United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

A record number of female candidates are expected to stand in next month’s UK general election.

More than 1,100 women have registered as candidates across political divides, making up 34 per cent of the total number of candidates. This number marks a 5 per cent increase from 29 per cent in 2017.

She had just finished taking photographs outside the picturesque Bourne Mill in Colchester, Essex, and was looking at her phone when the first blow came.

By the time she looked up the male assailant was running away.

"He punched me three times in the sort-of side in the ribs," she told the ABC.

Gloria De Piero, who is stepping down after nine years as a Labour MP, is urging women to “come into parliament and change it,” despite the proliferation of threats and abuse faced by many female MPs.

One of 58 MPs who have announced that they will not be standing in the 12 December general election, De Piero, who represents Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, said she hoped women would not be deterred from entering frontline politics.

A growing number of female British lawmakers have quit ahead of the UK general election, with some citing vicious abuse and intimidation as reasons for stepping down.

With another election on the horizon, parties are busy selecting their candidates for seats up and down the country.

Most sides have made pledges to make their candidates more representative, including bringing more women into the race.

However, with the deadline for selections just two weeks away on 14 November, the parties' record in selecting women is mixed - with Labour picking more women, while the Conservatives choose more men.

Diane Abbott has spoken out about how she deals with online vitriol after a growing number of female MPs announced they would not be standing in the general election, with some citing the abuse they faced in public office.

MPs have increasingly become the target of abuse - and some women politicians say they are bearing the brunt of it.

Labour MP Rachel Reeves - who has written a history of women in Parliament - recalls how the first female MP to take up her seat, Nancy Astor, had to push past jeering male colleagues in the chamber to get there.