A new study shows bullying claims by female Liberal MPs are routinely dismissed by colleagues. 

University of Adelaide psychologists say that allegations of bullying made by women are often painted as just the “cost of doing politics”.

Their new study shows female Liberal MPs are often undermined, silenced and discredited by their own party.

Their concerns are frequently dismissed as something that happens to men just as much, even though it does not. 

The academics studied a period in 2018 during which four female Liberal MPs had complained of bullying and interrogation. 

They reviewed the responses from men and women to former Liberal MP Julia Banks, who quit citing “cultural and gender bias, bullying and intimidation” from her own party and the opposition.

They also looked at former foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop, who witnessed behaviour in parliament that she said “wouldn’t be tolerated in any other workplace across Australia”.

Additionally, government services minister Linda Reynolds in 2018 referred to “bullying and intimidation” in the lead-up to the spill that saw Malcolm Turnbull replaced by Scott Morrison as prime minister.

The study also included former Liberal senator Lucy Gichuhi, who was poised to name and shame bullies in the party before backing down on the threat. 

The researchers found Liberal politicians “routinely mobilised” claims that bullying applied equally to men and women, and that “politics is tough”. The experts say that these together “served to downplay and legitimise bullying and intimidation as normative and unproblematic”.

They found that high-ranked males including Prime Minister Scott Morrison tended to use alternative descriptions to bullying, often the phrase “robust discussion”.

“In politics, these actions serve to constrain women’s contributions by systematically undermining, silencing and discrediting them,” the authors wrote.

“The bullying and intimidation experienced by women may continue to be the cost of their political engagement unless systemic change occurs that acknowledges the ongoing relevance of gender in politics.

“Understanding how politicians routinely make sense of gender discrimination in the workplace is important, given the increased number of women entering politics and the increased reporting of sexism, harassment and sexual assault in recent years.”

The full study is accessible here.