Call to show Wiltshire politicians more respect ahead of local elections
A women's safety group in Salisbury says gender-based abuse of local councillors is not acceptable
A women's safety group in Wiltshire says 'it's not ok' for local politicians to be abused based on their gender.
The call comes from Salisbury Soroptimists ahead of next week's local elections - with around 1 in 4 candidates being female.
Liz Batten from the Soroptimists told us it's encouraging that more women are standing for roles in public life.
"I know how much time it takes up, I know how much work the councillors put in, so it's not a small undertaking.
"I think it would be great if we could get to 50-50, but it's encouraging that we've got at least a quarter, which is good. And I'm hoping a good number do get elected and serve our communities," she said.
Liz told Greatest Hits Radio that it's vital women are involved in public work.
She said: "Women bring a different perspective, whatever they've been doing in their lives, whether they've been working, whether they've got a career or whether they've been homemakers, looking after a family, they often have been the people who brought the children up and have perhaps been involved with schools so they can actually bring a perspective that sometimes can be lacking from a council."
Liz added that public life would be "poorer" for not having women's influence.
She said that all politicians deserve respect, regardless of their policies.
"Abuse is not acceptable at any level and particularly gender abuse is something we feel very strongly that we want to see the end of certainly here in Wiltshire and obviously in the wider world as well," Liz said.
All female candidates standing in Wiltshire have been informed of a reporting service, should they suffer abuse based on their gender.
It's called Operation Awake, and has been running for almost two years.
The service was created after a number of female councillors spoke of the abuse they were suffering online and in person, on the basis that they are a woman.
Normally it's aimed at serving councillors, but during the pre-election period, it's been expanded to support candidates as well.
It allows women in public life to report abuse to Wiltshire Police, helping them to identify perpetrators.