There seems to be a lot of confusion about misogyny. Why is it so prevalent in everything from social media diatribes to the nasty names and even violent language that female public servants and world leaders find themselves routinely subjected to? On the surface, it feels like the language of hate, especially when it urges people to strike out and commit violent acts. At its core, however, misogyny is a tool to control others, whether it’s directed at a different race, religion, or gender. And historical evidence shows how successfully it has been used by a privileged group to subdue an individual or “other” group who may threaten their dominance. Remember the thousands of women burned as witches?
Control through demeaning language, hate speech, and violence or threats of violence is nothing new, and the tactics are often used to put women in their place. In her book, Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny, Kate Manne explores misogyny in public life and politics, arguing against limiting its cause to the hate or hostility some men feel toward women. “Rather, it’s primarily about controlling, policing, punishing, and exiling the ‘bad’ women who challenge male dominance. And it’s compatible with rewarding ‘the good ones’ and singling out other women to serve as warnings to those who are out of order,” she says. Written after the 2016 election, Manne shows no surprise at the way misogyny was directed at Hillary Clinton in quality or quantity. She is also not surprised at how people overlooked “Donald Trump’s history of sexual assault and harassment,” arguing that “exonerating or showing ‘himpathy’ for the relatively privileged men who dominate, threaten, and silence women” coincides with misogyny as its “pernicious underbelly.”
On the world stage, several women have stepped down from leadership positions in the wake of misogynist attacks, and women occupying legislative seats overall has decreased to 27%. Linda Robinson reported on “The Global Assault on Women in Politics” for World Affairs. In her discussion of the overwhelming advance of authoritarian governments worldwide, she pointed out several women who chose to step down even when they were popular leaders, including Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s former prime minister; Sigrid Kaag, Dutch Deputy Prime Minister, who was under heavy police protection because of death threats and resigned after her daughters publicly begged her to do so for fear that she would be killed; Sanna Marin, Finland’s youngest prime minister and the third woman to serve in that role; and Slovakia’s crusading anti-corruption president, Zuzana Caputova. Robinson says that global statistics are incomplete, but women are shying away from political office because of the onslaught of threats and online abuse. “Studies show that women holding state and local office are three to four times as likely as men to experience gender-based abuse.”
Robinson’s report continued with even more frightening data, “In a recent gathering on the margins of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, Microsoft executives sat agog as women parliamentarians from Africa, Europe, and Latin America described the vicious threats that arrive in their inboxes several times every hour. Lucia Nicholsonova, the former deputy speaker of Slovakia’s Parliament and current European Parliament member, read a lengthy, graphic tweet from someone who vowed to silence her by threatening to rape, sodomize, mutilate, and murder her. Silvana Koch-Mehrin, the founder of Women Political Leaders, the group that convened the event, cited a study that found that rates of hateful tweets can average 2,000 per hour.”
We’re not immune to these kinds of threats and violence in the U.S., either. We can all remember the threat to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and the attack on Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi’s husband. All you have to do is turn on the TV or scroll through your social media feed to find examples of women in the United States being demeaned and denigrated for being courageous enough to run for office in 2024. But their numbers are declining as well. The Center for American Women and Politics reports the number of likely women candidates has declined 21% since 2022, when the total was 513, and 14 U.S. Congresswomen have chosen not to run for re-election. Bottom line, misogynist control strategies seem to be working to pare back the numbers of potential women leaders just when elected women had reached an all-time high.
A government cannot claim to be a democracy without fully representing its population. As we struggle to reach our ideal of parity across the board and elect women who truly represent us, we need to call out misogyny for what it is—an attempt to control 51% of the population without regard for freedom and right to a productive life of our choosing. If misogyny wins in the U.S. in 2024, representation will slip even further away, weakening Title VII and IX provisions and moving control of women backward into ages before the illusive protections of the Civil Rights Amendment.
It is time to pay attention – to support one another, engage with one another, and work for our common good. We must elect more women leaders, promote more women to leadership positions, and support the next generation of women to lead the world. Follow former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s advice not to take seriously any man (or woman) who resorts to misogynist attacks against a woman leader, then get engaged, refuse to be silenced by misogyny, and choose the course to empower more women leaders. Remember, when women lead, everyone wins.