Convened by
Prof. Agnès Alexandre-Collier (Université de Bourgogne, France / MFO)
Dr. Michael Drolet (Worcester College, Oxford)
The aim of this Roundtable and workshop on ‘Women, and the Politics of Civility/Incivility in Parliament and Public Life’ is to reflect on the profoundly aggressive nature of the Brexit debate, the responses to Covid-19, Black Lives Matter, and their consequences for parliamentary and public life by drawing on the experience of women. In an age of presumed sexual equality whose hollowness has been exposed and challenged, most recently by the #MeToo movement, it seemed extraordinary that under the premiership of the United Kingdom’s second female Prime Minister, Theresa May, prominent civil and political rights advocates, such as Gina Miller, MPs, such as Anna Soubry and Diane Abbott, justices and public officials, including Lady Hale, and journalists, academics and writers should be subject to abusive taunts, hate mail, and death-threats. The murder of Jo Cox MP made this menace real. And the quitting from UK politics by 18 prominent female MPs, including Heidi Allen, Nicky Morgan, Justin Greening, and Amber Rudd is indicative of an increasingly misogynistic politics and its consequences: an impoverishment of political discourse and debate, diminished social solidarity, and an upsurge in intimidation and violence, laid bare most tragically by the rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Metropolitan Police officer.
Please find the full programme and the registration details here.
