There are double standards when it comes to women politicians who endure “blows” from some who are obsessed with belittling them, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has said.

She was speaking at a conference to commemorate the work of Hazel Brown, at the Hyatt Regency (Tri­nidad) hotel, Port of Spain, on Friday.

“As women, you really take a more severe battering in the politics.

In some cases, there is a double standard in the way women in the political arena are viewed and the way that people approach them and the way people speak about us, and that is perhaps why we see less women willing to come forward,” said Persad-Bissessar.

The Prime Minister said she was running the course with God in front, but she pointed out as a woman, she has been subjected to criticisms about her shoes and stockings.

“When will they ever speak of issues of a male politician…never in the history of our politics…see people talking about the shoes of a male politician, but as female politician, they like my shoes because they spoke about it,” she said.

She added the Prime Minister of Jamaica Portia Simpson Miller also said she faced the same problem.