public.
That detail matters. Public-facing women often expect a degree of hostility from strangers, particularly online. Abuse from colleagues or political peers is harder to dismiss as external noise. It points towards workplace culture, power and reporting systems.
The report also found widespread underreporting. Among respondents who had experienced sexual harassment, 81% had not reported it.
Underreporting is common in many workplaces because complaints carry social and professional risks. The person who reports may fear retaliation, loss of credibility, party pressure, reputational damage or being marked as difficult. In politics, where relationships, alliances and visibility shape careers, that risk can feel even sharper.
Abuse at work often survives in the gap between what people experience and what institutions are willing to record. That gap is where workplace culture quietly does its damage.
The larger pattern is familiar across sectors. Whether it appears as structural violence at work, everyday sexist behaviour or open threats, the result is usually the same: women begin calculating the cost of visibility.
Women became less vocal
The consequences reported by women councillors were not limited to distress or discomfort.
Almost 50% of the respondents said their experiences had made them less vocal. Nearly 20% said they had been excluded from decision-making. Nearly 33% said they would not recommend becoming a councillor to other women. Among respondents under 55, that figure rose to 45%.
Engender also reported that some women had cancelled constituent surgeries because of safety concerns, withdrawn from social media, attended council meetings online to avoid in-person contact with perpetrators, quit their posts, or chosen not to stand again.
That is how abuse changes institutions. It rarely needs to remove every woman from the room. It can make women speak less, post less, travel less, campaign less, report less and mentor fewer younger women into public life.
The effect is cumulative. A council chamber may still have women in it, while the conditions around participation keep shrinking.
That should worry anyone who cares about leadership pipelines. When women have to weigh public service against abuse, democracy loses talent before voters even get a choice.
Why local politics is a workplace issue
There is a tendency to discuss abuse against women councillors as a political problem alone. It is also a workplace problem.
Councillors have duties, meetings, colleagues, procedures, reporting lines, public-facing responsibilities and safety needs. They operate inside institutions that can either protect them or leave them exposed.
Workplace abuse does not always look like a formal incident. It can arrive as sexist interruptions, hostile comments, online threats, whispered reputational attacks, sexualised remarks, pressure to stay silent, exclusion from key decisions or intimidation dressed up as political roughness.
Women in many workplaces recognise this texture. They may not be councillors, but they know how credibility can be chipped away through jokes, tone, gossip, doubts about competence and penalties for speaking up.
The old expectation that women should remain agreeable, composed and endlessly resilient has also played a role. The pressure captured in the good girl syndrome at work often makes reporting harder. Women are pushed to be professional, calm and cooperative even when the environment around them is hostile.
For women in politics, that burden can sit beside public scrutiny, party discipline and online abuse.
The global pattern is difficult to ignore
The Scottish findings should not be read as an isolated national failure. Abuse against women in public and professional life is a global issue.
The International Labour Organisation adopted Convention 190 in 2019, recognising violence and harassment in the world of work as a global labour concern. The convention includes gender-based violence and harassment, and covers conduct occurring in the course of work, linked with work or arising out of work.
In politics, the Inter-Parliamentary Union has repeatedly documented sexist abuse, harassment and violence against women parliamentarians. An earlier global study found that 81.8% of women parliamentarians surveyed had experienced psychological violence. A later Asia-Pacific study reported similarly troubling patterns among women MPs and parliamentary staff.
The country changes, the setting changes, and the method changes. But the message often stays the same: women who enter public life are expected to absorb more hostility than men as part of the price of participation.
That is the part institutions must refuse to normalise.
What Engender has called for
Engender has called for urgent action ahead of Scotland’s local council elections due in 2027.
Its recommendations include a comprehensive independent review of the safety of women councillors in Scotland, an examination of reporting procedures, anonymous complaint mechanisms, protection from retaliation, and consideration of whether a dedicated independent body is needed to handle complaints of gender-based violence against politicians.
The organisation has also called for mandatory training on violence against women for all elected members, council standing orders explicitly prohibiting violence against women in politics, equal access to employee assistance schemes for councillors, and improved security provisions aligned with protections available to MPs and MSPs.
The recommendations are practical because the issue is practical. Women do not need vague solidarity after abuse has happened. They need systems that reduce risk, make complaints safer, protect them from retaliation and set clear consequences for perpetrators.
In public life, prevention is also a retention strategy.
Why this matters for women’s leadership
Abuse at work has a chilling effect on leadership.
Women who are already carrying care responsibilities, financial pressure, party expectations, public scrutiny or midlife family demands may find the additional burden of abuse impossible to absorb. For many women, especially those navigating the sandwich generation workplace, the decision to stay visible comes with personal trade-offs.
That is where the Scottish report reaches beyond politics. Many organisations want more women in leadership. Fewer are willing to examine the conditions women must survive on the way there.
Representation cannot depend on women developing a thicker skin. We have used that phrase as an excuse for too long. Better institutions ask different questions.
- Who is causing harm?
- Who is being protected by silence?
- Do reporting systems work?
- Are women safe after they complain?
- Does online abuse receive an institutional response?
- Are men in power expected to intervene, or merely avoid being perpetrators themselves?
The answers decide whether women’s participation grows or quietly recedes.
Combatting abuse at work: The Change in Content view
The Scotland research gives workplaces, political parties and public institutions a clear warning: abuse pushes women out long before resignation letters are written.
A woman may still attend meetings, campaign, respond to residents and sit through debates. Her participation may already be narrowing. She may speak less. Travel less. Post less. Report less. Encourage fewer women to join.
That is how power becomes smaller.
The lesson is not Scotland-specific. India, the UK, the US, Europe, Asia-Pacific and many other regions are confronting their own versions of gendered abuse in public and professional life. Blaming one culture or one country gives everyone else an easy escape.
The harder work is shared.
Build reporting systems that women can trust.
Train people before harm escalates.
Treat online abuse as a safety issue.
Make retaliation costly.
Expect men in institutions to intervene when misogyny shows up.
Protect women’s participation with the same seriousness used to protect institutional reputation.
Small actions matter when they become systems.
A safer workplace is built on complaints handled properly, meetings chaired fairly, jokes stopped early, threats recorded, women believed, and perpetrators denied the comfort of silence. That is where change begins to look real.
FAQs
Q: What did the Scotland report find about abuse at work?
A: Engender’s report found that nine in ten women councillors surveyed in Scotland had experienced sexism, misogyny or gender-based violence in the course of their work.
Q: What forms of abuse did women councillors report?
A: Respondents reported microaggressions, cyberviolence, psychological violence, sexual harassment and physical violence. Many experienced more than one form of abuse.
Q: Why is abuse of politicians and councillors a workplace issue?
A: Councillors operate inside formal institutions with colleagues, meetings, duties, reporting systems and safety needs. Abuse affects participation, decision-making, retention and leadership.
Q: Is abuse against women in public life limited to Scotland?
A: No. International research from organisations such as the ILO and IPU shows that violence, harassment and gendered abuse against women in work and politics are global concerns.
Editorial Note
This article is based on publicly available reporting and research, including Engender’s report Part of the Job?, coverage by The National, international labour standards from the International Labour Organisation, and Inter-Parliamentary Union research on violence against women in politics. It is written as a DEI Insights news analysis for Change in Content.
Sources
International Labour Organisation: Violence and harassment in the world of work
International Labour Organisation: Convention No. 190
Inter-Parliamentary Union: Sexism, harassment and violence against women parliamentarians
Inter-Parliamentary Union: IPU study reveals widespread sexism, harassment and violence against women MPs
