Stalking, Harassment, Gendered Abuse, and Violence Towards Politicians in the COVID-19 Pandemic and Recovery Era
Presented by Dr Rhiannon Elen Watson & Dr Lucy Hammans
About This Seminar
Politicians are at significant risk of harassment, stalking and physical abuse than other individuals in the public eye. Such harassment appears to be increasing globally.
Two linked studies examining this issue from a New Zealand context will be presented. The first covers the results of a survey undertaken with Members of Parliament (MPs) in 2022 examining their experience of harassment, which identified that 98% of MPs experienced harassment and an increase in almost all forms of harassment since 2014. The survey highlighted marked differences in the experiences of female MPs, leading to the undertaking of a second qualitative interview study with female MPs. Our findings demonstrate the consequential nature of this harassment, its silencing effect on political debate and female representation in parliament, and the considerable personal and social harm it wreaks on politicians, their families and their staff members.
Recorded live at Ashburn Clinic on the 14th of July 2025.
Presenters’ Bios
Dr Rhiannon Elen Watson & Dr Lucy Hammans
Dr Watson is a stage 3 registrar working in Forensic Psychiatry at Ngā Taiohi Youth Inpatient Forensic Service in Kenepuru Hospital. She undertook her medical training in Cardiff (Wales) and became a member of the Royal College of General Practitioners (UK) in 2019 and a Fellow of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners in 2021, before starting her training in psychiatry with the Royal Australia New Zealand College of Psychiatrists in 2022. She is hoping to pursue a career in Forensic Psychiatry, with a particular interest in working with children and adolescents in contact with the justice system.
Dr Hammans is a psychiatry registrar based in Wellington, currently working in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. She completed her medical training at the University of Bristol in the UK in 2018 and has been living in Aotearoa New Zealand for the past four years where she started Psychiatry with the Royal Australia New Zealand College of Psychiatrists in 2022. Lucy has a strong interest in qualitative research, particularly in its ability to amplify the collective voices of individuals whose experiences may otherwise go unheard. Outside of work, she stays busy with her one-year-old daughter.