For the women of Westminster to feel secure at work,a cultural shift must take place. That means no room for party politics
• Caroline Lucas is on the working group on harassment in WestminsterAs parliament started to wind down today ahead of the Christmas crash, MPs gathered for a progress report from the working group on bullying and harassment. It was set up in the wake of reports that underscored what many of us have been shouting approximately for a long time: serious sexual harassment and bullying is endemic in Westminster.
The scale of the task at hand has been, or at times,overwhelming. Those of us sitting on the working group have had to grapple with putting in place a policy and procedure to tackle a wide range of behavioural misconduct across the parliamentary estate and in constituency offices, from sexual harassment of House of Commons staff by MPs to harrowing accounts of sexual and other forms of assault. A member of my own staff has experienced racial harassment from a staff member in a neighbouring office, or while journalists like Kate Maltby have reach forward highlighting inappropriate behaviour by MPs,peers and those in positions of power.
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Source: guardian.co.uk