AS a woman in politics, I am no stranger to the feeling of being out in a ‘man’s world’ – no matter how far we have come in the hundred years since the first female MP took their seat, Nancy Astor, a fellow Westcountry MP.

I am only the 641st woman to be elected to the Commons in more than a century, out of a total of 694, which serves to show how far we still have to go.

Even before I won my seat in 2024, misogynistic mud slinging was in full force.

Just before Christmas, 2023, I was referred to as ‘a party-throwing, good-time-girl supremo head of scrutiny’.

In the same speech, the same individual accused me of having ‘a feather-bedded view of the world that does not set the springs of her legendary mattress twanging’.

Both comments are on the Hansard record of Parliamentary speeches.

I have no doubt, had I been a man, they would not have been made.

Unfortunately, we see comments like this far too much in politics.

Only this week, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said Labour briefings were ‘dripping with misogyny’, and over the past few weeks, political coverage has been wall to wall with mentions of ‘Morgan’s Boys’ Club’.

We never hear of a problematic ‘Girls’ Club’ in the same way we do ‘Boys’ Clubs’ – this is not to say they do not exist, but the connotations and ramifications are vastly different.

Last month, Clare Moody, police and crime commissioner for Avon and Somerset, a woman for whom I have a great amount of personal and professional respect, was subject to large quantities of misogynistic abuse, simply for putting her budget out for consultation.

Budget processes always engender strong views, as with everything to do with money, but the response to Clare’s consultation included so many tropes, and exemplified high levels of misogyny still present – particularly online – in today’s society.

My own team, and my constituents, regularly pick up those levels of comments on my social media, too – something I thankfully don’t manage myself.

I always wonder why it is that I, and other women in political spheres, are singled out?

Whether in the political world, in the media, online, or in person, being a strong woman is still seen in some circles as a threat.

Where men in grey suits can regularly engage in the sort of macho, boisterous behaviour of an ‘alpha male’ in the boardroom, or Cabinet Room, when a woman speaks up, she is shouted down.

Women are also still routinely paid less than men.

Unfortunately, while this misogynistic myth exists, it will continue to be more difficult to be a woman in today’s society than it should be.

I would much rather be talking about almost anything else, but, to return to the comments from earlier, as long as I and others like me have our ‘dainties’ and ‘mattresses’ talked about instead of our convictions, actions, and beliefs, I will keep using my platform as a woman, and my strong convictions, to call this treatment out.