When frequent travelling threatens political wellbeing
Before the pandemic, Canadian MP Nikki Ashton took three flights to Ottawa each week in order to attend parliament. For two years, she had to make those trips with her new-born twins. Similarly, South African MP Dianne Kohler Bernard knows that travelling to-and-from parliament is an all-day process.
Of course, politicians will always have to move around, it is part of their job. However, the demands of parliamentary culture and structure all too often fail to acknowledge that politicians are indeed human beings, many have children (perhaps even twins!), relationships, and, most importantly, an emotional stability to maintain whilst they spend hours on the road. As the demands of regular travel is a reality for numerous members of parliament around the world, the Silent MP wants to begin unravelling the effects that it can have on the relationships and mental health of our politicians. Our discussions with Nikki and Dianne paint a picture that gives us a brief insight into the chaos and stress of frequent travel.
According to a 2017 study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, business travel is associated with sleep disorders, stress and anxiety, increased alcohol consumption, exposure to high energy density ‘‘fast’’ foods, and long periods of sedentary life. Indeed, Dianne divulges her own struggles; “You try to stay fit, but any gym I ended up doing was at home, because [if] you do gym at six in the morning, then you've got the hair problem and the makeup problem... So, slowly but surely that exercise gets less and less.” Whilst Diane talks about the impossibility of maintaining physical well-being, Nikki adds that the awareness of mental health is also a structural issue in the world's parliaments, in which many MPs have no mentors or family that can guide them through a new city. Oftentimes, politicians are forced to choose between maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and travelling for their job.
In addition to this, both Dianne and Nikki pointed out the difficulty of finding support networks when away from home. Whilst crucial for well-being, these mechanisms often include the tiniest things. It is important to replicate the support systems you have at home when travelling, says Dianne. For example, when you relocate you have no one to call if your house is on fire or your child is sick. An absence of that support network can affect your inner stability. Moreover, a World Bank study found that almost 75% of staff reported high or very high stress related to business travel. Dianne explains to the Silent MP how she found herself a driver that she can call upon whenever needed; this simple change helped her to reduce the uncertainty and stress that arrive as a consequence of working away from home.
However, there are other organizational problems that may prevent politicians, and especially female politicians, from successfully crafting support systems when they are geographically relocated. For instance, Nikki tells the Silent MP of how she was on the waiting list for childcare in the capital for two and a half years. She argues that this is not a personal story, but a systemic story that speaks to the low value afforded to childcare within the political system, and to making politics accessible to women who want to have kids.
What is the solution to these unresolved problems? Nikki believes that the virtual parliament has proven its effectiveness during the pandemic and is here to stay. The Silent MP aims to connect people like Nikki and Dianne so that there is at least a sense of togetherness in figuring out what a post-pandemic parliamentary hybrid working culture and schedule could look like, one that acknowledges that optimal democratic outcomes require the bodies, minds and souls of our politicians to be healthy, even when they travel.
