‘Lock Her Up’: Harassment and Violence Against Women in Alberta Politics

Abstract

Since the ‘Orange Wave’ of the 2015 election in Alberta, women within and outside of the NDP caucus have experienced incredible levels of harassment from both ideological opposition and within their own parties. This harassment occurs towards the government demonstrative of the most success in formal representation women have ever had in Albertan politics. This uptick in the frequency and severity of harassment online, in protest, and in traditional political channels such as party leadership contests lead some to question the role Alberta’s political culture played in it’s occurrence, and the impact such a culture may have in the future. Examined using theory of gendered electoral violence and in the larger context of women’s political leadership in Canada, this paper proposes that a further critical eye should be turned towards this phenomenon rather than including it as a part of the job of doing politics as a woman.