“Everybody Expects You to Have a Thick Skin”: Uncovering Harassment as a “Hidden” Factor Behind Canadian MPs’ Political Dropouts

Abstract

This article examines MPs’ departures from the House of Commons through a gendered lens. We ask two research questions: (1) whether, and in what ways, toxicity and harassment contribute to politicians’ decisions to leave elected office, and (2) whether these dynamics are gendered and, to the extent the data allow, raced. Using a mixed-method approach, we analyze legislative turnover data, novel exit interview data and resignation statements from retired MPs. Our results indicate that toxicity and harassment are part of the decision matrix for elected officials who are considering their political future, particularly for women and racialized MPs. The article contributes to gender and politics scholarship by offering empirical evidence of the relationship between harassment and political dropouts in Canada for the first time.